Mapping Business-Peace Interactions: Five Assertions for How Businesses Create Peace

The paper maps the disparate research and practice of 'business-peace' interactions into five core assertions: economic engagement creating a peace dividend, local development building peace capacities, importing international norms for accountability, constraining conflict drivers, and direct corporate diplomacy. While proponents argue these activities foster stability and development, critics warn of neo-colonial exploitation, 'peacewashing', and the risk of exacerbating local inequalities. The author concludes that business contributions are often limited by the willingness of local regimes and the priority of profit over courageous ethical choices in fragile contexts.

• The author proposes five assertions for how businesses facilitate peace: economic engagement creates a 'peace dividend'; local development builds local capacities for peace; importing international norms improves democratic accountability; firms can constrain the root causes of conflict; and direct diplomatic efforts with conflict actors can build or make peace.
• Proponents of the 'peace dividend' (Assertion 1) argue that trade, economic growth, and financial injections provide the building blocks for development that cement peace, often drawing on liberal peace theory.
• Critics of the 'peace dividend' approach argue that economic liberalization can be a form of neo-colonial exploitation and that large investments may corrupt local elites or intensify competition for resources.
• Local development initiatives (Assertion 2), often operationalized through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), can reduce violence by empowering communities and providing inclusive employment, though critics argue CSR often lacks accountability and is used for reputational management.
• The import of international norms (Assertion 3) aims to improve structural conditions for peace through transparency and anti-corruption standards, but the author notes that ethical withdrawal by one firm may simply leave a void for firms with lower standards to fill.
• Businesses can attempt to constrain conflict drivers (Assertion 4) by stopping financial flows to conflict actors, such as through the Kimberley Process for diamonds or Conflict Free Minerals Initiatives in central Africa.
• Corporate diplomacy (Assertion 5) involves direct engagement in peacemaking, such as mediating between warring parties or negotiating with rebel leaders to ensure operational access.
• The author argues that economic opening only produces as much peace as the local regime permits, and that businesses rarely make courageous choices to forego profit for peace unless pressured by external advocacy groups.
• There is a risk of 'peacewashing', where firms promote peripheral CSR or philanthropy to mask operational harms or support for repressive regimes.

APA

Miklian, J. (n.d.). Mapping Business-Peace Interactions: Five Assertions for How Businesses Create Peace. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/34720ed4-b96d-458d-9454-534177e0fd8d/Mapping Business Peace Interactions.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Miklian, Jason. Mapping Business-Peace Interactions: Five Assertions for How Businesses Create Peace. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/34720ed4-b96d-458d-9454-534177e0fd8d/Mapping Business Peace Interactions.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Miklian |first1=Jason |title=Mapping Business-Peace Interactions: Five Assertions for How Businesses Create Peace |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/34720ed4-b96d-458d-9454-534177e0fd8d/Mapping Business Peace Interactions.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{miklianndmapping, author = {Miklian, Jason}, title = {{Mapping Business-Peace Interactions: Five Assertions for How Businesses Create Peace}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/34720ed4-b96d-458d-9454-534177e0fd8d/Mapping Business Peace Interactions.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }