Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

SIPRI's headquarters in Solna outside Stockholm.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an independent international institute in Sweden, dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established on 6 May 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open source, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.

In the University of Pennsylvania’s 2013 Global Go To Think Tanks Report, SIPRI is ranked the fifth most influential think tank in the world, after the Brookings Institution, Chatham House, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.[1]

History

In 1964, Prime Minister of Sweden Tage Erlander 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 Riksdag 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.

Organisation

SIPRI’s organisation consists of 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, organisation 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 organisations, 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:

Former Governing Board Chairpersons:

Director

The Director, who is appointed by the Swedish Government, has the main responsibility for SIPRI's work programme. Dr Bates Gill served as SIPRI Director from 2007–2012.[3] In September 2012 the Swedish Government appointed the German economist Tilman Brück as his successor.[4] Brück held the position of SIPRI Director from January 2013 to June 2014.[5] In June 2014 the SIPRI Governing Board appointed Dr Ian Anthony as Director for an interim period.[6]

Former SIPRI Directors:

Deputy Director

The Deputy Director is appointed by the Governing Board from Swedish candidates. SIPRI's current Deputy Director is Jakob Hallgren.[7]

Former SIPRI Deputy Directors:

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:

Within these fields of study, workshops, conferences, seminars and lectures are organised 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 criticised for containing errors.[11]

Publications and Information

SIPRI’s publications and information material are distributed to a wide range of policy makers, researchers, journalists, organisations 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:[12]

Finances

SIPRI's financial support is primarily drawn from governments and independent philanthropic organisations 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

Military budgets

Notes and references

  1. ↑ University of Pennsylvania 2013 Global Go To Think Tanks Ranking Released 22 January 2014
  2. ↑ "SIPRI welcomes new Governing Board Chairman" (Press release). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Bates Gill new SIPRI Director" (Press release). Swedish Government. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "SIPRI welcomes new Director" (Press release). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "Press statement by the SIPRI Governing Board: Changes in leadership at SIPRI" (Press release). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 13 May 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "SIPRI announces Director for interim period" (Press release). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  7. ↑ http://www.sipri.org/about/bios/jakob-hallgren
  8. ↑ http://www.sipri.org/yearbook
  9. ↑ http://www.sipri.org/databases/milex
  10. ↑ http://www.sipri.org/databases/armstransfers
  11. ↑ http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/48/4/547.abstract
  12. ↑ "List of SIPRI Publications". SIPRI. Retrieved 2009-09-10.

External links