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Peace and sustainability through partnership and cooperation: Generalizable lessons from Norden and the Mediterranean

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article applies the Domination-Partnership Continuum Model to explore some of the ways that peace and sustainability are intertwined. Under conditions of mutual interdependence, the viable approach involves engaging in cooperation to achieve positive outcomes for all concerned. Domination systems are based on inequality, hierarchy, and use of force. Domination is detrimental to peace and sustainability. Partnership values and practices stem from egalitarian, humane, and cooperative orientations. They can contribute to human well-being and even survival. Two case studies geared toward partnership are presented. The first involves the Nordic region with its partnership orientation towards resolving conflicts nonviolently and its goal of becoming the most sustainable region on the planet. The five Nordic nations have not engaged in war with each other for over two hundred years. Currently, they are cooperatively implementing a plethora of environmentally sustainable practices under Our Vision 2030 . The second case involves the successes and current challenges of the UNEP's Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP). UNEP/MAP has simultaneously protected the Mediterranean region against various environmental threats and fomented trust and cooperation among neighboring countries to protect their common sea, thus illustrating the benefits of partnership as well as interlinkages among peace and sustainability. The war in Gaza, a tragedy in so many ways including a threat to UNEP/MAP accomplishments, illustrates the stark contrast between domination and partnership approaches and their respective contrasting consequences.
DOI: 10.1016/j.nerpsj.2025.100003
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,200
OpenAlex ID: W4406999643
FWCI:
Cites: 39
Cited by:
Related to: 10