Sustainable peace depends on both capable people and viable conditions.

Sustainable peace is peace that can last because what it depends on stays viable over time. In Eric Anthony Jones's working inquiry, that includes institutions, material conditions, trust, justice, belonging, human dignity and human capacities. It is neither purely personal nor purely structural. It also depends on people remaining the authority.

Eric Anthony Jones, known publicly as Ruler In Peace™, treats sustainable peace as an open question, not a finished doctrine. In his reflection on Human Sustainability he asks: "What must remain viable over time for peace itself to remain viable?" His own answer runs through institutions, material conditions, trust, justice, belonging, human dignity and human capacities, and ends:

"Then the human being cannot be an afterthought."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"But neither can the human being become an excuse for ignoring the environment in which that person is being asked to function."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"Peace is neither purely structural nor purely personal."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"Structural conditions shape human behavior."

— Eric Anthony Jones

"Human behavior shapes structural conditions."

— Eric Anthony Jones

The Peacemakers Movement™ page makes the same point in public: "This is not a claim that personal development alone solves structural problems. Structures matter. History matters. Power matters."

Peace research has long made this distinction. Galtung (1969) separated the absence of direct violence ("negative peace") from the absence of structural violence ("positive peace"). In 2016 the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council adopted parallel resolutions on "sustaining peace" (A/RES/70/262 and S/RES/2282). They frame it as a goal and a process that covers preventing conflict and its recurrence, addressing root causes, and moving toward recovery, reconstruction and development, with the needs of all parts of society taken into account.

Eric connects sustainable peace to whether people remain the authority. On his About page:

"In Eric Anthony Jones's view, Human Sustainability depends on people remaining the authority. And if people do not remain the authority, they cannot have peace either."

— About page, rulerinpeace.com

In his own words, transcribed exactly as spoken in the voice note where the idea first appeared:

"they’re all in the same umbrella you can’t have human sustainability if humans don’t remain the authority and if humans don’t remain the authority, they can’t have peace either"

— Eric Anthony Jones, voice note, 20 September 2026 (transcribed as spoken)

The Peacemaker's Passage™ asks: "What capacities allow us to meet reality without surrendering our dignity, judgment, agency, relationship, or capacity for peace?" Across the Passage, Eric is examining nine: "mindful awareness, regulation, perception, truthfulness, dignity, judgment, relationship, agency, and contribution."

The Passage is careful about what that proves: "Experience can inform a principle. It does not automatically prove one."

Ending fighting is a ceasefire. Sustainable peace also depends on conditions such as justice, trust and dignity, and on the capacities of the people living in them.

Across The Peacemaker's Passage™, Eric Anthony Jones is examining nine human capacities, from mindful awareness to contribution. He describes them as working areas of inquiry, not a finished list.

In Eric Anthony Jones's view, if people do not remain the authority, they cannot have peace either. Peace that lasts depends on human beings keeping that authority.

What helps human beings remain capable of peace when peace becomes difficult is the inquiry behind REMAIN CAPABLE — Weekly Intelligence. Issue 001 is free to read before you decide whether to become a Founding Reader ($5 a month).