UC Irvine

Indeed, this paper is about people promoting peace. Eisenhower’s comments convey the key message of our work at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Center for Citizen Peacebuilding. We leave the diplomatic talk to the politicians and political scientists and focus on the grassroots activities of citizens trying to get along with one another. We believe that peace happens because people want it to, not because politicians ordain it so. Our ideas are not new. Karl Popper’s “Open Society”1 and Jonathan Schell’s “Unconquerable World”2 make the same kinds of arguments. We just think in today’s world of punitive trade sanctions and military muscle that it is important to remind folks that there are more viable alternatives for international relations and global persuasion. The focus of this paper is on the notion that trade brings peace. My colleagues in Citizen Peacebuilding focus on dialogue building and cultural exchanges, these being very important as well. However, commercial exchanges are the most common kind of international interaction and are related directly to my own research activities.