Our mission
We work to support the United Nations, its Member States, the research community and civil society in developing a shared and comprehensive understanding of what peace is. We conduct independent research on how peace is understood across academic traditions, international law and policy, and on what these understandings have in common. Making this common ground explicit could give those working for peace a common reference point and help their efforts to reinforce one another. We publish our research in peer-reviewed journals and reports and offer it for critical examination by the wider community. We contribute written statements on the foundations of peace to United Nations bodies and present our research at the United Nations, at universities and to civil society organisations. We train students and early-career researchers through remote research traineeships.
Our vision
The Institute works towards a world in which humanity lives in lasting peace with itself. Such a world becomes attainable once peace is understood well enough to be reliably measured and sustainably built, so that wherever peace and violence are weighed, peace is the evident choice. As violence recedes, the human and economic resources it consumes are freed for sustainable development, human rights and mutual understanding among peoples.
Why the concept of peace
The Charter of the United Nations states that the first purpose of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for peaceful, just and inclusive societies. General Assembly resolution 70/262 and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) set out the concept of sustaining peace, and A New Agenda for Peace and the Pact for the Future return to it. But what is it?
Researchers do not agree on what peace is. A 2024 review in International Studies Review identified at least 61 distinct concepts of peace in the research literature. A law, a mandate or an indicator that aims to produce peace cannot easily be judged as long as that aim is undefined. Until we understand what peace is, we will not be able to identify when we have achieved it.
Our independence
The Institute is independent. It was set up by its members under Swedish law and is governed by its own Statutes. No government or intergovernmental body established it. Under article 4 of the Statutes, its purpose “is to carry out non-profit research, education, and advocacy to strengthen the conceptual foundations of global peace efforts”. The Statutes were last revised by the Members’ Assembly on 3 October 2025, when the Institute took its present name. The Institute also holds special consultative status with the United Nations.
How we are governed
The Members’ Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the Institute. Under the Statutes, it meets twice a year, in spring and in winter. A Board of three Directors (a Chair, a Secretary and a Treasurer) manages the Institute between sessions and is elected every other year. The Director, Anders Reagan, chairs the Board. Under the Statutes, the Board presents an operational report and a financial report to the Members’ Assembly each spring, and an auditor reviews the accounts.
The Board has three Directors Anders Reagan, Chair; Miranda Melcher, Secretary; and Elizabeth Dunthorne, Treasurer.
How we are funded
The Institute is independent and non-profit. Under its Statutes, its funds may come from membership fees, voluntary contributions, donations, grants and fundraising, and any surplus must be reinvested in its work. The Institute seeks voluntary contributions from those who share its purpose.
At a glance
- Registered in Sweden in 2017
- Seat in Stockholm
- In special consultative status with the United Nations
- Two peer-reviewed articles
- Three statements published by the United Nations
- 19 Research Trainees since 2025
Find out more
- Our people: the Director, the Board and the Research Trainees.
- Statutes: the constitutive instrument of the Institute, article by article.
- Message from the Director: why the Institute studies the meaning of peace.
- Our history: from the registration of the Institute in 2017 to its first article in international law.
- Partnerships and networks: the peace networks, universities and organizations the Institute has worked with.
- Our work with the United Nations: questions and answers on the Institute’s consultative status and statements.