World Peace Foundation

World Peace Foundation The WPF is an operating foundation affiliated with the Fletcher School. It aims to provide research for non-violent futures.

The World Peace Foundation was established by Edwin Ginn, a Boston-based publisher of educational texts and an advocate for international peace. Created initially as the International School of Peace on July 12, 1910, the WPF was tasked with educating a global audience about the ills of war and promoting international peace. In 2011, the World Peace Foundation established a program at The Fletcher

School at Tufts University, the first graduate-only school of international affairs in the United States, under Executive Director Alex de Waal. In line with the educational and practical vision of its founder, today the Foundation aims to provide intellectual leadership on issues of peace, justice and security. We believe that innovative research and teaching are critical to the challenges of making peace around the world, and should go hand in hand with advocacy and practical engagement with the toughest issues. As the Foundation enters its second century, our underlying theme is reinventing peace for the globalizing world. The WPF does not make grants to outside organizations and individuals.

06/19/2026

The reflects enduring histories of , , and racial identity. Recent matchups, including and , have prompted renewed discussion about how these legacies continue to shape both national teams and public narratives around them.

This video examines how questions of belonging, representation, and power surface through global football, particularly in relation to former colonial relationships and their contemporary political and economic dimensions.

Follow along this June and July as we examine the World Cup through the lens of peace and conflict. It’s never just about sports.

The World in 2050 is going to look very different from the one we know today. , the rise of mega cities, intensifying ...
06/17/2026

The World in 2050 is going to look very different from the one we know today.

, the rise of mega cities, intensifying stress, and the spread of are already setting the stage for decades of change. None of these futures are fixed, but they’re worth thinking about now.

Our latest essay digs into what these shifts could mean for going forward.

Link in Bio.

06/16/2026

Sport can be a veil, or a spotlight.

Sports-washing isn’t new, but as the US, Canada, and Mexico co-host the 2026 World Cup, it raises a fresh question: what happens when we ask the same things of a democratic host?

Who can travel? Who feels welcome? The answers tell us something about the broader conditions shaping peace today.

Follow along this summer as we examine the World Cup through the lens of and . It’s never just about .

The humanitarian system in became highly skilled at describing suffering to external audiences while remaining far les...
06/15/2026

The humanitarian system in became highly skilled at describing suffering to external audiences while remaining far less capable of measuring, understanding, or ensuring effective response and sustainable health outcomes.

In our newest blog, Mhd Nour Audi reflects on his time as local humanitarian worker in Syria and explores the paradox, where the machinery of the aid system kept running even as , , and human suffering deepened. His essay offers a powerful perspective on what aid systems miss (or ignore), and how crises can be obscured by distance, , and data by the very systems that are meant to respond to it.

Link in bio

06/12/2026

This season, we’re launching a new series—It’s never just about sports—that looks beyond the action on the field to examine the bigger political and social forces surrounding the games. From and to and , follow us as we explore why football (or soccer) matters far beyond the final score.

Food security experts worry about a possible emerging global next year, following what meteorologists predict may be t...
06/12/2026

Food security experts worry about a possible emerging global next year, following what meteorologists predict may be the most severe of El Niño on record. The historic impacts of such phenomena show that, when political forces converge with the weather impacts of El Niño, it leads to devastating results. In our newest blog, Kaitlyn Bell and Alex de Waal explore El Niño of 1876-78 and 1896-1901 and how catastrophic they were.

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What happens when the race to build the most powerful in history collides with the need for global cooperation? Last w...
06/11/2026

What happens when the race to build the most powerful in history collides with the need for global cooperation?
Last week, called for a coordinated pause on frontier AI development, framing it not just as a safety issue, but as a problem of international governance. The parallels to are striking, and the obstacles are just as familiar.

Staff recommended reading, Link in bio.

The Gambia v. Myanmar case asks the International Court of Justice to confront a brutal but often overlooked part of gen...
06/09/2026

The Gambia v. Myanmar case asks the International Court of Justice to confront a brutal but often overlooked part of genocide: the deliberate destruction of a people’s . This new blog by Yousuf Syed Khan explains how decades of citizenship laws, travel restrictions, land confiscation, and aid blockages left the starved by design, and why that evidence matters not only for but for other cases of engineered , food deprivation, and .

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The High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) emerged from a moment when Africa was trying to redefine its political des...
06/01/2026

The High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) emerged from a moment when Africa was trying to redefine its political destiny through , , and African ownership.

In this blog, Abdul Mohammed reflects on his time as the chief of staff and senior political advisor to the AUHIP. He argues that the AUHIP defined conflicts through consultation, challenged the parties to think politically, and helped shape the negotiations over and the future of and South Sudan—themes explored in more depth in our book, The Sudans: Africa’s Search for Peace, Democracy, and Two Viable States.

Link in bio.

Nearly two decades ago, peacemaking activities in and set the bar for “African solutions to African problems.” Tod...
05/29/2026

Nearly two decades ago, peacemaking activities in and set the bar for “African solutions to African problems.” Today, the move from hard-won consensus to durable has proven catastrophic, with both countries in turmoil.

Join us for a book launch hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute on Executive Director Alex de Waal and Willow Berridge’s new book—The Sudans: Africa’s Search for Peace, Democracy, and Two Viable States. The Sudans tells the story of the African Union’s efforts to make peace in the Sudans between 2009 and 2013. It details the work of the AU High-Level Panel to resolve the war in Darfur, promote democracy in Sudan, and steer the independence of South Sudan.

Date: Thursday, June 4
Time: 6:00-7:30 PM CEST
Location: Maison de la paix, Auditorium A2 and Online
Register here: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/events/peace-sudan-impossible-dream-reflections-experience-african-peacemaking

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