The Global Peace Index rankings: Some musings
"Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Global Peace Index (GPI) rankings have been released. Of 121 countries studied by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on the basis of data received from various sources, by using 24 indicators including military expenditure, access to arms, level of violence, corruption, human rights, engagement in war, incidence of crime etc. Norway has come first as the most peaceful country, while Sri Lanka’s rank is 111. (The full list of the rankings is carried in this paper today.)
If those who are all out to confer the ‘failed state’ status on Sri Lanka are getting ready to dance on the streets, here is some bad news for them. The US has been ranked 96 and India 109! Iraq, which the US and the UK (ranking 49th) have gone all out to democratise, has come last! Interestingly, Cuba and China have come 59th and 60th respectively! Iran is in the exalted company of its bete noire, the US, occupying the 97th slot on the list.
The main reason for Sri Lanka’s GPI position is that it is battling terrorism. But for the on-going war and the attendant human rights violations, its position would have been much higher notwithstanding the other negative factors such as corruption. War has cost this country dearly in many respects, as evident from human rights violations, the high incidence of crime, poor economic performance and the increasing desensitisation of society to violence.
Who created terrorism here and who is sponsoring it at present? It is the countries responsible for those crimes that must take the bigger share of the blame for Sri Lanka’s poor GPI ranking.
India fathered Sri Lanka’s terrorism and created her protracted war. The UK allows Lanka’s terrorism to be coordinated from the British soil, despite a ban. Some British parliamentarians have become putty in the hands of Sri Lanka’s terrorists. Norway, which is the most peaceful country according to the GPI, sponsors Sri Lanka’s terrorism by allowing its activists to operate freely on her soil and raise funds for their violent project. The same goes for other Scandinavian countries, which have secured impressive GPI rankings.
Where Sri Lanka’s terrorism is concerned, the US position is, to use a phrase that Churchill famously used to describe Russia, ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’ The US wants terrorism wiped out wherever it manifests itself. It is supporting Israel’s military offensives against Hezbollah and has thrown its weight behind the Lebanese government to help it keep the Islamic insurgents at bay. It assists Colombia to the hilt in fighting FARC guerrillas and is unleashing hell on Afghanistan and Iraq in search of terrorists. But, in Sri Lanka, the Eagle is cooing like a dove!
The GPI should have ‘sponsoring terrorism’ as an indicator in determining the peacefulness of a country. Such a criterion is of great import as terrorism is the biggest threat to global peace. How can a country be considered ‘peaceful’, if it helps nurture violence elsewhere? If that indicator was ever adopted, what would happen to the GPI ranking of Norway, which allows funds to be collected on its soil for bombs that kill hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka?
The EIU should thoroughly examine the background of the nations it studies before ranking them, without relying on statistics alone. Recently, when the Maldivian Coast Guard intercepted an Indian vessel commandeered by Sri Lanka’s terrorists with a consignment of arms on board, a foreign embassy in Colombo went all out to secure its release, out of its concern for the pirates, but in vain. Shouldn’t such instances be thoroughly investigated before countries are given GPI rankings? It is not only among people that one finds Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes. States, too, behave in a similar manner. In judging the peacefulness of a country, how it relates to the outside world should also be taken into consideration. Similarly, a complete list of the organisations, on whose information the GPI is based, should be made public. Their background, too, needs to be studied.
It is ironical that some members of the international community giving Sri Lanka gratuitous advice on conflict resolution have got lower GPI rankings. Having failed to be ‘peaceful’ themselves, how can they guide Sri Lanka along the path to peace? Isn’t what we are witnessing a case of the blind leading the blind?
It is not being argued that Sri Lanka shouldn’t strive to achieve a higher GPI ranking on its own. Action needs to be taken to obviate human rights violations, combat crime, curb corruption etc.
Let the GPI be an eye opener!
First Global Peace
Index ranks 121 countries
Norway tops list, U.S. comes in at 96, India 109, Lanka 111 and Russia 118
The rankings show that even among the G8 countries there are significant differences in peacefulness: While Japan was the most peaceful of the G8 countries, at a rank of five in the Index, Russia neared the bottom at number 118. The Global Peace Index also reveals that countries which had a turbulent time for parts of the twentieth century, such as Ireland and Germany, have emerged as peace leaders in the 21st century.
