In the Israeli-Palestinian case, economic factors have had a significant but inconsistent impact on the peace process. During the early 1990s, despite fears that Palestinian independence or autonomy might harm their economic interests, the Israeli business community strongly supported the peace process. The relative peace contributed to an economic boom in Israel and the Palestinian Authority became a powerful economic actor in the West Bank and Gaza. Nevertheless, and despite the steep declines in gross domestic product experienced because of the resurgent violence since September 2000, business communities in Israel and Palestine are not pushing for a return to the negotiating table.
In the case of India-Pakistan, economic factors have had less impact on peace policies, with the peace process driven instead by Indian and Pakistani quests for international legitimacy.
Dr Allister McGregor, who leads the ESRC Wellbeing in Developing Countries Research Group (WeD) at Bath University, is convinced that we need to look beyond economic factors if we are to build a sustainable peace in post-conflict societies. The group argues that although money and economic growth matter, development policies aimed at reducing poverty and conflict must take into account the many non-material aspects of life that contribute to wellbeing.
As Dr McGregor explains: "At the heart of this we need to look at how well people’s aspirations are being met. We need to look at people’s experiences of society. Are they feeling disaffected? Do they feel that they can share in the benefits of successful development or do they feel excluded to such an extent that they feel they no longer have a stake in the society?"
"Do people feel that they can share in the benefits of successful development or do they feel excluded?"
The group's research on the persistence of poverty in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Thailand and Peru not only highlighted the adverse consequences of a growth in aspirational inequality but also reinforced the need to consider differences in terms of our conceptions of wellbeing.
"If you think about what a person who is devoutly Muslim will conceive as wellbeing, it is obviously going to be very different from what somebody who is a lapsed Christian or secular will conceive," says Dr McGregor.
The consequences of these differences can hardly be overestimated. "It's a big issue when you consider the growing divide between the Muslim and the secular/Christian world. The global institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF don’t really incorporate a Muslim view and there is growing disenchantment with the notion of a secular global government that doesn't seem able to comprehend the extent to which Islam is absolutely fundamental to the way that Muslims perceive their lives and aspirations," Dr McGregor concludes.
In his International Day of Peace Message on 21 September 2005, then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "Twenty-four hours is not a long time. But it is enough for combatants and political leaders to consider the destruction they are visiting on their people, and on their lands. And it is long enough to look over the barricades, or through the barbed wire, to see if there is another path".
Perhaps so, but will it be long enough for the United Nations and its agencies to consider the destruction that global economic policies are visiting on attempts to build a sustainable world peace? And will it be long enough to begin to question the approaches they take and seek another path?
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