Evidence shows that conflict happens in places where people can’t trust the police or get access to justice, and their prospects for a decent life are stolen by corrupt elites. Governments everywhere need to start respecting and stop neglecting, abusing and stigmatizing their own people. Media and others that promote ‘them-and-us’ thinking must be challenged to stop spreading hate.
The larger a country’s gender gap, the more likely it is to be involved in violent conflict, according to research in Valerie Hudson’s Sex and World Peace (2012). Gender inequality trumps GDP, level of democracy or ethnic-religious identity, to make more likely both external and internal conflict, and being the first to resort to force in such conflicts. In contrast, when women participate in peace processes, peace is more likely to endure.