The Economist Intelligence Unit measured countries' peacefulness based on wide range of indicators - 24 in all - including ease of access to "weapons of minor destruction" (guns, small explosives), military expenditure, local corruption, and the level of respect for human rights.
After compiling the Index, the researchers examined it for patterns in order to identify the "drivers" that make for peaceful societies. They found that peaceful countries often shared high levels of democracy and transparency of government, education and material well-being. While the U.S. possesses many of these characteristics, its ranking was brought down by its engagement in warfare and external conflict, as well as high levels of incarceration and homicide. The U.S.'s rank also suffered due to the large share of military expenditure from its GDP, attributed to its status as one of the world's military-diplomatic powers.
The main findings of the Global Peace Index are:
-- Peace is correlated to indicators such as income, schooling and the level of regional integration
-- Peaceful countries often shared high levels of transparency of government and low corruption
-- Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocs are most likely to get a higher ranking
The Index is the brainchild of Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Killelea.
"The objective of the Global Peace Index was to go beyond a crude measure of wars by systematically exploring the texture of peace," explained Global Peace Index President, Mr. Clyde McConaghy, speaking in Washington. "The Index provides a quantitative measure of peacefulness that is comparable over time, and we hope it will inspire and influence world leaders and governments to further action."
The Index has already won the support of an influential and distinguished group of supporters, many of whom are dedicated to promoting global peace, including former U.S. President James Carter, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Branson and Harriet Fulbright of the Fulbright Centre.
"This Index stands to broaden our very definition of what peace is, as well as how to achieve it," said Fulbright. "Peace isn't just the absence of war; it's the absence of violence."
"Countries need to become more peaceful to solve the major challenges that the world faces - from climate change to overpopulation and sustainability," said Mr. McConaghy.
"We hope that the findings of the Global Peace Index will act as a catalyst for increased funding to study peace and for governments and industry to take policy action," he added.
NOTES TO EDITORS
-- The Global Peace Index covers 121 countries.
-- The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the country intelligence division of The Economist Group that publishes The Economist newspaper, has compiled the Index.
-- The EIU used all its country analysts in gathering and scoring the data, in collaboration with its contributor network of 650 people.
-- The Index is made up of nearly 3,000 data points with another 4,000 relating to the drivers of peace (6897 in total).
-- The Global Peace Index has been peer reviewed by an international panel of the world's leading peace experts.
-- Steve Killelea is an Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the Chairman and Founder of Integrated Research Ltd. He founded his charity, The Charitable Foundation (TCF), in 2000.
-- TCF specializes in working with the poorest communities in the world and is currently active in ten countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Laos, Burma and East Timor.
121 GPI rankings
Countries most at peace ranked first
Rank Country Score
1 Norway 1.357
2 New Zealand 1.363
3 Denmark 1.377
4 Ireland 1.396
5 Japan 1.413
6 Finland 1.447
7 Sweden 1.478
8 Canada 1.481
9 Portugal 1.481
10 Austria 1.483
11 Belgium 1.498
12 Germany 1.523
13 Czech Republic 1.524
14 Switzerland 1.526
15 Slovenia 1.539
16 Chile 1.568
17 Slovakia 1.571
18 Hungary 1.575
19 Bhutan 1.611
20 Netherlands 1.620
21 Spain 1.633
22 Oman 1.641
23 Hong Kong 1.657
24 Uruguay 1.661
25 Australia 1.664
26 Romania 1.682
27 Poland 1.683
28 Estonia 1.684
29 Singapore 1.692
30 Qatar 1.702
31 Costa Rica 1.702
32 South Korea 1.719
33 Italy 1.724
34 France 1.729
35 Vietnam 1.729
36 Taiwan 1.731
37 Malaysia 1.744
