Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)

The Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) was founded by the Hessian Federal Government in 1970 as an independent foundation under public law. Since 2009, PRIF has been a member of the Leibniz Association. Its constitution guarantees PRIF full academic freedom. With 80 members of staff, PRIF is Germany’s largest peace research institute. Besides political scientists, it brings together sociologists, ethnologists, cultural and religious scientists, economists, philosophers and physicists. Their work is directed towards identifying the causes of violent international and internal conflicts, carrying out research into the conditions necessary for peace, understood as a process of decreasing violence and increasing justice, and spreading the concepts of peace. Within the framework of PRIF’s political consulting, research results are converted into practically orientated options for action that find their way into the public debate.

The research program "Just Peace Governance" focuses on justice-related conflicts and the ways in which peace and justice can be achieved at the same time. It starts from the assumption that although peace and justice are equally important political values, they nevertheless compete with each other or come into conflict. Research is carried out in six departments:

  • International Security
  • International Institutions
  • Transnational Actors
  • Intrastate Conflict
  • 'Glocal' Junctions

The research groups "Public International Law" and "Nuclear Arms Control" are part of the research department "Non-Program-Bound Research".

PRIF hosts Germany’s largest library for peace research and conflict studies. The collection encompasses around 50,000 books, 40,000 research reports and working papers as well as 30,000 documents on the topic of peace and conflict studies and theories of international relations. Its special collection "US-Foreign Policy" containing 62,500 documents, books and research is unique in Europe.

Since 2007, PRIF has been a member of the Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders" of Goethe University Frankfurt.

 

Contact:
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
Baseler Straße 27-31
D-60329 Frankfurt am Main
Tel: +49 69 - 95 91 04-0
Fax: +49 69 - 55 84 81
www.hsfk.de

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Representative

Dr Hans-Joachim Schmidt
Associate Fellow

Contact: Schmidth@hsfk.de

Dr Hans-Joachim Schmidt has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt since 1982. He is currently working on issues related to conventional arms control (CFE and its modernisation, Florence Agreement) and military confidence and security building measures (Vienna Document 2011, Open Skies) in Europe. Further, he is responsible for the Six-Party talks on the denuclearisation of North Korea.