Very few of us are Tolstoys or Gandhis, let alone bodhisattvas. We are just ordinary human beings caught in the groove of working or bringing up families, or for too many, merely surviving. Our lives offer only limited choices. However, peace does start with the individual, and even in the most mundane of lives it can be expressed in vivid and compelling ways.

. I believe peace, when properly defined, is the first fundamental human right that makes all other rights possible. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to use the examples enshrined as ‘unalienable rights’ in the US Constitution, will remain forever out of reach in the absence of peace.

I believe peace, when properly defined, is the first fundamental human right that makes all other rights possible. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to use the examples enshrined as ‘unalienable rights’ in the US Constitution, will remain forever out of reach in the absence of peace.

There has been little work done on understanding what creates a highly peaceful country. If we can't quantify peace, then how can we work out which factors and policies make some countries more peaceful than others? For peace to be sustainable societies need to be resilient to shocks, manage disputes and adapt to changes in their environments.