38 UAE 1.747
39 Tunisia 1.762
40 Ghana 1.765
41 Madagascar 1.766
42 Botswana 1.786
43 Lithuania 1.788
44 Greece 1.791
45 Panama 1.798
46 Kuwait 1.818
47 Latvia 1.848
48 Morocco 1.893
49 United Kingdom 1.898
50 Mozambique 1.909
51 Cyprus 1.915
52 Argentina 1.923
53 Zambia 1.930
54 Bulgaria 1.936
55 Paraguay 1.946
56 Gabon 1.952
57 Tanzania 1.966
58 Libya 1.967
59 Cuba 1.968
60 China 1.980
61 Kazakhstan 1.995
62 Bahrain 1.995
63 Jordan 1.997
64 Namibia 2.003
65 Senegal 2.017
66 Nicaragua 2.020
67 Croatia 2.030
68 Malawi 2.038
69 Bolivia 2.052
70 Peru 2.056
71 Equatorial Guinea 2.059
72 Moldova 2.059
73 Egypt 2.068
74 Dominican R 2.071
75 Bosnia and Her... 2.089
76 Cameroon 2.093
77 Syria 2.106
78 Indonesia 2.111
79 Mexico 2.125
80 Ukraine 2.150
81 Jamaica 2.164
82 Macedonia 2.170
83 Brazil 2.173
84 Serbia 2.181
85 Cambodia 2.197
86 Bangladesh 2.219
87 Ecuador 2.219
88 Papua New Guinea 2.223
89 El Salvador 2.244
90 Saudi Arabia 2.246
91 Kenya 2.258
92 Turkey 2.272
93 Guatemala 2.285
94 Tri... and Tobago 2.286
95 Yemen 2.309
96 USA 2.317
97 Iran 2.320
98 Honduras 2.390
99 South Africa 2.399
100 Philippines 2.428
101 Azerbaijan 2.448
102 Venezuela 2.453
103 Ethiopia 2.479
104 Uganda 2.489
105 Thailand 2.491
106 Zimbabwe 2.495
107 Algeria 2.503
108 Myanmar 2.524
109 India 2.530
110 Uzbekistan 2.542
111 Sri Lanka 2.575
112 Angola 2.587
113 Cote d'Ivoire 2.638
114 Lebanon 2.662
115 Pakistan 2.697
116 Colombia 2.770
117 Nigeria 2.898
118 Russia 2.903
119 Israel 3.033
120 Sudan 3.182
121 Iraq 3.437
SOURCE Global Peace Index
"Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Global Peace Index (GPI) rankings have been released. Of 121 countries studied by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on the basis of data received from various sources, by using 24 indicators including military expenditure, access to arms, level of violence, corruption, human rights, engagement in war, incidence of crime etc. Norway has come first as the most peaceful country, while Sri Lanka’s rank is 111. (The full list of the rankings is carried in this paper today.)
If those who are all out to confer the ‘failed state’ status on Sri Lanka are getting ready to dance on the streets, here is some bad news for them. The US has been ranked 96 and India 109! Iraq, which the US and the UK (ranking 49th) have gone all out to democratise, has come last! Interestingly, Cuba and China have come 59th and 60th respectively! Iran is in the exalted company of its bete noire, the US, occupying the 97th slot on the list.
The main reason for Sri Lanka’s GPI position is that it is battling terrorism. But for the on-going war and the attendant human rights violations, its position would have been much higher notwithstanding the other negative factors such as corruption. War has cost this country dearly in many respects, as evident from human rights violations, the high incidence of crime, poor economic performance and the increasing desensitisation of society to violence.
Who created terrorism here and who is sponsoring it at present? It is the countries responsible for those crimes that must take the bigger share of the blame for Sri Lanka’s poor GPI ranking.
India fathered Sri Lanka’s terrorism and created her protracted war. The UK allows Lanka’s terrorism to be coordinated from the British soil, despite a ban. Some British parliamentarians have become putty in the hands of Sri Lanka’s terrorists. Norway, which is the most peaceful country according to the GPI, sponsors Sri Lanka’s terrorism by allowing its activists to operate freely on her soil and raise funds for their violent project. The same goes for other Scandinavian countries, which have secured impressive GPI rankings.
Where Sri Lanka’s terrorism is concerned, the US position is, to use a phrase that Churchill famously used to describe Russia, ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’ The US wants terrorism wiped out wherever it manifests itself. It is supporting Israel’s military offensives against Hezbollah and has thrown its weight behind the Lebanese government to help it keep the Islamic insurgents at bay. It assists Colombia to the hilt in fighting FARC guerrillas and is unleashing hell on Afghanistan and Iraq in search of terrorists. But, in Sri Lanka, the Eagle is cooing like a dove!
