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Research

What is peace?

At the heart of IGP's work lies a simple question that has never been adequately answered: What is peace?

For over a century, humanity has built institutions, deployed interventions, and mobilized billions in resources toward "peace" without rigorously defining what we're building. This foundational gap has left the field conceptually adrift, unable to coordinate effectively or measure progress meaningfully.

The Institute for Global Peacecraft is developing a comprehensive ontological framework for peace—one that aims to be philosophically rigorous, empirically grounded, and practically applicable. This is the foundation of our work toward a harmonising global theory of change for peace.

Current Research Priorities

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    Developing the Harmonising Theory

    Our primary focus is advancing the comprehensive harmonising theory of change that can unite the peace field's diverse approaches under a coherent framework.

  • Computer screen displaying analytics dashboards with bar graphs, line charts, and data metrics about user engagement, page load, bounce rate, sessions, and session length.

    Operationalizing the Framework

    Creating practical assessment tools and metrics based on our theoretical model, enabling organizations to measure peace outcomes more precisely.

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    Cross-Cultural Validation

    Testing our developing framework's applicability across diverse cultural contexts through collaborative research with partners worldwide.

  • View of Earth from space at night, showing city lights across continents, with a green aurora near the horizon and stars in the background.

    Institutional Design Implications

    Exploring how our emerging ontology can inform the design of next-generation peace institutions.

Our Developing Framework

A Sentience-Based Approach

We propose that peace is not merely the absence of violence, but the optimal social condition for the flourishing of sentient beings.

This definition, grounded in contemporary philosophy of mind and consciousness studies, aims to provide the conceptual clarity the field has lacked.

By anchoring peace in sentience—the capacity for subjective experience—we're working to establish a universal foundation that transcends cultural particulars while respecting diverse expressions.

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Theoretical Foundations

Our research builds on and synthesizes:

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    Contemporary philosophy of mind, particularly work on consciousness and sentience

  • Two women sitting on a tan leather couch, laughing and enjoying the moment; one woman is holding a small gift bag and the other is using a laptop, in a cozy living room decorated with colorful pillows.

    Cognitive science research on well-being and flourishing

  • A large parliamentary chamber filled with many seated officials and lawmakers, with additional officials seated in the balcony area above.

    Political theory on institutional design and social coordination

  • Soldier in camouflage uniform and helmet operating a mounted machine gun on a military vehicle.

    Empirical peace studies on conflict dynamics and resolution

  • A digital illustration of a blockchain network with interconnected cubic nodes in blue and purple, containing smaller black and red squares, against a light blue background.

    Systems theory on complex adaptive systems

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Anders Reagan, Founding Director

“This interdisciplinary integration allows us to harness insights beyond the limitations of any single approach, working toward a framework robust enough to guide practical action while remaining philosophically coherent.”

Levels of Analysis

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    Intrapersonal

    The internal harmonization of an individual's cognitive, emotional, and embodied processes that enables their capacity for equitable engagement—recognizing that sustainable external peace requires internal coherence.

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    Interpersonal

    The direct cultivation of mutual flourishing between individual sentient agents, where advancement requires understanding diverse conceptions of well-being and developing mechanisms for reciprocal benefit.

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    Intragroup

    The coordination of collective flourishing within defined communities, exploring how shared identity and common purpose can facilitate mutual well-being while addressing internal dynamics and resource stewardship.

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    Intergroup

    The collaborative processes between distinct collectives, each with their own well-being frameworks, requiring translation across different value systems while creating equitable outcomes for all participants.

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    National

    The institutional architecture within sovereign states that enables diverse populations to coordinate collective flourishing through formal political, economic, and legal mechanisms.

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    International

    The frameworks for advancing well-being across sovereign boundaries, addressing asymmetries while respecting self-determination and creating conditions for mutual benefit at multiple scales.

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    Interspecies

    The expansion of peace considerations to encompass all sentient beings, recognizing varying capacities for self-determination and the ethical dimensions of cross-species well-being interdependence.

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    Ecological

    The generative relationships between sentient agents and their life-supporting environments, understanding ecological integrity as foundational to all possibilities for sustained flourishing.

Areas of Application

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    Romantic Partnerships

    The cultivation of mutual well-being within intimate dyadic relationships, where emotional vulnerability and deep interdependence create unique opportunities for reciprocal flourishing and growth.

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    Family/Household

    The foundational social unit where well-being interdependence is most direct, shaping early patterns of care, reciprocity, and understanding of how individual and collective flourishing interconnect.

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    Educational

    The structured environments designed to develop capacities for self-determined well-being, where knowledge transmission and skill development enable fuller participation in creating conditions for mutual flourishing.

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    Workplace

    The organizational contexts where productive collaboration requires balancing collective objectives with individual well-being, creating sustainable conditions for both economic vitality and human flourishing.

  • Symbolic icons representing religion, spirituality, or beliefs, including a crescent moon with a star, a cross, a person, the Star of David, and a yin-yang symbol.

    Religious/Spiritual

    The communities organized around shared conceptions of ultimate meaning and transcendent well-being, providing frameworks for understanding flourishing beyond material dimensions.

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    Governmental/Political

    The formal structures through which collectives coordinate decisions about shared well-being, establishing mechanisms for participation, representation, and resource distribution that affect flourishing at scale.

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    Economic/Market

    The systems of exchange and value creation that shape access to material conditions for well-being, requiring frameworks that enable prosperity while ensuring equitable opportunity for flourishing.

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    Legal/Judicial

    The institutional mechanisms for establishing and maintaining conditions where well-being can be pursued without interference, while providing recourse when actions undermine others' capacity for self-determination.

Cover page of a research article titled 'Reframing the Ontology of Peace Studies' by Anders Reagan, published May 2023 in Peace and Conflict Studies journal, featuring a small globe icon at the top left and NSU logo at the bottom right.

Key Publication

"Reframing the Ontology of Peace Studies"
Anders Reagan, Peace and Conflict Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2 (2023)

This foundational article presents our initial theoretical framework, demonstrating how a sentience-based ontology could resolve longstanding conceptual problems in peace studies while opening new avenues for research and practice.

Download Article

Recommended Citation

Reagan, Anders (2023) "Reframing the Ontology of Peace Studies," Peace and Conflict Studies: Vol. 29: No. 2, Article 1.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs/vol29/iss2/1

Research Collaboration

We welcome collaboration with researchers, practitioners, and institutions interested in advancing the theoretical foundations of peace. Our developing framework aims to provide a platform for diverse research programs while building toward conceptual coherence.

Contact our research division: research@globalpeacecraft.org

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