Shaughan Dolan is Campaigns and Communications Officer of Conscience. He tweets at @Dolansphere

Peace is a serious business. Since the financial crisis we’ve seen voters turn away from fluffy idealism. As a result, the next General Election looks like it will be fought on the everyday concerns of voters. The Conservative values of addressing the causes, rather than symptoms of societal problems, are values shared throughout the peace movement.

Today, I want to make not an ethical or ideological pitch, but rather a pragmatic one to UK Conservatives. Delivering a stronger economy, keeping the cost of living down and providing stable jobs is something better achieved through the application of strategic peacebuilding.

The UK government is set to triple the amount spent on conflict prevention from £300 million to £1 billion in 2015. This is a large amount to ask the taxpayer to bear so we must ask ourselves the uncomfortable question – how can peace deliver value?

The oil-rich Iraq is now being overrun by ISIS, Islamists so foul that even Al-Qaeda wants nothing to do with them. The establishment of the Caliphate and mass looting is already destabilising the entirety of eastern Iraq. All of this instability is leading to massive human rights abuses and civilian casualties, but with ISIS making up to £3 million a day from selling Iraqi oil reserves. The market is already beginning to speculate the price of crude oil if Baghdad falls to ISIS. Needless to say, this is not good news for UK consumers.

Ed Miliband captured the public imagination last year with a dramatic announcement of an energy price freeze, but it lacked credibility because it does nothing to address the cost of energy. As a result, any savings for the consumer are unlikely to be long-term.

The Government cannot simply lower prices into existence. In today’s rocket-fuelled global economy, no country is an island. Instability in Sierra Leone, Russia, and Yemen damages the ability of these nations to deliver goods, services and custom in the countries in which they operate.

The painful irony about the march of ISIS is how preventable it was. International observers knew that a post-conflict plan to enfranchise Sunni, Shia and Kurdish populations would be necessary to prevent tribal conflict escalating in Iraq. Failure to develop a long term plan to deliver peace and security in Iraq is now leading to the proliferation of violence across the entire Middle East.

Bringing peace to states that provide vital components of our energy mix can help bring down energy prices, ensure long-term energy security and provide the framework for increased trade in a variety of other sectors. The real winner of this is the British consumer - having greater choice, lower prices and better job prospects.

The future of foreign policy won’t be military intervention after military intervention; it will be the building of stability, prosperity and influence through long-term peacebuilding.

Pragmatic Conservatives may not be easily influenced by peaceful idealism, but in a world where capital is truly global we need a strategic approach to international peacebuilding. This could make the Conservatives a movement that shows the world we all profit from peace.