By Gebreegziabher Tadele
Peace cannot be secured solely through treaties, governments or international diplomacy; it must also be built in the communities where people live, work and raise their families, according to J. Frederick Arment, founder of the International Cities of Peace (ICP) movement.
Arment, an American author, lecturer and longtime peace advocate, says ordinary citizens have a critical role to play in creating safer, more prosperous and cohesive societies through cooperation, respect and practical local action.
His philosophy underpins the International Cities of Peace movement, which seeks to turn peace from a broad international aspiration into a practical community objective.
For the movement, peace is measured through three interconnected values: safety, prosperity and quality of life. Arment says these provide communities with tangible areas around which citizens can organize and pursue lasting improvements.
“Peace becomes meaningful when people can see its effects in their daily lives, when communities are safer, people have opportunities to prosper and the quality of life improves”, he said.
From Dayton to a Global Movement
The origins of Arment’s vision can be traced to Dayton, Ohio, where he was among the founders of the Dayton International Peace Museum.
Following the museum’s opening, a local newspaper published an editorial proposing that Dayton become a City of Peace. What began as a local idea eventually evolved into an international initiative encouraging communities to organize around peace and address conditions affecting their residents.
Today, International Cities of Peace describes itself as a global association of communities committed to developing initiatives that advance safety, prosperity and quality of life.
Arment has consistently stressed that the achievement belongs to the communities themselves rather than to the movement’s founder or central leadership.
“The people who create peace in a community are the people who live there”, he said. “Our role is to connect, encourage and facilitate rather than prescribe a formula that every community must follow”.
In a 2024 interview, he similarly characterized his role as that of a facilitator, emphasizing collaboration, volunteerism and local ownership.
Respect As the Foundation of Leadership
At the heart of Arment’s approach is a simple principle: peacebuilding begins with how people treat one another. He places particular emphasis on the Golden Rule and argues that effective peace leaders must be able to bring people together around shared community interests rather than deepen divisions.
“Leadership for peace begins with respect”, Arment said. “When people recognize the dignity of others and work together toward common goals, they create the conditions in which peace can take root”.
That philosophy challenges the notion that peacebuilding belongs primarily to governments, diplomats or international organizations.
Arment argues that citizens, neighbourhood groups, voluntary organizations and local leaders can make a significant contribution by identifying problems early, reducing tensions and strengthening relationships within their communities.
Moving Resources from War to Peace
Arment also frames peacebuilding as a question of where societies choose to direct their resources.
He contrasts investments motivated by fear with those motivated by a commitment to human cooperation and community wellbeing.
“Fear can drive societies to devote enormous resources to preparing for conflict”, he said. “A spirit of generosity allows us to invest instead in relationships, opportunity and the conditions that make peaceful communities possible”.
That perspective places community cooperation at the centre of his model, with peace understood not simply as the absence of armed conflict but as the presence of conditions that allow people to live securely and prosper.
Local Action in a World of Conflict
The approach comes as armed conflicts and political tensions continue to affect communities in different regions of the world. For Arment, the existence of global crises does not diminish the importance of local action. Instead, he argues, communities should examine the problems they face, mobilize residents and develop practical responses suited to their own circumstances.
“Every community has challenges that require people to come together”, he said. “Peacebuilding begins when citizens stop seeing themselves merely as observers of problems and become participants in solving them”.
Volunteerism is therefore central to the ICP model. Local residents can identify priorities, form partnerships and implement initiatives designed to strengthen community resilience and reduce conditions that can contribute to violence or social instability.
Cities as Partners for Peace
Arment’s vision also extends beyond individual communities to relationships between cities. City-to-city cooperation, he argues, can create another layer of peacebuilding by allowing communities to exchange knowledge, establish partnerships and work together on shared challenges.
Rather than defining international relations exclusively through competition between states, the approach encourages communities to build connections around practical interests.
“Cities can learn from one another without waiting for governments to solve every problem”, Arment said. “When communities cooperate, share experience and develop practical partnerships, local relationships can become part of a much wider architecture for peace”.
Such relationships, he argues, can create pathways from local cooperation to regional, national and eventually global collaboration.
The 1,000 Cities Ambition
One of the movement’s major long-term goals is to establish 1,000 Cities of Peace by 2030. The strategy is built around developing a broad network of local leaders, volunteers and citizens who can integrate peacebuilding into everyday community activity.
Arment has previously described the ambition as creating an infrastructure through which local commitments to peace can expand into wider regional, national and international cooperation.
The emphasis, however, remains on communities rather than a centralized model of peacebuilding.
“The objective is not simply to attach a peace label to a city”, Arment said. “It is to create a culture in which citizens have the relationships, leadership and practical tools to make peace part of community life”.
A Responsibility Shared by Citizens
As the world prepares to observe the International Day of Peace on September 21, Arment’s message places renewed emphasis on the responsibilities of citizens and local communities.
For him, peace is not merely an agreement negotiated between governments or an objective pursued in diplomatic forums. It is also shaped by everyday choices made by individuals, neighbourhoods, civic groups and local leaders.
“Global peace is strengthened one community at a time”, he said. “When people choose cooperation over division and take practical responsibility for the wellbeing of others, they help build the kind of future that peace requires”.
That community-first philosophy remains the defining idea behind International Cities of Peace: that lasting global peace can be strengthened not only in conference rooms and diplomatic negotiations, but also in the streets, neighbourhoods and communities where people encounter one another every day.