The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, warns in an article in the U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs that governments’ commitment to peace “has weakened” in recent decades, a process which, in his view, “leads to a new world war” in an international scenario marked by “militarization and confrontation.”
In the text, titled in English “The World’s Last Chance for Peace” (“The last chance for peace”), he rejects the assumption that war is “something inevitable” and denounces that “aggression wars, like those in Ukraine, Lebanon or Iran, grow and sow horror, ruin and fear of a global confrontation. Governments increasingly think of war as something they have to prepare for and budget for.”
Sánchez considers it “dangerous” that armed conflict is normalized and recalls that the “devastation” caused by the two world wars of the 20th century led to “countries coming together in a shared effort: for war to stop being a legitimate instrument of State policy and to become an illegal act.” However, he laments that “in the last decades” that commitment to peace “has weakened,” especially since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, led by the United States, a moment from which “the search for peace has been receding on the international agenda.”
In his analysis, he argues that “growing geopolitical competition and neglect or indifference toward multilateral efforts that for decades put a brake on the war” push the planet toward a “new world war.” For this reason, he calls on governments, including Spain’s, to act “to limit others’ ability to wage war” and to strengthen international institutions, called to be “guarantors of peace.”
As a response, he advocates “expansive multilateralism,” which he prefers to call “maxilateralism,” understood as “cooperation that encompasses the largest possible number of countries, rather than limiting itself to small ‘ad hoc’ coalitions.”
“To stay silent” in the face of war is “cowardice”
The head of the Executive shows his concern about the progressive acceptance of war as “something normal,” particularly after aggressions that “violate the Charter of the United Nations,” such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or actions by the United States and Israel “attacking” Iran, while armed conflicts last for years in scenarios such as Lebanon, Sudan or Yemen.
As it explains, there is no evidence that "this trend is going to slow down", in view of some military budgets that "have skyrocketed to levels not seen in generations, to the detriment of social spending and development" even in countries "with a long tradition of military restraint, such as Germany, Denmark, Japan and Norway", where "the reinstatement of national military service" is also taking place. It adds the "return of the threat of nuclear war" and the emergence of artificial intelligence, which "is endowing war with increasingly dangerous weapons".
"Taken together, these dynamics multiply the chances that any crisis will quickly end in the annihilation of the planet," it warns, adding that the states "are making the instruments of catastrophe at the breathtaking speed of innovation, while the instruments of control advance at the much slower pace of diplomacy".
In this context, it argues that global political changes "are moving the world away from peace": "They push it toward militarization and confrontation." Against this, it insists that keeping silent is "an act of cowardice and complicity" and claims the position of the Government and of Spanish society of rejection of war. It recalls that its Executive "has defended the international rules that make the difference between an order based on rules and one governed by force" and has raised its voice against "armed attacks that violate the Charter of the United Nations".
Rejection of the 5% of GDP defense target
Sánchez also reaffirms that Spain will not take on the goal of devoting 5% of GDP to the military spending proposed within NATO. He argues that "security grows when societies are resilient, inequalities are reduced, and citizens can trust public institutions." In this sense, he emphasizes that the Government has demonstrated its commitment to European defense and that Spain is "one of the main drivers of the strategic autonomy of the European Union", recalling that defense spending has tripled since his arrival at La Moncloa in 2018.
It argues that maintaining in Spain "proportional defense spending" has made it possible "to invest an additional 145,000 million euros in social protection, housing, health and education, and more than 30,000 million in the ecological transition". "These are policies that bring society together and therefore make it safer," it says in its article.
Reform of the UN and of the financial institutions
The president of the Government also raises the need to "strengthen multilateral institutions" through "far-reaching reforms" that allow them to act effectively in favor of peace and security. Among his proposals, he highlights "updating the structure of the United Nations Security Council," currently with "permanent seats and a right of veto for the five victorious powers of the Second World War, which together account for only a fourth of the world’s population," a configuration that "does not reflect today’s world."
He also argues for expanding "the number of elected members of the Council," granting the new seats "mainly to countries from underrepresented regions, in particular Africa and Latin America," and for "strictly limiting the power of veto of the permanent members, especially when the Security Council deliberates on cases of mass atrocities, genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes."
At the same time, he calls for a "structural transformation of international financial institutions," especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. In his view, "the distribution of voting power in both continues to reflect the economic balances of the 20th century and, by convention, a European is always at the head of the IMF and an American, of the World Bank. This must end."