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Reinventing Multilateral Order, Sundeep Waslekar

New England Journal of Public Policy

The multiple crises of our time result from the breakdown of the multilateral order. Some of these crises may intensify between now and 2030. Multilateral organizations have been eroded to the extent that they are unable to manage catastrophic risk, including a military confrontation between superpowers. The weakening of multilateralism is mirrored in the strengthening of hypernationalism in many countries. It will not be sufficient to mend the multilateral system. It is necessary, instead, to envisage new principles for creating a global governance grid superseding the United Nations Security Council that serves the interests of human civilization and not the …

The White Supremacist Penetration Of Western Security Forces: The Wider Implications, Kumar Ramakrishna

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article argues that recent instances of white supremacist penetration of Western security forces should not be regarded as isolated issues. They are related to the worrying wider phenomenon of the gradual societal and political mainstreaming of white supremacist ideas in Western countries. Drawing on the German and US cases as examples, the article unpacks the argument by first examining the core theories of white supremacism: the “great replacement” and “white genocide.” It then explores how these theories have been weaponized, before proceeding to analyze the structure and modalities of the white supremacist threat. The article then considers the wider …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Several of the articles in this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy have a global focus, identifying threats to humanity’s future, some existential, that can be addressed only through unprecedented levels of international cooperation and new ways of thinking. But the global future is uncertain, whether because of conflict, extremism, the rise of nationalism, the retreat from democracy and its underlying value system, or moribund multilateral institutions and lack of leadership, much of which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than humanity coming together to face a common existential threat, countries retreated into their national …

Peace Is The Answer For Our Post-Pandemic World, Steve Killelea

New England Journal of Public Policy

Humanity is facing a series of existential threats unlike any it has experienced before in its short history. They are driven mainly by overpopulation, increasingly impactful advancements in technology, and now a pandemic. Countering these threats will require a new way of conceptualizing our relationships with each other and the ecosystems we depend on. The world needs a new approach that will allow us to adapt in the short term and reverse the decline in the long term.

Peace is central to a safe and productive society. Without peace, we will never achieve the level of trust, cooperation, and inclusiveness …

From Conflict To Covid: How Shared Experiences Shape Our World And How They Could Improve It, Harvey Whitehouse

New England Journal of Public Policy

The human capacity for cooperation is at the root of many of the most impressive accomplishments of our species—from the evolution of language and tool use to the construction of pyramids and space stations. Although some forms of cooperation are motivated by self-interest or fear of punishment, the forms of cooperation that are most likely to succeed in the face of personal costs stem from love of the group. In this article, I consider one of the most intense forms of ingroup love known to psychology—identity fusion—resulting from shared suffering, from the battlefield and football pitch to the hospital ward …

An Introduction To Right-Wing Extremism In India, Mohammed Sinan Siyech

New England Journal of Public Policy

Right-wing extremism has had a long history in India with the current atmosphere heavily tilted in favor of right-wing extremists. This article explores the history of the right wing in the nation and various factors that strengthened different actors within this spectrum of politics in India. Relying on secondary sources, it notes that the Indian caste system has played a role in bolstering the Hindu majoritarian identity that is currently dominant in India apart from various other factors, such as the incompetency of other political parties (including left-wing parties). Drawing on several examples, it argues that the unwillingness of the …

Challenges For Multilateralism In A Pre-Post-Covid World, Richard Caplan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Multilateralism today faces numerous challenges. This article offers some reflections on those challenges—what they are and how they originated—and how multilateralism can be reinvigorated. It argues that though multilateralism is not a panacea, many of the critical challenges that confront humanity today—biodiversity, cybersecurity, global warming, mass migration, arms proliferation, and the regulation of outer space, as well as the spread of infectious diseases—can be met only with states and peoples cooperating more closely.

