Institute for Economics & Peace

IEP works in partnership with a number of think tanks, NGOs and academic institutions including the Aspen Institute,[3] Center for Strategic and International Studies,[4] International Peace Institute, Open Society Foundations, and King's College London. It also collaborates with intergovernmental organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) , the Commonwealth Secretariat, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),[5] UNICEF, NATO, the World Bank Group, and UN Peacebuilding Support Office.[6]

Since 2015, IEP has been an active member of the UN Global Compact Expert Group[7] on Responsible Business and Investment in High-Risk Areas.

IEP has a strategic partnership with Rotary International and One Young World, which involves training of Global Peace Index Ambassadors[8] the program focuses on engaging young leaders in understanding IEP’s empirical peace research.

IEP is also a member of the Sustainable Development Goal 16 Data Initiative, which is a consortium that compiles existing global data to assist in tracking progress towards achieving Goal 16.[9]

The core asset of the IEP is the Global Peace Index (GPI), which is now considered the benchmark study in measuring peace.[10][11]

The GPI has been recognized by leading analysts and institutions, and has been incorporated into reports such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's Year Book (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016),[12] and was analyzed by the World Bank's World Development Report 2011 team.[13]

The data for the GPI is collected and collated in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU),[14] the research and analysis arm of the Economist Group, and the methodology is informed and reviewed each year by an international panel of peace and statistics experts.[15]

The GPI is released annually with presentations typically held in London, Washington, D.C., Geneva, Paris, New York City, Sydney, Brussels and The Hague.

The GPI is used by various international organizations, such as the UN and World Bank as a source of data and information as well as being used by academics and universities around the world.

In addition, the GPI was the empirical basis for the Symposium of Peaceful Nations, a three-day conference hosted in November 2009 to honor the most peaceful countries in each of nine regions of the world[16] at which Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, delivered the keynote address.[17]

The Institute for Economics & Peace, in 2016, marked 10 years of measuring and analysing global levels of peace. In celebration of this milestone, IEP along with The Diplomatic Courier magazine hosted the Future of Peace Summit in Washington, D.C.[18]

The 11th annual GPI launched in June 2017 includes 163 countries in the world, and the interactive map on the website explains the rankings.[19]

The 2017 GPI recorded a small improvement in average global peace, with 93 countries recording higher levels of peace and 68 recording a deterioration.[20]

IEP has also launched a series of National Peace Indices. The first one was the United States Peace Index (USPI)[21] in April 2011. The USPI ranks each state in the US by peacefulness and, unlike the GPI, uses only five indicators: incarceration rate, the number of police officers, the number of homicides, the availability of small arms, and the number of violent crimes. In 2011 Maine was ranked the most peaceful state, while Louisiana was the least peaceful.[22]

The UK Peace Index was conducted in 2013. The UK Peace Index provides a comprehensive measure of the levels of peacefulness within the United Kingdom from 2003 to 2012.

The Mexico Peace Index (MPI) is the latest in the series of National Peace Indices. There have been 4 editions of the MPI to date, the first published in 2013, and most recently 2017.[23]

The MPI uses five indicators to gauge the level of peace in the 32 Mexican states from 2003-2016. The indicators are: Homicide rates, violent crime, detention without a sentence, weapons crime and organised crime.

An expert panel is engaged to provide independent advice and technical guidance in developing the methodology, these experts are from independent, non-partisan, civil society and academic organisations.[24]

The 2017 MPI found that peacefulness deteriorated by 4.3% in 2016,[25] however the homicide rate rose by 18.4% in the same year. Yucatán is the most peaceful state in Mexico, while Guerrero is the least peaceful state.[26]

The data used to calculate the MPI comes from government bodies in Mexico, and IEP uses survey data collection by the national statistical office to adjust the figures for under reporting.

Another flagship report of the IEP is the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) which provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism. The report analyses data spanning the past 16 years and four editions having been released to date.

The GTI is based on data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). It ranks 163 countries based on four indicators, those indicators are; number of terrorist incidents in a given year, number of fatalities from terrorist incidents in a given year, number of injuries caused by terrorist in a given year and measure of the total property damage from terrorist incidents in a given year.

The 2016 GTI report found a ten per cent decrease in the number of deaths from terrorism in 2015 resulted in 3,389 fewer deaths than 2014, a global total of 29,376 deaths made 2015 the second deadliest year on record.[27]

The Economic Value of Peace report estimates of the economic impact of violence and conflict on the global economy.

It provides an empirical basis to calculate the potential additional economic benefits from improvements in peace. It estimates the economic impact of violence for 163 countries and independent territories representing 99.5 per cent of the global economy and population.[28]

The global economic impact of violence was $14.3 trillion PPP in 2016, equivalent to 12.6% of global GDP, or $1,953 per person, this figure represented the first decline in the economic impact of violence since 2011, which is the year that corresponded with the start of the Syrian war and ISIL's territorial gains in Iraq.[29]

On October 26, 2010, IEP and Peace and Media Tenor released "Measuring Peace in the Media", the first study that takes a fact-based approach into understanding the accuracy of international television networks’ coverage of peace, violence and conflict.[30]

The results show broad inconsistencies across geographies and networks, with US broadcasters much more focused on violence and conflict than their European and Middle Eastern counterparts. Al Jazeera was found to be the network providing the most balanced coverage on Afghanistan. BBC World led the way when it came to breadth of coverage. It regularly reported on 67 countries across six continents which is nearly twice as many countries as the average level of coverage.

The study analysed 37 TV news and current affairs programmes from 23 networks in 15 countries* and then cross-referenced this with the Global Peace Index which measures the levels of peace and violence in 149 countries. BBC 2 Newsnight and ZDF Heute Journal (Germany) were found to be the programmes whose editorial policies aligned their coverage most closely with the rankings of the GPI.

Positive-peace stories make up just 1.6% of the total number of stories examined in the study. These are stories that report on active steps taken to rectify violent situations. Such a small percentage may be partly related to what is considered newsworthy and dramatic, such as high-impact, violent or controversial events. However, the stereotyping of nations which are low on the GPI makes it harder for audiences to gain empathy and therefore to support governments and make headway towards creating peace.

Positive Peace is an innovative and empirically based framework which has been developed by IEP to identify and understand the factors which are statistically associated with peaceful and resilient societies. Positive Peace is measured by IEP on the Positive Peace Index (PPI).

While the Global Peace Index measures 'Negative Peace' being the absence of violence or fear of violence, Positive Peace represents the capacity for a society to meet the needs of its citizens, reduce and deal with grievances without the use of violence.

The framework is based on the quantitatively identifiable common characteristics of the world's most peaceful societies.

The defining feature of IEP’s Positive Peace framework is the systems approach to peace. IEP research has demonstrated that high levels of peacefulness are associated with strength in not just one, but all eight factors of Positive Peace. All domains are highly interrelated and work together systemically in producing a peaceful society.