Votes, Voices, and the Far Right
by Irina Militaru This essay was selected for publication as part of the War Prevention Initiative’s Essay Un-contest on Peaceful Elections. It’s scorching hot, and I’m in a field in the middle of nowhere (i.e., the industrial zone of Frankfurt, couched between two factories and the highway), triple-checking if … Read more
Standing United in Wisconsin: Promoting Peaceful Elections in a Contested State
by Lisa Inks and Eli Kelling (with Urban Rural Action) with photographs by John Noltner This essay was selected for publication as part of the War Prevention Initiative’s Essay Un-contest on Peaceful Elections. Southeast Wisconsin not only sits at the epicenter in a swing state of what will be a … Read more
Gaza and Israel: A Violent Year and the Urgent Need to Stop the Killing
Introduction We mark a somber milestone: one year has passed since the onset of the relentless violence in Gaza, leading to unimaginable death and suffering. We are thinking about all Israelis and Palestinians whose lives and communities were shattered by the events of last year. A ceasefire is about saving lives; every minute that passes … Read more
Building Peace midst Conflict: My Journey in South Sudan’s Path Towards Elections
by Lona James Luduro Elia This essay was selected for publication as part of the War Prevention Initiative’s Essay Un-contest on Peaceful Elections. As a young woman born in Yei who grew up in Juba, South Sudan, I have witnessed first-hand the tumultuous journey of my country’s quest for democracy. … Read more
Selected Essays Announced in Peaceful Elections Essay “Un-Contest”
We at the War Prevention Initiative (WPI) are pleased to announce that four essays on peaceful elections have been selected for publication. In June 2024, we launched a call for essays on peaceful elections. In anticipation of a contentious national election period in the United States, we were interested in exploring how we can ensure … Read more
Urgent Call to Stop the Bombing and Invasion of Lebanon; Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza
For Immediate Release: September 30, 2024 PORTLAND, OR – In response to the violent assault on Lebanon and the ongoing war in Gaza by the Israeli government, the War Prevention Initiative urgently calls on the Biden administration to use its influence to prevent a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon and to achieve a ceasefire … Read more
The Reassuring Illusion of Victory in War
“Liturgies of triumph”—public rituals that symbolically reinforce and celebrate the idea that the U.S. always wins its wars, “embedded in national calendars, public commemorations, and team sports”—shape the understanding and practice of wartime, both producing an expectation for military victory and assuaging public anxieties that emerge from its absence in most contemporary warfare.
Justifying Violence with the “Less-than-Lethal Paradigm”
The “less-than-lethal paradigm” is a military strategy aimed at managing the popular perception of violence by using less deadly and more concealed methods to justify imperial actions in a way that aligns with the principles of liberal democracy.
How to Tell the Truth about Racial Violence: The Case of Mississippi’s Incomplete Truth Commission
Truth commissions were initially used as a tool in the immediate aftermath of a violent conflict or during political transitions but, as their popularity surged in the 1990s and early 2000s, they began to be applied to contexts within established democracies to address historic harms and injustices.
War Prevention Initiative Condemns Political Violence
For immediate release July 14, 2024 PORTLAND, OR – The War Prevention Initiative strongly condemns political violence. The assassination attempt that killed one spectator and caused critical injuries to others at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, is unacceptable. Violence does not solve political disputes or contribute to a stronger democracy. Only by showing compassion … Read more
How Indiscriminate Counterterrorism Can Backfire
While Israel’s use of selective counterterrorism, in the form of punitive house demolitions, did not have a clear impact on Palestinian public opinion, Israel’s use of indiscriminate counterterrorism, in the form of precautionary house demolitions, resulted in more “radicalized” political attitudes among Palestinians from the same district.