States Of Mind In Conflict: Offerings And Translations From The Psychoanalytic And Psychosocial Fields, Irene Bruna Seu

New England Journal of Public Policy

Drawing on the fields of psychoanalysis and psychosocial studies, this article investigates the states of mind of both the parties in conflict and the mediators. It proposes that, when framed as a relational intersubjective encounter, mediation can have transformative potentials beyond the political goals. The article aims to rebalance the current rationalistic orientation in mediation and argues that valuing and engaging with the affective register in mediation processes and the states of mind of the mediation actors can better equip mediators to understand and deal with the unpredictability, instability, and blockages in mediation processes.

The article discusses the relevance for …

Psychological Dimensions Of Peacemaking, Ivan Tyrrell

New England Journal of Public Policy

The essence of conflict resolution and therefore peacemaking is summed up in the phrase “mutual needs satisfaction.” This concept presupposes an understanding not only of physical needs but also the emotional needs of all parties involved. This article describes the emotional needs, calling them “human givens” (because they are innate in us) and the innate resources that help us get those needs met. It also describes the three main ways that can interfere with needs being met. It suggests that this knowledge should be absorbed in the political and diplomatic spheres because our emotional needs motivate our behavior and drive …

The Impact Of Trauma On Peace Processes, Eugen Koh

New England Journal of Public Policy

Almost everyone who survives situations of violent conflict will have experienced significant trauma. The impact of such experiences on the processes of conflict resolution and peacebuilding is however, not well appreciated or understood. This article considers how the traumatic experiences of individual leaders and their collective constituents, their people, influence their respective abilities to engage in peace processes. It highlights the problems of shame and avoidance following trauma and describes what happens when an "encapsulated" past traumatic experience is reactivated or "triggered": the individual and collective minds regress to a level that limits their ability to think about complex situations …

Informality And The Social Art Of Mediation: How Pure Mediators Create Conditions For Making Peace, Nita Yawanarajah

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article explores how pure mediators make peace without using political, military, or economic leverage. It argues that informality helps mediators establish and build relationships that make it possible for the disputing parties to receive their assistance, information, and suggestions. The research uses case studies and first-hand interviews to explore beneath the institutional and strategic level of analysis and finds that informality manifests in peacemaking as informal people, language, time, and space. The findings also indicate that informality in peace processes often appeared organically to achieve positive results by default rather than design. The research has implications for the study …

Editor’S Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Editor's Note for Volume 33, Issue 1.

Foreword, Gabrielle Rifkind

New England Journal of Public Policy

Foreword for Volume 33, Issue 1.

A Crisis Of Needs: Coordinating Mental Health And Psychosocial Support Responses In Syria And Europe, Lira Low

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article offers recommendations for coordinating mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) programs for Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons in the Middle East with those available to Syrian asylum seekers in Europe.

It examines the Netherlands’ progressive policies toward MHPSS programs in conflict crises that can provide examples of good practice in policy and advocacy. It calls on host governments to address their support for the enhanced provision of MHPSS not just in humanitarian responses overseas but also for refugee populations in their own countries. It seeks to identify challenges and obstacles in existing programming and proposes the creation …

Psychological Reflections On Mahatma Gandhi And The Future Of Satyagraha, Charles B. Strozier

New England Journal of Public Policy

The article examines the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi from a psychological perspective. Special attention is given to the psychoanalytic study of Gandhi by Erik Erikson, Gandhi’s Truth, in 1969. The author notes his personal connection with Erikson’s book, which profoundly influenced his thinking (and life). The article alternates between a close psychological reading of Erikson’s book and Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth. The larger point of the article is to reflect on the future of satyagraha or nonviolence. Gandhi’s own meanings of satyagraha are often difficult for many to accept, given the psychological violence that infected his form …

Conflict, Complexity, And Cooperation, John, Lord Alderdice

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article explores the thesis that we are at a time of historical inflection and suggests what next steps might look like. The change in the seat of authority from the sixteenth century on with the replacement of political and religious hierarchies by participatory democracy and Enlightenment philosophies based on rationalism has seen a remarkable period of progress in science, technology, education, medicine, governance, trade, economics, and the rule of law. The twenty-first century, however, has ushered in a series of reversals for liberal democracy, the fraying of the international rules-based order that emerged after the two world wars and …