The American peace movement we need today

This article The American peace movement we need today was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

Embed from Getty Images

Throughout U.S. history, broad citizen-led peace movements have played influential roles in generating political pressure, changing war-promoting policies and constraining militarism. These movements have helped elevate new solutions to security challenges, such as guiding the formation of the United Nations after World War II and sparking U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms control in the 1980s.

We surely need a bigger, bolder American peace movement today, with a broader agenda that includes support for democracy and the redesign of our country’s peacebuilding and development policy architecture. The new movement we envision will also unite in shaping how policymakers and the public approach a range of rising conflicts — from looming wars in the Caribbean and Pacific, to a new nuclear arms race, to domestic instability in American cities and towns. The time to (re)build that movement is now.

2025 has been a historically bad year for the peace community in the United States and beyond. U.S. military spending is fast approaching $1 trillion per year, while global funding for peace efforts — previously estimated at 0.5 percent of all military spending — is being slashed to even lower levels. The renamed U.S. Department of War increasingly talks about projecting more “lethality.” At the same time, key institutions like the U.S. Institute of Peace are being dismantled. And the U.N. system is increasingly sidelined or paralyzed in the face of raging wars and atrocities across the world.

The United States now appears on the brink of a larger war with Venezuela; yet, the extent of Congressional and public debate and mobilization regarding such a war has been paltry, compared, say, with the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003. Globally, a new nuclear arms race is taking shape, and leaders are contemplating a resumption of dangerous weapons testing, ending a 30-year moratorium. And at home, the vast majority of Americans across the political spectrum are concerned about growing politically-motivated violence. 

U.S. peace organizations have mounted some important public responses, such as the growing “Call to Halt and Reverse the Nuclear Arms Race” petition. Peace activists have most certainly contributed to the broader protests against growing authoritarianism and deployments of military forces on U.S. streets. But for the most part, the American peace movement does not have the broad reach or message to mobilize action that can garner political attention and counter the march toward more militarism at home and abroad.

Building blocks exist for the future peace movement

It was not long ago that peace activists showed great ability to mobilize public action and debate. In early 2003, millions of people joined protests against the Iraq War in hundreds of cities around the world and in the United States. This included hundreds of thousands of people marching in New York City on Feb. 15, 2003. As one of us (Cortright) has documented, these protests exerted pressure on President George W. Bush in those early months of 2003 (including compelling more engagement with the U.N. Security Council), shaped longer-term policy shifts (including the eventual withdrawal of forces), and contributed to President Barack Obama’s election in 2008.

In parallel with activism, peace studies and practice grew significantly in recent decades. There are now over 200 peace and conflict studies programs at colleges and universities across the U.S. Peace research and training have become more sophisticated, with support from institutions like the U.S. Institute of Peace. With data and evidence, we developed a better understanding of the causes of violent conflict, ways to de-escalate and resolve conflicts, and the keys to build sustainable peace over time. Scores of civil society organizations have emerged to support this work, many of them now connected through the Alliance for Peacebuilding. 

As peace work has become more mainstream, though, it has become more professionalized and technocratic in nature. In some ways, this has led to silos and the creation of an “elite class” of peace professionals, disconnected from grassroots activism and political mobilization. That dynamic — and the need to change it — is becoming clearer to many of us in this moment of profound disruption. The many Americans who have studied, researched and engaged in enhancing peacebuilding work and related efforts on climate change, democracy and human rights can provide building blocks for a future American peace movement. To do so, they will need to better connect with traditional peace churches, associations and activist groups.

Building the movement we need

Based on the research on effective social movements, we see three keys for (re)building the American peace movement we need now.

1. Develop and promote a winning message. An effective peace movement for this moment needs a broad message that speaks to the militarization happening abroad and at home. It should also make the essential connection between sustainable peace and genuine democracy, and articulate the distinct value of making investments in peace at all levels of society. Movements need visionary goals, such as a world without nuclear weapons, but also practical, achievable policy objectives, such as halting the development of new nuclear weapons. And they need to frame that message in terms of values and choices with which individual supporters can connect. Notably, according to a recent poll, the vast majority of Americans — including MAGA supporters — would support investing in peacebuilding to help end the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Media communications, including savvy use of new technologies, will be key to framing and promoting that message when ready.

2. Unite a broad and more diverse coalition. As noted, there are significant building blocks for the peace movement if existing groups can break down silos and come together around a shared vision and agenda. Beyond that, there needs to be outreach and engagement with a wider swath of citizen organizations (think Rotary Clubs, with their tradition of promoting peace), religious communities and veterans groups who can be allies in this work. And, as we have learned more acutely over recent years, there needs to be greater engagement and cooperation with Black, brown and Indigenous communities who have traditionally been underrepresented in American power structures and have rich experience of driving political and social movements.

3. Engage in institutional politics. The movement needs to utilize political systems to incentivize specific policies that can reverse militarism and enable investments in future peace. This work is most effective when it avoids partisanship and focuses on a specific policy agenda. The emerging campaign to prevent a new nuclear arms race can point to the strong bipartisan support that assured the success of the arms reduction agreements negotiated by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The Global Fragility Act, which mandates increased U.S. support for conflict prevention and peacebuilding, was passed in 2019 with solid bipartisan backing, although its implementation has been hindered by bureaucratic and political challenges. 

We are aware of several promising ways in which peace groups are already grappling with the imperative of renewed activism and are contemplating action in cooperation with others to counter authoritarianism and protect U.S. democracy. One of us (Quaranto) is co-leading a new project with the Alliance for Peacebuilding to chart a vision and agenda for rebuilding the U.S. peace and security policy agenda. These broader initiatives could be combined with specific policy campaigns — such as avoiding armed conflict in the Caribbean and preventing the resumption of nuclear testing — as the basis for building the kind of inclusive American peace movement we need for today and tomorrow. 

This article The American peace movement we need today was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

People-powered news and analysis

Source: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/12/american-peace-movement-we-need-today/