The Paris Peace Forum was launched in 2018 to reaffirm the value of multilateral policy innovations in response to complex challenges.
Addressing these challenges requires cross-border collective action. However, collaboration is increasingly difficult, as countries choose to evade rather than confront threats by turning inward; anti-science populism replaces expertise with denialism and slogans; and the institutions and norms that underpin multilateral cooperation and the joint provision of global public goods are being deliberately undermined.
Peace is not just the suspension of war. Peace is made up of all the solutions that help reduce international tensions: cooperation to fight climate change and mitigate resource scarcity, institutions to channel power rivalries, regulation to address abuses of power and inequalities, intergenerational bridges and gender equality to create more peaceful societies. In other words, peace will only be sustainable if effective global governance underpins it.
The Paris Peace Forum fosters hybrid coalitions by gathering old and new actors of global governance: states and international organizations, but also NGOs, companies, foundations, philanthropic organizations, development agencies, religious groups, trade unions, think tanks, universities, and civil society at large.
In practice, the Forum invites public and private organizations to showcase 120 projects at the Forum’s November meetings in Paris. These projects can be normative (instruments of law, standards, and good practices) or capacity-building (new institutions, mechanisms, and innovations).
Ten projects are then selected to receive seed funding so they can be scaled up.
To explore these issues and brainstorm potential contributions to the 2021 edition of the Forum, please join us on October 8 for a conversation with Justin Vaïsse, Director General of the Paris Peace Forum.
Founder and Director General of the Paris Peace Forum, Justin Vaïsse previously led the Centre for Analysis, Planning and Strategy at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2013-2019. Justin Vaïsse also served as Director of Research at the Brookings Institution in Washington (2007-2013), with a focus on transatlantic relations and European foreign policy. A historian specialized in international relations and American foreign policy, Dr. Vaïsse has written and co-authored numerous works translated in multiple languages, and has held teaching positions at the Paris School of International Affairs of Sciences Po, and School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.