Peace in The Age of Chaos: The Best Solution for a Sustainable Future

Humanity has been studying peace since the 7th century, yet the world is less peaceful now than even 10 years ago. What has happened? Why is the world becoming more chaotic, not less? From the winner of the Luxembourg Peace Prize and Founder of the world-renowned think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), comes a ground-breaking new look at the factors that create highly peaceful societies – and how we can sustain them at a time of unprecedented environmental, social, economic and technological change.

Peace in The Age of Chaos eloquently guides readers to question the current analysis of peace as an absence of violent conflict and to honestly evaluate and decipher the inner working of a peaceful society. Through thought-provoking anecdotes, readers are treated to the extraordinary life events that have shaped Killelea’s philanthropic focus on peace and sustainable development. From establishing the world’s leading ranking of global peacefulness, the Global Peace Index, to working on aid programmes in some of the most violent places on earth, Killelea’s life journey has led him to ask, and in turn answer, the fundamental questions: ‘What creates peace, how do we measure it and why do we need it?’

While most books about peace pursue a moral approach, Killelea breaks the mould by spotlighting peace as the intersection between a person and their society. Narrated in captivating first-person account, Killelea encourages readers to rethink peace, and how we can achieve it through Positive Peace – an eight-pillar model embracing the attitudes, institutions, and structures required to create and sustain peaceful societies. Over the course of the book, Killelea skilfully unpacks the pursuit of peace through various perspectives – from business and politics to religion and culture – to show us a way forward, where the combination of Positive Peace and systems thinking provide a proven framework to create the optimal environment for all human potential to flourish.

Whether it’s through the lens of a successful self-made entrepreneur, a local farmer in Kenya, or a woman fleeing for her life in the lawless lands of Southern Sudan, Killelea’s journey to discover peace always centres on the human experience. Featuring 14 charts and diagrams, Peace in the Age of Chaos provides intelligent insight that will inspire and resonate with readers from all walks of life. As Georg Kell, Founder and former Executive Director of the UN Global Compact has noted: “Peace in The Age of Chaos is a treasure chest for anybody who tries to find answers to some of the most important questions in our life. The book is engaging and thought-provoking. Trying to understand the meaning of peace and finding pathways forward is today more important than ever. I wish that all those who exercise power were to read this book and reflect on it. The world would be a better place and we would be able to solve problems rather than create them.”

For more about Peace in The Age of Chaos, visit: https://www.peaceintheageofchaos.org

Steve Killelea A.M., Biography:

Steve Killelea is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, one of the world’s most impactful think tanks on peace and how it is created. Killelea also founded the Global Peace Index, which ranks 163 countries and independent territories by peacefulness each year, and is used by major organisations such as the World Bank and the UN, as well as governments and universities throughout the world. Over the last two decades, Killelea has applied his business skills to his many global philanthropic activities, including the private family charity, The Charitable Foundation, which now has over three million direct beneficiaries. In 2010, Steve was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the community through the global peace movement. In 2013, a coalition of Australian Foundations recognised his funding of Institute for Economics and Peace as one of the 50 most impactful gifts in Australia’s history. In the same year, the Action on Armed Violence group recognised Steve as one of the 100 most influential people in the world on reducing armed violence. Killelea serves on the President’s Circle for Club de Madrid, the largest forum of former world leaders working democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers working to strengthen democracy. He is an honorary president of Religions for Peace, the largest organisation in the world working on inter-religious challenges.