SIPRI
Encyclopedia
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an independent international
institute
dedicated to research into conflict
, armaments, arms control
and disarmament
. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open source
, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.
The Foreign Policy Think Tank Index ranked SIPRI as the #3 non-U.S. think tank in the world in 2009.
of Sweden put forward the idea of establishing a peace research institute to commemorate Sweden's 150 years of unbroken peace.
A Swedish Royal Commission chaired by Ambassador Alva Myrdal
proposed in its 1966 report to establish an institute, later named the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI. The Institute's research should seek to contribute to 'the understanding of the preconditions for a stable peace and for peaceful solutions of international conflicts' and the Commission recommended that research be concentrated on armaments, their limitation and reduction, and arms control
. The Commission also recommended that SIPRI work be of 'an applied research character directed towards practical-political questions [which] should be carried on in a constant interchange with research of a more theoretical kind'.
SIPRI has built its reputation and standing on competence, professional skills, and the collection of hard data and precise facts, rendering accessible impartial information on weapon developments, arms transfers and production, military expenditure, as well as on arms limitations, reductions and disarmament. The task of the Institute is to conduct 'scientific research on questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solution of international conflicts and for a stable peace'.
The Swedish Parliament decided that the Institute be established on 1 July 1966 with the legal status of an independent foundation. All SIPRI research is based exclusively on open sources.
Within these fields of study, workshops, conferences, seminars and lectures are organized in order to bring together a broad spectrum of expertise and to exchange views on subjects studied at the Institute. SIPRI research projects maintain large databases on military expenditure, arms-producing industries, arms transfers, chemical and biological warfare, national and international export controls, arms control agreements, annual chronologies of major arms control events, military manoeuvres and nuclear explosions. SIPRI hosts the FIRST (Facts on International Relations and Security Trends) online database of security-relevant information at http://first.sipri.org.
SIPRI series:
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
institute
Institute
An institute is a permanent organizational body created for a certain purpose. Often it is a research organization created to do research on specific topics...
dedicated to research into conflict
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
, armaments, arms control
Arms control
Arms control is an umbrella term for restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation, and usage of weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction...
and disarmament
Disarmament
Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...
. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.
The Foreign Policy Think Tank Index ranked SIPRI as the #3 non-U.S. think tank in the world in 2009.
History
In 1964, Prime Minister Tage ErlanderTage Erlander
was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Sweden from 1946 to 1969...
of Sweden put forward the idea of establishing a peace research institute to commemorate Sweden's 150 years of unbroken peace.
A Swedish Royal Commission chaired by Ambassador Alva Myrdal
Alva Myrdal
Alva Myrdal was a Swedish sociologist and politician. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. She married Gunnar Myrdal in 1924....
proposed in its 1966 report to establish an institute, later named the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI. The Institute's research should seek to contribute to 'the understanding of the preconditions for a stable peace and for peaceful solutions of international conflicts' and the Commission recommended that research be concentrated on armaments, their limitation and reduction, and arms control
Arms control
Arms control is an umbrella term for restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation, and usage of weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction...
. The Commission also recommended that SIPRI work be of 'an applied research character directed towards practical-political questions [which] should be carried on in a constant interchange with research of a more theoretical kind'.
SIPRI has built its reputation and standing on competence, professional skills, and the collection of hard data and precise facts, rendering accessible impartial information on weapon developments, arms transfers and production, military expenditure, as well as on arms limitations, reductions and disarmament. The task of the Institute is to conduct 'scientific research on questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solution of international conflicts and for a stable peace'.
The Swedish Parliament decided that the Institute be established on 1 July 1966 with the legal status of an independent foundation. All SIPRI research is based exclusively on open sources.
Organization
SIPRI’s organization is a Governing Board, Director, Deputy Director, Research Staff Collegium and support staff. An Advisory Committee serves as a consultative body to the Institute. The Governing Board takes decisions on important matters concerning the research agenda, activities, organization and financial administration of the Institute. Other matters are decided by the Director. The Research Staff Collegium advises the Director on research matters. The staff of about 50 persons is international. The researchers are recruited for a specific project period and represent various academic disciplines. Located in Sweden, the Institute offers a unique platform for researchers from different countries to work in close cooperation. The Institute also hosts guest researchers who work on issues related to the SIPRI research programme. Although SIPRI is not a teaching institute, it receives interns whose programmes of study can contribute to and benefit from SIPRI’s research. Contacts are maintained with other research centres and individual researchers throughout the world. SIPRI cooperates closely with several intergovernmental organizations, notably the United Nations and the European Union, and regularly receives parliamentary, scientific and government delegations as well as visiting researchers. Frequent contacts are maintained with diplomatic missions in Stockholm and with Swedish research centres.Governing Board
Current members of the Governing Board are:- Göran LennmarkerGöran LennmarkerRolf Göran Lennmarker is a Swedish moderate politician who has been a member of the Riksdag since 1991. From 2006 until 2010 he was the Chair of the Riksdag's Committee on Foreign Affairs...
,Chairman from September 2010 - Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Director for Program and Research, The Habibie Center, Indonesia
- Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia), Deputy Director, IMEMO (Institute of World Economy and International Relations)
- Ambassador Lakhdar BrahimiLakhdar BrahimiLakhdar Brahimi is a veteran United Nations envoy and advisor. He retired from his duties at the end of 2005. Brahimi is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, the first global initiative to focus specifically on the link between exclusion, poverty and law...
(FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Former United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Special AdviserSpecial adviserSpecial adviser may refer to:*Special advisers *Special advisers *Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation*United Nations Special Advisers, see Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations...
to the Secretary-General - Jayantha DhanapalaJayantha DhanapalaProfessor Jayantha Dhanapala is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and a governing board member of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Dr. Dhanapala was Sri Lanka's official candidate for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations,...
(Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
), President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World AffairsPugwash Conferences on Science and World AffairsThe Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats...
and former Under-Secretary-General of the United NationsUnder-Secretary-General of the United NationsAn Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Secretary-General for a renewable term of four years....
for Disarmament Affairs - Susan Eisenhower (USA), President, Eisenhower Institute
- Gill Bates, Director, SIPRI
- Wolfgang IschingerWolfgang IschingerWolfgang Friedrich Ischinger is a German diplomat. He was Germany's ambassador to the Court of St. James's from 2006 to May, 2008...
, (GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Chairman, Munich Security Conference and Global Head of Government Relations, Allianz SEAllianzSE is a global financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest financial services group and 23rd-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.Its Allianz Global Investors... - Mary KaldorMary KaldorMary Kaldor is a British academic, currently Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics, where she is also the Director of its Centre for the Study of Global Governance. She has been a key figure in the development of cosmopolitan democracy...
(United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
), Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
Research
Research is conducted at SIPRI by an international staff of about 40 researchers and research assistants. The Institute’s current research programme centres on the following projects:- The SIPRI Yearbook
- Euro-Atlantic Security and Arms Control
- Armed Conflict and Conflict Management
- Non-Proliferation and Export Controls
- Chemical and Biological Warfare
- Military Expenditure and Arms Production
- Arms Transfers
- IT Projects: 'Facts on International Relations and Security Trends' and 'An Internet-Based Early Warning Indicators System for Preventive Policy'
Within these fields of study, workshops, conferences, seminars and lectures are organized in order to bring together a broad spectrum of expertise and to exchange views on subjects studied at the Institute. SIPRI research projects maintain large databases on military expenditure, arms-producing industries, arms transfers, chemical and biological warfare, national and international export controls, arms control agreements, annual chronologies of major arms control events, military manoeuvres and nuclear explosions. SIPRI hosts the FIRST (Facts on International Relations and Security Trends) online database of security-relevant information at http://first.sipri.org.
Publications and Information
SIPRI’s publications and information material are distributed to a wide range of policy makers, researchers, journalists, organizations and the interested public. The results of the research are disseminated through the publication of books and reports by SIPRI and commissioned authors as well as through symposia and seminars. The Institute has forged its profile by concentrating on present-day realities, providing unbiased facts to states and individuals. SIPRI’s main publication, the SIPRI Yearbook, was first published on 12 November 1969. The Yearbook serves as a single authoritative and independent source to which politicians, diplomats and journalists can turn for an account of what has happened during the past year in armaments and arms control, armed conflicts and conflict resolution, security arrangements and disarmament. It is translated into a number of other languages, notably Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese and Arabic.SIPRI series:
- SIPRI Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security
- SIPRI Monographs
- SIPRI Research Reports
- SIPRI Chemical & Biological warfare Studies
- SIPRI Policy Papers
- SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security
- SIPRI Fact Sheets and Policy Briefs
- Multi-author volumes
- Pocket-size summaries of the Yearbook in English and a number of other languages
Finances
SIPRI's financial support is primarily drawn from governments and independent philanthropic organizations around the world. SIPRI also receives annual support from the Swedish government in the form of a core grant approved by the Swedish parliament.Peace Research Institutes
- Bonn International Center for ConversionBonn International Center for ConversionThe Bonn International Center for Conversion , established in 1994, is a research institute located in Bonn, Germany. While the focus of BICC's work initially centered around the conversion of military facilities and equipment to civilian uses , the institute's research has expanded to other areas...
- International Peace Research Institute, OsloInternational Peace Research Institute, OsloThe Peace Research Institute Oslo is an independent peace studies institution, based in Oslo, Norway.- History and governance:PRIO was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researchers, among these Johan Galtung. The institute was an affiliate of the Norwegian Institute for Social Research in...
- Journal of Peace ResearchJournal of Peace ResearchThe Journal of Peace Research is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly articles and book reviews in the fields of peace studies, conflict resolution, and international security. Its scope is similar to that of the Journal of Conflict Resolution. Founded by Johan Galtung in 1964,...
- Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace ResearchTami Steinmetz Center for Peace ResearchTami Steinmetz Center For Peace Research is an academic research institution of Tel Aviv University which surveys public opinion regarding the peace process, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Arab-Israeli conflict....
Military budgets
- Military budget of the People's Republic of ChinaMilitary budget of the People's Republic of ChinaThe military budget of the People's Republic of China is the portion of the overall budget of China that is allocated for the funding of the military of the People's Republic of China...
- Military budget of the United StatesMilitary budget of the United StatesThe military budget is that portion of the United States discretionary federal budget that is allocated to the Department of Defense, or more broadly, the portion of the budget that goes to any defense-related expenditures...