Careers in Conflict Transformation and professional peaceworking: An alternative to what?

Eventually, after studying war so long, we "advanced," arriving at waging war so horrifically that now the end of life on earth only awaits the decision of one of a set of powerful warlords--perhaps Xi Jinping, or Vladimir Putin, or Donald Trump--to launch thermonuclear Armageddon, the "successful" culmination of studying war for thousands of years.

Peace was regarded as so unattainable that it was essentially only associated with religious and philosophical yearning until Mohandas Gandhi began discovering the available secrets of the strategic power of nonviolence early in the 20th century. He discovered that he could coerce even the greatest armed force the world had ever seen at that time--the British empire--and that started the slow growth of the study of peace moving from its cloister in religion and philosophy departments and into sociology, psychology, and eventually political science and security studies. 

Indeed, one goal of conflict transformation and peace science is to proliferate the knowledge that war is obsolete if enough skill and effort is applied to developing the power of civil society to do so much more than simply cast a ballot every few years. The latent power of civil society is proven again and again and is finally researched empirically beginning in 2008--a century after Gandhi began his strategic practice and theorizing. So, 11,000 years of studying war and 100 years of studying peace and the race is on to save the world from war, even with its 11,000-year head start.

Careers? How many careers are there in armed warfare? Armed law enforcement? Weapons manufacturing and sales? How about in other purely adversarial, zero-sum, winner-takes-all-and-crushes-the-loser jobs? A degree in conflict transformation and peace studies is the beginning of preparing to fill positions created to be the alternative to the old hurtful, destructive model. While it may look like that destructive model rules the world, it is possible and necessary to prepare to fill the needs people have by other means.

Mediators instead of gunfights.

Trained unarmed emergency first responders to threats of violence from someone in a mental health crisis instead of armed agents of the state whose last resort is to hurt or kill someone.

Mediators instead of adversarial lawyers.

Civilian-based defense instead of armies.

Peace journalists who foreground the work of nonviolent action and showcase the potential of civil resistance instead of simple if-it-bleeds-it-leads reportage.

Content creators of novels, screenplays, and all manner of art to explore the possibilities of this new world of transforming looming disaster into a win-win outcome.

The best undergraduate conflict transformation and peace studies degree program can and should prepare students to enter this professional world at a place they wish, even though it would be more of an entry level position. The most dysfunctional peace and conflict undergraduate programs might produce philosophically erudite graduates who are effectively qualified to drive cabs or be baristas. This is the challenge.