Several areas around the world are in turmoil again. For the past two weeks Egypt has gripped our attention, partly because it is a bit closer to home. Before that there was the toppling of the regime in Tunisia. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are something we are familiar with, given the involvement of soldiers from western European states and the United States, and are hence given extensive coverage in the foreign news bulletins we watch. Things are not all that quiet in Algeria and Morocco and there may soon be a public uproar asking for changes. Then there is conflict in other parts of the world about which we rarely hear anything.

For example in South East Asia, Cambodia and Thailand. They are all involved in border skirmishes. There are protests in Bangladesh. Southern Sudan has voted to secede from Sudan. Gulf leaders are starting to hear rumblings of dissent. Moreover, a cursory look at the international press would show that several national and local governments face accusations of corruption. Unless such accusations are addressed, one would be right to presuppose that eventually they could develop into popular protests. Some of these developments are taking place around the Mediterranean basin. Others are taking place in faraway places and so may seem to be irrelevant to us.

It may also be argued that world peace is not being threatened by such conflicts. In my opinion, the world economy cannot afford to have such conflicts. Given the global, and therefore complex, nature of the international economy, conflict in one part of the world may affect other parts, with negative consequences on the economy. Although it is generally recognised that the international recession is behind us, a number of problems are still with us, rendering the economic recovery still very fragile. One example is the way the price of oil has increased in recent days.

Thus the world economy does need some peace to ensure that economic growth is sustainable and it is spread across the globe and is not limited only to certain pockets. Maybe we need to take on board what the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, said over last weekend when he addressed a European conference on security. He claimed that we can no longer have different cultures living side by side and isolated from each other. This has bred terrorists and criminals, which in turn have wrought havoc to the international economy through their actions.

For multiculturalism to succeed there needs to be more tolerance, a stronger sense of social justice, and unquestioned respect for the dignity of the individual. All this hangs together by abiding to the rule of law. And this is what the world economy needs today. We can no longer afford to have governments, businesses and specific lobby groups who ignore the basic concepts of social justice and the common good, as this would only lead to further conflict and a further weakening of the world economy.

There is another consideration to make. It has often been stated that there are four factors that are intrinsically linked to each other and need to be in synch with each other. There can never be peace without social justice and there can never be social justice as long as there is poverty. Thus peace requires the eradication of poverty for it to be long lasting. However, poverty can only be eradicated if there is economic growth. And economic growth requires peace.