Business and Peace

Introduction

The concept of business and peace focuses on the ways in which business organizations can contribute to peace both through direct action in conflict-sensitive zones and in general business conduct whether or not connected to a conflict-sensitive zone.

The Concept of Business and Peace

Kant (1795) and Montesquieu (1748) both held that trade had the potential for enhancing peaceful relations. Economists, such as the Nobel Prize recipient F.A. Hayek (1988), made a similar argument in that trade most efficiently depends on trustworthy relationships, where ethical virtues such as truth-telling, promise-keeping, and delivery of high-quality products and services are practiced. The benefits of trade create incentives for individuals to participate in the same circle of trade most efficiently proceeding on the base of this mix of ethics and trade. Taken to its logical conclusion, Hayek suggested that an expanding circle of trade and the ethical relationships producing optimal...