Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

SIPRI's headquarters in Solna

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.

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.

Governing Board

Current members of the Governing Board are:

• Göran Lennmarker,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 Brahimi (France), Former United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General
• Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs
• Susan Eisenhower (USA), President, Eisenhower Institute
• Gill Bates, Director, SIPRI
• Wolfgang Ischinger, (Germany), Chairman, Munich Security Conference and Global Head of Government Relations, Allianz SE
• Mary Kaldor (United Kingdom), Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics

Director

Since 1 October 2007, Gill Bates has been the director of SIPRI.

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.

The datasets provided by SIPRI, especially on military expenditure, have been criticized for containing errors.

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.

See also

Peace Research Institutes

• Bonn International Center for Conversion
• 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

• Official website