Peace in the Post Cold War Era - Reaction to Professor Mogami's article

ICU has an active Peace Research Institute, and I greatly support the efforts that are being made their to research how peace and stability can be ensured globally.

The institute publishes a newsletter, and the main article in this issue was a reflection by Professor Toshiki Mogami on the 20 years that have passed since the end of the Cold War in 1989.

After reviewing the fact that the end of the Cold War did not bring peace to the world, but instead led to new series of conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, Afghanistan and so on, he writes (with my translation from the Japanese):

"(20 years after the end of the Cold War) Systems and structures that breed hate between groups of people still remain. Cultures and value systems that express their hate with violence still continue to exist. Political systems and parties that believe in subduing violence with bigger violence still are essentially unchanged."

We need to conceptualize and build systems that will nurture and ensure peace. I hope all of my students, no matter what major they go into, will have a chance to feel the importance of this endeavor during their studies at ICU. I hope I can play a role in this work