"In Search of Pathways to Peace"

Author: Michael von der Schulenburg

A recent joint World Bank-United Nations study, “Pathways for Peace – Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict,” intends to find answers to this question. Yet the study is misleading in three fundamental ways: (i) it ignores the UN Charter, (ii) it obscures the UN’s core issue of war and peace, and (iii) it side-steps the UN’s collective decision-making process. As an alternative, this paper proposes three steps towards reinvigorating the UN’s role in preventing wars and armed conflicts that are grounded in the UN Charter.