Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies

Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies
Type Public Policy Think Tank
Headquarters B-7/3, Lower Ground Floor, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110029
Location
  • New Delhi, India
Director
 D Suba Chandran
Staff
 21
Website IPCS.org

The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) is an independent defence, foreign policy and security studies think tank in India. Founded in 1996, the Institute is internationally recognized. Strategic thinkers, academicians, diplomats, former members of the civil services, foreign services, armed forces, and media persons have been associated with the Institute, which cooperates with the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs, Government of India, and is involved with policy making in other Asian countries.

Research

The IPCS is working to draft a comprehensive framework for security studies. Ideally, this framework will be responsive to the constantly changing demands of national, regional and global security. This is accomplished by analyzing existing approaches to security, peace, and world order and creating models for the development of alternative approaches. More specifically, the IPCS focuses on:

Projects

The IPCS is involved in many projects relating to contemporary international affairs. It is partly funded by peace-promoting philanthropic organizations such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Alton Jones Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, the Japan Foundation, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

A list of some of the projects undertaken by the Institute in recent years include:

This project is supported by the United Nations Foundation to facilitate the task of the United Nations High Level Threat Panel. As a part of the project, a three-day international conference was held in July 2004 at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. The proceedings of the conference are being prepared for publication (as of 2007).

The IPCS was awarded a project by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on bio-defence and biological terrorism. Its purpose was to examine the threat of biological weapons being used by terrorists and the role of the government, the private sector and civil defense management in countering this threat. A one-day seminar for the project was carried out in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Germany. As a part of the project, a three-day China-India-Germany trilateral dialogue was organized by the Institute at Manesar in February 2004. A book about this project is to be published. (as of 2007).

This project, supported by the Ploughshares Fund, aims to encourage an alternative discourse on weapons of mass destruction through wider distribution of IPCS publications and providing capacity building to younger scholars.

This is an ongoing project supported by the Nuclear Threat Initiative. The grant concerns the development of a new web module for comprehensive coverage of issues relating to weapons of mass destruction.

The IPCS, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, organized a one-day international conference which was attended by experts in the field of nuclear proliferation to assess the threat of a nuclear showdown in the sub-continent. The papers presented in the conference have been published in the form of a book. The project was completed in 2002.

The IPCS, along with the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, conducted a one-day conference on India's energy concerns. Experts in the field of Coal, Gas, Hydro, and Nuclear energies were invited to present papers on their respective fields. The conference focused upon the importance of energy security in the overall framework of national security. The papers presented in the seminar have been published as a monograph. The project was completed in 2003.

The IPCS, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation and the Asian Centre for Human Rights, New Delhi, organized a two-day regional conference in 2002 on the issue of displacement in South Asia including refugees, both environmental and forcibly displaced economic migrants, stateless persons and internally displaced persons. A book containing papers presented at the conference has been published. The project was completed in 2002.

The IPCS undertook a project funded by the International Crisis Group to provide an Indian perspective to the Kashmir conflict, with historical overviews and discussion of both the internal and external strategies adopted by India. The study was published by the International Crisis Group as "Kashmir: The View From New Delhi", Asia Report No.69. The project was completed in 2003.

The IPCS won a Solicited Grant from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) for research on the subject of limited war. P.R. Chari, Stephen P. Cohen and Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema are the principal investigators. The study will culminate in a book.

The IPCS, supported by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, undertook a study on biological weapons reflecting the conflicting political and economic dimensions. The study culminated in a conference and the papers presented have been published in the form of a book. The project was completed in 2002.

The IPCS, in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; abbreviation: FES), organized a two-day conference at Manesar in December 2002 on the subject of terrorism. The lead papers and the conference document have been published as a book. The project was completed in 2003.

The IPCS, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, USA, has undertaken a three-year project to study different aspects of security in India and has commissioned a four-part study on non-military challenges to security and national integration from a security standpoint. The study was in its advanced stages in 2007.

The IPCS undertook a study of the issues pertinent to Indo-U.S. relations with the intention of drawing up a report along the lines suggested by the Council on Foreign Relations and several other such reports previously published in the United States, with an Indo-centric orientation. The report, based on input from experts in the field, has been published online. The project was completed in 2002.

On behalf of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Institute organized a one-day conference in 2002 on the problems of monitoring and verifying biological and toxic weapons. The significance of this conference was increased as it occurred just prior to the reopening of the BTWC Convention in Geneva. The outcome of the seminar has been published in the form of a book. The project was completed in 2002.

The IPCS, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, Asian Centre, and the Bangladesh Institute for International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Dhaka, organized a South Asian conference in 2001 titled "Regional Conference on Human Security in South Asia: Evolving a Theoretical Perspective on Human Security," which has been published. The project was completed in 2002.

Along with the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, the IPCS undertook a project to identify the possibilities for building cooperative security in South Asia. The Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) funded this project, which culminated in a book entitled "Security in South Asia". The project was completed in 1999.

In collaboration with the Ford Foundation, USA, the Institute undertook a two-year project to explore alternative paradigms of national security in South Asia, which culminated in a book entitled "Perspectives on National Security in South Asia: In Search of a New Paradigm." The project was completed in 1999.

Publications

IPCS publishes and distributes a monthly bulletin Peace & Conflict containing select documents, opinion articles and seminar reports from the website to opinion makers in India and abroad on a restricted basis.

IPCS also publishes scholarly research monographs and books authored and edited by the members of its faculty. Recent books authored or edited by IPCS faculty members are:

People

The following is a list of people associated with the IPCS: (as of 2007)

Executive committee members

Faculty members

External links