The GPI should have ‘sponsoring terrorism’ as an indicator in determining the peacefulness of a country. Such a criterion is of great import as terrorism is the biggest threat to global peace. How can a country be considered ‘peaceful’, if it helps nurture violence elsewhere? If that indicator was ever adopted, what would happen to the GPI ranking of Norway, which allows funds to be collected on its soil for bombs that kill hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka?
The EIU should thoroughly examine the background of the nations it studies before ranking them, without relying on statistics alone. Recently, when the Maldivian Coast Guard intercepted an Indian vessel commandeered by Sri Lanka’s terrorists with a consignment of arms on board, a foreign embassy in Colombo went all out to secure its release, out of its concern for the pirates, but in vain. Shouldn’t such instances be thoroughly investigated before countries are given GPI rankings? It is not only among people that one finds Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes. States, too, behave in a similar manner. In judging the peacefulness of a country, how it relates to the outside world should also be taken into consideration. Similarly, a complete list of the organisations, on whose information the GPI is based, should be made public. Their background, too, needs to be studied.
It is ironical that some members of the international community giving Sri Lanka gratuitous advice on conflict resolution have got lower GPI rankings. Having failed to be ‘peaceful’ themselves, how can they guide Sri Lanka along the path to peace? Isn’t what we are witnessing a case of the blind leading the blind?
It is not being argued that Sri Lanka shouldn’t strive to achieve a higher GPI ranking on its own. Action needs to be taken to obviate human rights violations, combat crime, curb corruption etc.
Let the GPI be an eye opener!
First Global Peace
Index ranks 121 countries
Norway tops list, U.S. comes in at 96, India 109, Lanka 111 and Russia 118
The rankings show that even among the G8 countries there are significant differences in peacefulness: While Japan was the most peaceful of the G8 countries, at a rank of five in the Index, Russia neared the bottom at number 118. The Global Peace Index also reveals that countries which had a turbulent time for parts of the twentieth century, such as Ireland and Germany, have emerged as peace leaders in the 21st century.
The Economist Intelligence Unit measured countries' peacefulness based on wide range of indicators - 24 in all - including ease of access to "weapons of minor destruction" (guns, small explosives), military expenditure, local corruption, and the level of respect for human rights.
After compiling the Index, the researchers examined it for patterns in order to identify the "drivers" that make for peaceful societies. They found that peaceful countries often shared high levels of democracy and transparency of government, education and material well-being. While the U.S. possesses many of these characteristics, its ranking was brought down by its engagement in warfare and external conflict, as well as high levels of incarceration and homicide. The U.S.'s rank also suffered due to the large share of military expenditure from its GDP, attributed to its status as one of the world's military-diplomatic powers.
The main findings of the Global Peace Index are:
-- Peace is correlated to indicators such as income, schooling and the level of regional integration
-- Peaceful countries often shared high levels of transparency of government and low corruption
-- Small, stable countries which are part of regional blocs are most likely to get a higher ranking
The Index is the brainchild of Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Killelea.
"The objective of the Global Peace Index was to go beyond a crude measure of wars by systematically exploring the texture of peace," explained Global Peace Index President, Mr. Clyde McConaghy, speaking in Washington. "The Index provides a quantitative measure of peacefulness that is comparable over time, and we hope it will inspire and influence world leaders and governments to further action."
The Index has already won the support of an influential and distinguished group of supporters, many of whom are dedicated to promoting global peace, including former U.S. President James Carter, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Branson and Harriet Fulbright of the Fulbright Centre.
"This Index stands to broaden our very definition of what peace is, as well as how to achieve it," said Fulbright. "Peace isn't just the absence of war; it's the absence of violence."
"Countries need to become more peaceful to solve the major challenges that the world faces - from climate change to overpopulation and sustainability," said Mr. McConaghy.
"We hope that the findings of the Global Peace Index will act as a catalyst for increased funding to study peace and for governments and industry to take policy action," he added.
NOTES TO EDITORS
-- The Global Peace Index covers 121 countries.
-- The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the country intelligence division of The Economist Group that publishes The Economist newspaper, has compiled the Index.
