Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) annually releases reports on the Global Peace Index (GPI) by analyzing various criteria. This report presents data on 163 countries’ peacefulness, ranking them based on 23 various indicators of the states’ militarization and internal or external discord (IEP, 2022). The notion of peace can be negative or positive, where the former is the absence of wars while the latter is the nonexistence of cultural and structural conflicts (iDare, 2019). In fact, the idea of positive peace is covered in the following YouTube video. This year’s GPI seems to worsen compared to the previous years due to the ongoing domestic conflicts in some countries and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, affecting GPI and making positive peace impossible.
Although some indicators improved in many countries, some defining characteristics deteriorated in many states, driving the overall GPI score down. In 2022, GPI dropped by 0.3% due to the drastic decrease in peacefulness in 71 countries (IEP, 2022). The five least peaceful countries with ongoing conflicts and the number of deaths associated with them were found to be Somalia, Afghanistan, Russia, Yemen, and Syria (IEP, 2022). The five most peaceful states remain to be Iceland, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, and Austria (IEP, 2022). In terms of the militarization domain, Russia, the United States, North Korea, Israel, and France remain at the bottom of the ranking list since the percent of GDP spent on armament is higher than other nations (IEP, 2022). The terrorism indicator worsened in 44 countries and improved only in 29 countries (IEP, 2022). Lastly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused disturbance not only to their GPI ranking but also affected their and other states’ economies and safety, which in combination harms the positive peace of any country.
In summary, the 2022 Global Peace Index showed the overall deterioration of peace worldwide. The most prominent issue of 2022 appears to be the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, positive peace is a critical concept, which shows the importance of the absence of violence, exploitation, and discrimination in a country as well as the necessity of a well-functioning society and government. If I were to integrate the notion of positive peace into my life, I would primarily focus on fighting racial and gender bias, assisting low-income families improve household conditions and education, and helping local businesses. These strategies can reduce cultural and structural violence, creating positive peace.
References
iDare. (2019). Positive peace [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Institute for Economics & Peace. (2022). Global peace index 2022: Measuring peace in a complex world. Vision of Humanity. Web.