WUNRN
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Direct Link to 2009 Peace Index
Report:
The Global Peace Index
The Global Peace Index (GPI), the first ever
study to rank the nations of the world by their peacefulness and to identify
potential drivers of peace, is a core asset of the Institute.
The GPI is a ground-breaking milestone in the
study of peace. Now in its third year, the Index ranks 144 nations according to
their ‘absence of violence’. The GPI is composed of qualitative and
quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, which combine factors
internal to a country and external to it.
The major challenges facing humanity today are
global – climate change, lack of fresh water, ever-decreasing bio-diversity and
overpopulation. These challenges are now well documented and supported by
thousands of scientists, academics and leading institutions. It is impossible
to accurately portray the devastating effects that these problems will have on
all nations, unless unified global action is taken.
Global challenges call for global solutions
and these solutions will require cooperation on a global scale unparalleled in
human history. Peace is the essential prerequisite because without peace we
will be unable to achieve the levels of cooperation, inclusiveness and social equity
necessary to solve these problems, let alone empower the international
institutions needed to regulate the challenges.
The Global Peace Index
is intended to contribute significantly to the public debate on peace.
The notion of peace and its value are poorly
understood. There are competing definitions of peace, and most research into
peace is, in fact, the study of violent conflict. Peace is not a subject of
study that is considered essential in Economics, History, Literature, Political
Sciences or International Relations.
The project’s ambition is to go beyond a crude
measure of wars and systematically explore the texture of peace. The hope is
that a quantitative measure of peacefulness, comparable over time, will allow
for a greater understanding of the mechanisms that nurture and sustain peace.
This in turn will provide a new platform for further study and discussion,
which will inspire and influence world leaders and governments to further
action.
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