Addressing structural violence on a reasonably permanent basis entails striving towards ‘sustainable development’. This catch-all phrase suggests the need for a flexible but reasonably stable system in a variety of spheres: environmental, economic, political and social. All of these include psychological processes partly because they require an awareness of ‘sustainable principles’ among the general public and an understanding of attitude formation, as well, among experts in the various fields. Arguably, this is one of the most important areas of peace psychology because (in a sense) it subsumes many of the other topics.

Research in this area (a) delineates specific (mainly environmental) problems or topics of concern – and (it is to be hoped) establishes criteria for prioritizing them, (b) covers specific areas (such as social welfare), (c) gives broadly applicable, practical suggestions based on psychological principles, and (d) considers underlying theoretical perspectives. Although these categories are largely treated separately in the present chapter, there is of course a fuzzy line among them. To take just one example, is over-discounting of the future (discussed briefly below) a problem or a principle?

Some especially clear, reasonably comprehensive reports of psychological aspects of sustainable development in environmental and other domains were presented in a special series of articles in the May 2000 issue of the American Psychologist; also, for example, the Journal of Social Issues devoted its Fall 2000 issue to ‘promoting environmentalism’.