ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the main task for peace researchers should be to help build peace by peaceful means. It seems natural to study the most peaceful cases of conflict transformation in order to learn how to handle similar conflicts in the future. The last sixty years have seen the establishment of a number of academic institutions for peace research. Some are independent, others have been set up as parts of universities. Most of them have a very strong focus on violence. The Scandinavian research institutions have not been unique in this respect, but rather relatively typical. The independent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has focused on arms/weapons, their effects, costs, trade and negotiations of reductions. The best known peace research from Uppsala University is the project of counting armed conflicts based on the number of killings on the battlefield. The Peace research Institute Oslo (PRIO) has large programmes on civil wars and on small arms.
