Progress made in ending long standing conflicts and building new democracies in the aftermath of the Cold War is under threat around the world risking millions of lives, the rule of law and global and regional stability.
Peacebuilding efforts should better utilize lessons learned from decades of successful conflict resolution and reconciliation and leverage important new research from brain and behavioral science that increasingly reveal the unconscious drivers of conflict and division that lay the groundwork for intergroup violence and harm.
Two decades of research from social psychology and behavioral science point to the existence of innumerable subtle cues that can influence human decisions and actions. Such cues can include the social context — the actions, dispositions and perceived priorities of peer groups during a moment when a decision is made, for instance — as well as timing or frequency of behaviors, physical environment and others. Having contributed substantially to fields as diverse as health, education, criminal justice and financial literacy, similar insights have yet to meaningfully permeate the field of peacebuilding as applied in practice.