Summary
The third annual Tampere Peace Day brought together over 200 academics, practitioners, and students around the theme of Reclaiming Peace in the Age of Militarism. With this theme, TPD encouraged participants to critically examine approaches to envisioning, promoting, and mediating peace in a world where the restraints on violence are diminishing and muscles matter more than values. It also invited reflection on the potential future roles of various types of peacebuilders and their capacity to adapt within an increasingly militarized environment, where civil society engagement faces growing challenges.
Keynote Highlights
Julia Palmiano Federer (Security Studies at ETH Zürich) challenged dominant narratives of peace, emphasizing the need for reflective praxis in an era of securitization, autocracy, and erosion of shared norms. She asked what peace as action means in times of diverse, entangled, and complex polycrisis. She discussed creating safe and brave spaces for dialogue, valuing critical peace education, and among all reclaiming peace through critical hope.
Harri Ohra-aho (CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation) focused on the growing reliance on proxies and militarization, stressing the role of independent mediators in inclusive peace processes. He introduced the concept of “layer literacy,” reminding mediators to understand grassroots dynamics, to create political space in militarized contexts, and to link transactional arrangements to sustainable outcomes.
Roundtable Highlights
1. Rethinking Practices and Agencies of Peace Mediation within a Fragmented World
- Mediation faces challenges from norm violations and great power rivalry.
- Hybrid coalitions and minilateralism shape current practices, as seen in Gaza, Syria, and Yemen.
- Inclusion of women, youth, and civil society remains inconsistent.
- Geoeconomic drivers and contested norms demand innovative, action-oriented approaches.
2. Culture of Preparedness and Militarization in the Nordics
- War is reframed as a process, influencing governance and civilian life post-NATO accession.
- Nordic societies differ in militarization cultures, with Sweden undergoing remilitarization whereas Finland has remained militarized throuhgout
- Militarization intersects with gender politics, nationalism, and inequality.
- Participants of the roundtable discussed opportunities for peace preparedness, democratic control, and public debate.
3. Peace Education in Practice: Learning for a Non-Violent World
- Peace education must address systemic violence and challenge colonial structures.
- Emphasized co-resistance over resilience and hope through action.
- Criticized Nordic peace education for its lack of inclusivity and failure to challenge racist and colonial structures.
- Creative and embodied practices (art, theatre, multilingualism) were highlighted as tools for democratic resistance.
4. Beyond relief and reconciliation: reinforcing humanitarianism and peacebuilding in a shrinking space
- Humanitarian aid and peacebuilding often operate in silos; collaboration is essential.
- Both sectors emphasize localization, prioritizing actual needs in conflict regions
- Concerns raised about weaponization of localization, where defunding INGOs is framed as empowerment but leaves gaps in capacity.
- Funding cuts and operational challenges complicate aid delivery.
- Calls for dialogue, shared vocabulary and integrated approaches to bridge the sectors.
Closing Reflections
TPD was concluded with the note that building peace in the age of militarization the need for critical engagement and inclusive practices to navigate today’s complex peace and security landscape but also ability to offer critical hope. In the words of TAPRI’s research director Marko Lehti “Investment on peacebuilding, mediation capacities, peace education and other kind dialogic tools within communities and among them is building societal resilience against polarisation, resistance against authoritarianism and offering critical hope for particularly to youth but all of us.”