DIIS Centre for Peace Research

DIIS Centre for Peace Research has been established with financial support from the Research Reserve, based on the “Agreements on Research and Innovation 2026–2029” concluded between the government and a broad majority of the Danish Parliament.

The Centre for Peace Research will support a range of targeted research and public dissemination activities in the period 2026–2029. It aims to strengthen peace research in Denmark and in the Nordic countries by establishing a unifying peace research hub at DIIS.

The ambition is, among other things, to:

• contribute with research-based solutions to current security political challenges faced by Denmark and the Nordic region
• raise the general level of public knowledge about security and peace, thereby helping to improve the basis for political decision-making
• strengthen research networks among peace researchers in Denmark and across the Nordic countries

Relevance
In the Danish context, there has been a lack of a cohesive peace research environment capable of linking analyses of security challenges and conflicts with a focus on solving the current challenges facing Denmark, the Nordic region, and Europe. While Danish peace research made an international impact in the 1990s, Denmark—unlike the other Nordic countries—has not developed a strong environment for studying non-military solutions to global conflicts.

Between 1985 and 2003, Denmark had a research institute for peace and conflict research (the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, COPRI), where the internationally recognized theory of securitization/desecuritization was developed. However, in 2003 COPRI was closed as an independent institution by the government. Its affiliated researchers became part of a merged entity, the Danish Centre for International Studies and Human Rights (DCISM), which in 2013 was split into the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (IMR).

In contrast, COPRI’s sister institutes in the Nordic region (SIPRI, PRIO, and TAPRI—the Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish peace research institutes, respectively) developed into strong research environments. Today, they occupy prominent positions in national debates on security and peace, offer degree programmes in “Peace and Conflict Studies,” and publish their own journals focusing on peace and security.

Changes in the security architecture of which Denmark, the Nordic region, and Europe are a part have created an urgent need for new knowledge about security and peace. A number of recent reports from research institutions that quantitatively measure war and peace confirm the picture of a less peaceful world, where conflicts take new forms and unfold in new arenas (e.g. in space and at sea).

The Nordic governments’ orientation toward closer cooperation at a time when security guarantees from the United States are under strain also underscores the need for new thinking. Finally, both new and longstanding features of contemporary conflicts call for a form of peace research and conflict resolution thinking that brings different disciplines into closer dialogue. For example, there is an increasing tendency for conflicts to become transnational, to be intertwined, and to be amplified by great power rivalry or climate change.

Focus
The new centre will generate knowledge in three areas:

• Arms control in a time of arms races and war
• Multilateralism in a time of fragile alliances
• Conflict resolution in a time of new conflict constellations

Arms control in a time of arms races and war

There is war in Europe, and a marked global increase in rearmament and access to weapons, including nuclear weapons. At the same time, outer space has become a new arena for arms races and great power rivalry.

We will focus on how the Nordic countries can navigate this situation and ensure effective arms control regimes and international agreements that can curb the development of weapons of mass destruction. Research on disarmament will draw on historical and global experiences, thereby opening up multiple approaches to peace (alternatives to rearmament and deterrence), in order to provide insight on how the Nordic countries can navigate today.

There are several dilemmas associated with global rearmament that the research will help to illuminate—for example, the security dilemma (a central concept in international security theory): if one country rearms to enhance its own security, others feel threatened and do the same, which may ultimately increase rather than reduce the risk of conflict.

Another example is that new technologies (e.g. AI and drones), along with increasing great power rivalry and competition in space, entail new types of security risks, as traditional control models and treaties do not effectively regulate these new domains.

Multilateralism in a time of fragile alliances

The need to rethink multilateralism—either by revitalizing existing forms of international cooperation or by developing new models—has moved to the forefront of the agenda.

This is driven, among other things, by declining financial support for the United Nations, a stronger Global South challenging traditional power balances, tensions in transatlantic relations and the resulting need to reconsider security guarantees and NATO, and not least the need to respond more quickly and effectively to global challenges collectively. Reform of UN institutions and the UN Charter is part of this debate.

The Centre for Peace Research will build knowledge on international institutions and the changing multilateral landscape in order to rethink forms of international cooperation. Research on multilateralism will provide a deeper understanding of historical and current forms of cooperation in international politics, thereby paving the way for proposals for potential reforms and new cooperative constellations.

Conflict resolution in a time of new conflict constellations

Conflicts around the world are escalating more rapidly than before, as civil wars often spill beyond their original context and become transnationalized, while there is an increasing tendency for states to support armed groups in other countries.

At the same time, conflicts often appear in “bundles,” meaning that a single conflict area may be characterized by multiple overlapping conflicts. These new types of conflict place demands on how conflict resolution and interventions are designed, as traditional mechanisms are no longer sufficient.

The Centre for Peace Research will build knowledge on how factors such as rapid transnationalization, climate change, technological developments, and the growing global influence of private companies affect conflict dynamics and international security—and how these conditions shape the way we think about and design conflict resolution.

The research on conflict resolution will build on the extensive empirical knowledge that DIIS researchers possess regarding new types of conflict and contribute to developing solutions to these conflicts.

Distinctive features

Since the 1950s, Nordic peace research has developed a distinctive profile by contributing perspectives that emphasize the importance of positive peace (justice, development, equality), rather than merely the absence of violence (negative peace).

It is also practice-oriented and focused on societal relevance, as several of the discipline’s founders (and theorists) have been involved in diplomatic work and mediation efforts. Some of the tools that Nordic peace research has highlighted as central to creating sustainable and positive peace include the involvement of civil society in peace processes and engagement in multilateral organizations and binding forms of cooperation.

The Centre for Peace Research aims to build on the Nordic tradition by being multidisciplinary, policy- and practice-oriented, and by adopting a broad understanding of conflict and conflict resolution (as more than simply the absence of violence).

However, our distinctive contribution will primarily lie in:

• a qualitative approach to peace research. Norway and Sweden are known for quantitative methods and major statistical databases, whereas DIIS hosts researchers with deep fieldwork experience and nuanced conflict understanding, which we will bring into play
• working at the intersection of the social sciences and the humanities, particularly by combining three disciplines: International Relations (with theories of power balance, deterrence, and international security), anthropology (with a strong emphasis on local and field-based perspectives), and history (including the role of the past, trauma, and memory)
• integrating perspectives on security and peace by combining insights from different theories and traditions

This distinctive approach will be brought into dialogue with other research environments that have their own “DNA” in the field. For example, SIPRI is known for its annual reports on military expenditure (arms control and disarmament), and Uppsala University hosts one of the world’s most widely used databases on armed conflict.

Norwegian peace research is known for strong theoretical contributions, including those of Johan Galtung—one of the founders of the field—peace researchers’ involvement in diplomacy, and the establishment of a leading journal (Journal of Peace Research). The Finnish peace research institute has focused on post-conflict reconciliation and transitional justice.

As described above, Danish peace research has been less institutionalized, often embedded within security studies, history (memory studies), or conflict studies. We will continue this tradition while also seeking to create synergies between the fields of security and peace.