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President Trump formally launched his Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, signing a charter for the new body intended to help maintain the Gaza ceasefire and oversee reconstruction. Key U.S. allies, including France and the U.K., have declined to join.
Rebecca Slayton
Associate professor of science and technology studies
Rebecca Slayton, the director of Cornell University’s Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, says the initiative is more political theater than actual peacebuilding.
Slayton says:
“Building a lasting peace requires empowering people to govern themselves. The ‘Board of Peace’ instead empowers Donald Trump as its indefinite chair, suggesting a lack of respect for shared governance arrangements.
“The only nations that have agreed to join are led by autocratic rulers trying to curry favor with Trump, who himself has shown disregard for democracy and the rule of law.
“The ‘Board’ appears to be more about peace marketing than peacemaking.”
