Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

Peace Research Institute Frankfurt
Abbreviation PRIF
Formation 1970 (1970)
Type government funded think tank
Legal status Foundation (nonprofit)
Purpose Peace and conflict studies
Location
Executive director
 Nicole Deitelhoff
Staff
approx. 90
Website www.prif.org

Established in 1970, the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), or Hessische Stiftung Friedens und Konfliktforschung (HSFK) was founded by the state of Hesse.

With approximately 70 employees (as of 2011), PRIF is Germany’s largest and oldest peace research institute.[1] PRIF does not carry out any commissioned research.

"The work of the PRIF is focused on identifying the causes of violent international and internal conflicts, carrying out research into the conditions necessary for peace, understood as a process of decreasing violence and increasing justice, and spreading the concepts of peace. Within the framework of its political consulting, research results are converted into practice oriented options for action that find their way into the public debate.[2]

PRIF investigates the causes of international crisis and conflict, pursues research on peace and conflict studies and disarmament policy. PRIF places a regional focus on the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, while researching the necessary conditions to increase justice and decrease violence (i.e. establish peace).[3][4] It places special emphasis in its research work on arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament. From 1987 to 2002, the PRIF trained many young academics in countries having no non-proliferation expertise, organizing a network of European non-proliferation researchers. PRIF researchers have long-standing experience in political advice and consulting, having served, inter alia, in German delegations to NPT, CTBT, CWC, BWC, Ottawa Convention and SALW gatherings, in the UN Conference on Disarmament and in IAEA Expert Groups.[1]

Organization

The Executive Director of the PRIF is Nicole Deitelhoff. Other members of the Executive Board are Christopher Daase, Susanne Boetsch, Peter Kreuzer, Sabine Mannitz and Jonas Wolff.

The Research Council is a body that includes all PRIF scholars. It makes decisions on the research program and on the projects of the individual research departments.

The Board of Trustees, consisting of Hesse’s Prime Minister, the Minister for Science and the Arts, and the Finance Minister of Hesse, three public figures and three elected representatives from within the institute, supervises the management of the institution and approves its budget.

The Advisory Board supports the PRIF on the design and implementation of the institute's research programs. Four-year terms are by appointment of the Board of Trustees which is made up of eight scholars from Germany and abroad. The Advisory Board chairman is currently Thomas Risse.

At the end of 2004, the PRIF was evaluated by a commission of the German Council of Science and Humanities and recommended for acceptance into the Leibniz Association. On January 1, 2009 the PRIF became a member institute in the scientific organization.

Research Departments

Since 2009, PRIF devotes its work to the research program Just Democratic Peace which analyses justice-related conflicts and the ways in which peace and justice can be achieved at the same time.[5]

Research at the PRIF is broken down into seven departments:

  • I: International Security
  • II: International Institutions
  • III: Transnational Actors
  • IV: Intrastate Conflict
  • V: 'Glocal' Junctions
  • VI: Non-Program-Bound Research
  • VII: Knowledge Transfer

Publications

In addition to anthologies and monographs in the publication series "Studies of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt," PRIF publishes approximately ten HSFK-Reports (PRIF Reports in English),as well as the series "HSFK-Standpunkte – Beiträge zum demokratischen Frieden" [PRIF Viewpoints – Articles on Democratic Peace, published in German only]. PRIF publications can be downloaded online or ordered directly from the institute’s web site. Print versions are also available in many libraries.

The State of Peace Report, which has been appearing since 1987, is the yearbook of five German peace research institutes. Besides PRIF, the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFHS) and the Research Center of the Evangelical Studies Community in Heidelberg FEST are involved. Since 1999 the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) and the Institute for Development and Peace in Duisburg (INEF) have also been involved.[6]

The State of Peace Yearbook consists of an introductory statement followed by several analyses of current conflicts as well as foreign and security policy, supplemented by concrete policy recommendations. Since 2007, the Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung (German Foundation for Peace Research) has provided financial support for the State of Peace Report.

References

  1. 1 2 Peace Research Institute Frankfurt - PRIF / HSFK (Hessische Stiftung Friedens und Konfliktforschung). EU Non-Proliferation Consortium. Last accessed 26 Dec 2011.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ PRIF. PRIF. Last accessed 26 Dec 2011.
  4. ↑ Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). International Relations and Security Network Last accessed 26 Dec 2011.
  5. ↑ "Research Programm".
  6. ↑ "PRIF Publications". Retrieved January 29, 2012.
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