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A Future Beyond War: Inclusion, Justice and Sustainable Peace



Author(s)

Giovanni Antonio Cossiga

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2185/2026.02.002

Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

This article argues that a sustainable future not only without wars cannot be adequately captured by the prolonged absence of armed conflict. Even a durable peace, understood as a stable “no war” condition, may remain insufficient if the structural determinants of violence continue to operate beneath the surface of formal pacification. From this perspective, peace is conceptualized as a multidimensional policy objective grounded in human development, social justice, and inclusive access to essential resources. The analysis identifies social marginality—manifested in multidimensional poverty, unequal access to education, healthcare, employment opportunities, and territorial disparities—as a key structural driver of instability. Crucially, the persistence of marginalization is examined not primarily as a consequence of absolute resource scarcity, but as the outcome of institutional, distributive, and monetary arrangements that regulate access to wealth, services, and opportunities. Despite the planet’s potential capacity to generate essential goods compatible with widespread human well-being, asymmetries in access and circulation contribute to reproducing exclusion, eroding institutional trust, and sustaining latent conflict dynamics. The article advances the claim that conflict prevention must begin well before diplomatic mediation and military de-escalation. It depends instead on measurable and durable interventions capable of transforming structural conditions that render violence socially or politically viable. In this framework, alongside traditional social and institutional policies, particular attention is devoted to the role of monetary and financial mechanisms in shaping inclusion, resilience, and peace outcomes. By integrating peace theory, social marginality analysis, and distributive considerations, the paper aims to contribute to a more robust understanding of positive peace, understood as the reduction of structural vulnerabilities that allow war to remain a recurrent possibility rather than a historical exception.

peacebuilding, conflict prevention, social marginality, multidimensional poverty, institutional trust, inclusive development