A systems approach to the sustainability-peace nexus

This paper uses a systems approach to model the coherence and linkages between peace and sustainability. These two interconnected dynamic states emerge from the interaction of multiple systems and subsystems and unfold in a landscape of specific context and scale. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all unified and optimized static state of peace, the same way as there are no individual united and optimized stationary states of sustainability or sustainability-peace coherence. Each has "to be read as a plural." Studies have shown that these states are difficult to conceptualize for different scales and contexts, let alone quantity. The paper first reviews several definitions of sustainability and peace, and explores their linkages at the community scale. Guidelines for a systems approach to address sustainability, peace, and their nexus are suggested. A generic system dynamics model is proposed as an aid to capture, albeit with a high level of abstraction, the complex dynamics between sustainability and peace.