What the programme does
The Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, adopted by the General Assembly in 1999, names education among its areas of action for a culture of peace. Goal 16 commits Member States to effective, accountable and inclusive institutions, and A New Agenda for Peace of 2023 recommends that Member States develop national prevention strategies. Each of these instruments rests on a definition of peace, stated or implied. The definition a Government adopts may shape what it funds, whom it includes and how it judges success, yet the definition is seldom written down.
The Peace in Law, Policy and Institutions programme applies the theory of change developed by the Theory of Change for Global Peace programme. It assesses how far current law, policy and institutions are aligned with that framework and where they depart from it: how far they produce peace, and how far they produce violence. The Institute’s 2026 article reads selected provisions of international law against its account of peace. It suggests that, if the account survives scrutiny, it could give international law “a standard for designing and evaluating peace-aligned instruments, including constitutions and treaties”. The programme assesses law, policy and institutions, not the conduct of any particular Government.
Outputs
Journal article
The Sovereignty of Sentience: A Phenomenological Approach to Peace for International Law
Journal on the Use of Force and International Law. 8 October 2026. Reads selected provisions of international law against the Institute’s account of peace.
Commentary
What would it take for law to be built for peace? October 2026
A plain-language account of what the definition asks of the law.
Written statement
Statement by the Peace and Conflict Science (PACS) Institute, E/C.2/2025/CRP.48, item 66
Economic and Social Council, High-level Segment. July 2025. Recommends a Special Rapporteur on Peace, a committee on peace of the Economic and Social Council, and the use of definitions and indicators grounded in sentience in national reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Written statement
From Exploitation to Equitable Peace: Advancing Economic Justice Through Irenomics
A/HRC/60/NGO/307. Human Rights Council, sixtieth session. 27 August 2025.
Presentation
Invited presentation at the workshop “Peace in International Law: Myth, Reality, or Legal Obligation?”, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva
7 November 2025
Workshops. “Peace at School”, an anti-bullying workshop series in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, coordinated by ORMA and based on the Institute’s approach, October to December 2018; and a workshop for the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology in Fayetteville, Arkansas, 12 March 2020.
The written statements were submitted under the Institute’s former name, the Peace and Conflict Science (PACS) Institute.
Where the programme fits
The Institute’s five research programmes form one sequence. The first three together yield the theory of change, and the fifth applies it.
- Concepts and Definitions of PeaceGathers how peace is defined and used in research, law, policy and practice. Its intended output is a systematic record of these definitions, the evidence base for the programmes that follow.
- Common Ground for PeaceCompares those definitions to find what they have in common, including assumptions they make without stating them. Its intended output is a statement of that common ground, precise enough to be tested and critiqued.
- Peace Measurement and IndicatorsWorks out how peace can be observed and measured in practice: within a person, between people and between groups. Its intended output is a set of indicators of peace that can be tested against data.
- Theory of Change for Global PeaceBrings together the definitions, their common ground and its indicators. Its intended output is a comprehensive theory of change for global peace, offered as a starting point for discussion.
- Peace in Law, Policy and InstitutionsApplies the theory of change to law, policy and institutions. Its intended output is an assessment of how far they are aligned with it, and how far they produce peace or violence.