About us

The International Institute for Peace is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with headquarters in Vienna. The Institute (IIP) has consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and to the United Nations Organization for Education, Science, Culture and Communication (UNESCO). It operates on the basis of Austrian law as a non-profit association.

The IIP exists since 1956 and was re-founded by the former president Erwin Lanc in 1989. The current president is Dr. Hannes Swoboda.

The IIP aims at conducting peace research but is also intended to function as a platform to promote non-violent conflict resolution in different areas of the world and to a wide range of people – scholars, military staff and civil society but also to students and people who are interested into topics concerning peace and peaceful approaches to existing conflicts.

Work relating to requirements and conditions for sustainable peace is wide-ranging, and investigates the subject from many angles. In order to meet those challenges the IIP is collaborating with various national and international institutions and organisations which it organizes lectures, conferences and symposia on issues which are dealing with peace and/or peaceful conflict-resolutions. Relevant research projects in cooperation with Austrian and international experts as well as with leading scholars also provide findings in the fields of economy, society and peaceful conflict resolution to governments and international organizations.

In recent years the work of the institute has been focused on developments in the Black Sea Region, the development of an EU-Foreign and Security Policy as well as European Neighbourhood-Policy, International Security, Non-Proliferation, but also – on a smaller range – on specific topics in Latin America and Africa. Special attention is also drawn to the future development of NATO as well as the integration of Brazil, Russia, India and China into a new world order, without the use of violence.