Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an organization that conducts scientific research into questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security, in order to contribute to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions to international conflicts and for a stable peace. It was founded in 1966 to commemorate 150 years of unbroken peace in Sweden.

History

In 1964, Prime Minister Tage Erlander 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.

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.

Research

Research is conducted at SIPRI by an international staff of about 25 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
• Research Reports
• Chemical & Biological Warfare Studies
• Policy Papers, also available on SIPRI’s website SIPRI also publishes
• Monographs
• Multi-author volumes
• Pocket-size summaries of the Yearbook in English and a number of other languages
• Fact sheets and press releases

Finances

SIPRI is financed mainly by annual grants from the Swedish Government. The Institute also seeks financial support from other organizations and independent foundations in order to carry out its broad research programme.

SIPRI on the Internet

SIPRI’s address on the Internet is http://www.sipri.org. The SIPRI Web site contains up-to-date information on the Institute’s current research programme, publications, databases and activities. Access is provided to statistics and summaries of the Institute’s research results as well as the full text of shorter publications. SIPRI books can be ordered from Oxford University Press on the SIPRI site.

ee also

*International Peace Research Institute, Oslo
**Journal of Peace Research
*Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research

Military budgets

*Military budget of the People's Republic of China
*Military budget of the United States

External links

* [http://www.sipri.org/ Official website]