While COVID-19 is reshaping our lives, this must-read book for 2021 provides some of the answers to our most pressing global challenges. Peace in an Age of Chaos offers a new way of conceptualising how to create a peaceful world, from Steve Killelea, creator of the Global Peace Index and founder of world-renowned think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace.

The major challenges facing humanity are global in nature, but unless the world is basically peaceful, we will never get cooperation needed to solve these issues. Yet what creates peace is poorly understood. Working on an aid program in one of the most violent places in the world, North East Kivu in the DR Congo, philanthropist and business leader Steve Killelea asked himself, ‘What are the most peaceful nations?’ Unable to find an answer, he created the world’s leading measure of peace, the Global Peace Index, which is now the definitive go to index for heads of state. He then established world-renowned think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace. Today its work is used by organisations like the United Nations and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and taught in university courses around the world.

Peace in the Age of Chaos tells of Steve’s personal journey to measure and understand peace and the practical application of his work. In this time when we are faced with environmental, social and economic challenges, this book shows us a way forward where Positive Peace – creating the optimal environment for human potential to flourish – can lead to a paradigm shift in the ways societies can be managed.