-- The EIU used all its country analysts in gathering and scoring the data, in collaboration with its contributor network of 650 people.
-- The Index is made up of nearly 3,000 data points with another 4,000 relating to the drivers of peace (6897 in total).
-- The Global Peace Index has been peer reviewed by an international panel of the world's leading peace experts.
-- Steve Killelea is an Australian IT entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the Chairman and Founder of Integrated Research Ltd. He founded his charity, The Charitable Foundation (TCF), in 2000.
-- TCF specializes in working with the poorest communities in the world and is currently active in ten countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Laos, Burma and East Timor.
121 GPI rankings
Countries most at peace ranked first
Rank Country Score
1 Norway 1.357
2 New Zealand 1.363
3 Denmark 1.377
4 Ireland 1.396
5 Japan 1.413
6 Finland 1.447
7 Sweden 1.478
8 Canada 1.481
9 Portugal 1.481
10 Austria 1.483
11 Belgium 1.498
12 Germany 1.523
13 Czech Republic 1.524
14 Switzerland 1.526
15 Slovenia 1.539
16 Chile 1.568
17 Slovakia 1.571
18 Hungary 1.575
19 Bhutan 1.611
20 Netherlands 1.620
21 Spain 1.633
22 Oman 1.641
23 Hong Kong 1.657
24 Uruguay 1.661
25 Australia 1.664
26 Romania 1.682
27 Poland 1.683
28 Estonia 1.684
29 Singapore 1.692
30 Qatar 1.702
31 Costa Rica 1.702
32 South Korea 1.719
33 Italy 1.724
34 France 1.729
35 Vietnam 1.729
36 Taiwan 1.731
37 Malaysia 1.744
38 UAE 1.747
39 Tunisia 1.762
40 Ghana 1.765
41 Madagascar 1.766
42 Botswana 1.786
43 Lithuania 1.788
44 Greece 1.791
45 Panama 1.798
46 Kuwait 1.818
47 Latvia 1.848
48 Morocco 1.893
49 United Kingdom 1.898
50 Mozambique 1.909
51 Cyprus 1.915
52 Argentina 1.923
53 Zambia 1.930
54 Bulgaria 1.936
55 Paraguay 1.946
56 Gabon 1.952
57 Tanzania 1.966
58 Libya 1.967
59 Cuba 1.968
60 China 1.980
61 Kazakhstan 1.995
62 Bahrain 1.995
63 Jordan 1.997
64 Namibia 2.003
65 Senegal 2.017
66 Nicaragua 2.020
67 Croatia 2.030
68 Malawi 2.038
69 Bolivia 2.052
70 Peru 2.056
71 Equatorial Guinea 2.059
72 Moldova 2.059
73 Egypt 2.068
74 Dominican R 2.071
75 Bosnia and Her... 2.089
76 Cameroon 2.093
77 Syria 2.106
78 Indonesia 2.111
79 Mexico 2.125
80 Ukraine 2.150
81 Jamaica 2.164
82 Macedonia 2.170
83 Brazil 2.173
84 Serbia 2.181
85 Cambodia 2.197
86 Bangladesh 2.219
87 Ecuador 2.219
88 Papua New Guinea 2.223
89 El Salvador 2.244
90 Saudi Arabia 2.246
91 Kenya 2.258
92 Turkey 2.272
93 Guatemala 2.285
94 Tri... and Tobago 2.286
95 Yemen 2.309
96 USA 2.317
97 Iran 2.320
98 Honduras 2.390
99 South Africa 2.399
100 Philippines 2.428
101 Azerbaijan 2.448
102 Venezuela 2.453
103 Ethiopia 2.479
104 Uganda 2.489
105 Thailand 2.491
106 Zimbabwe 2.495
107 Algeria 2.503
108 Myanmar 2.524
109 India 2.530
110 Uzbekistan 2.542
111 Sri Lanka 2.575
112 Angola 2.587
113 Cote d'Ivoire 2.638
114 Lebanon 2.662
115 Pakistan 2.697
116 Colombia 2.770
117 Nigeria 2.898
118 Russia 2.903
119 Israel 3.033
120 Sudan 3.182
121 Iraq 3.437
SOURCE Global Peace Index
