Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is one of the world’s leading independent institutes dedicated to research on peace, conflict, arms control, disarmament, and global security. Founded in 1966, SIPRI has become a global authority on arms transfers, military expenditure, conflict trends, and peacebuilding processes (SIPRI, n.d.-a). Its work frequently covers regions with significant Muslim populations, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), providing critical data and analysis for governments, NGOs, and scholars.

1. Identification & Metadata

SIPRI—Stockholm International Peace Research Institute—was founded in 1966 as an independent foundation established by the Swedish Parliament (SIPRI, 2021).

Its founding was recommended by the Swedish Royal Commission chaired by Alva Myrdal, under the initiative of Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander (SIPRI, 2021).

Legal status: Independent foundation under Swedish law.

Headquarters: Signalistgatan 9, SE-169 72 Solna, Stockholm, Sweden (OnThinkTanks, 2025).

Staff size: Approximately 100 staff members (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

Budget: Public full budgets are seldom published; SIPRI receives core Swedish government funding and supplementary donor funding.

Governance

The Chair of the Governing Board is Stefan Löfven, former Prime Minister of Sweden (SIPRI, 2022). Other board members include international figures such as Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Chan Heng Chee, Noha El-Mikawy, and Jean-Marie Guéhenno (Wikipedia, 2025).

2. Mission, Vision & Organisational Structure

Mission and Vision

SIPRI’s vision is “a world in which sources of insecurity are identified and understood, conflicts are prevented or resolved, and peace is sustained” (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

Its mission includes:

Security and conflict research

Policy analysis and recommendations

Dialogue facilitation and transparency promotion

Production of high-quality databases and open-source research

Structure

SIPRI’s organizational structure includes:

Governing Board

Director & Deputy Director

Research Staff Collegium

Support staff (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

Funding Model

SIPRI is primarily funded by an annual core grant from the Swedish Government, supplemented by project-based support from European institutions, foundations, and philanthropic donors (SIPRI, 2006).

3. Thematic & Methodological Profile

Research Areas

SIPRI’s work is organized under three main research themes (Wikipedia, 2025):

Armament and Disarmament

Conflict, Peace and Security

Peace and Development

Its MENA Programme specifically studies conflict drivers, peacebuilding dynamics, governance, and human security in Muslim-majority regions (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

Methodology

SIPRI’s research relies on:

Open-source government data

Media and official arms-transfer documentation

SIPRI proprietary databases

Policy analysis

Statistical and longitudinal analysis (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

It rarely uses field interviews or ethnographic data.

Peer Review / Publications

SIPRI outputs include the SIPRI Yearbook, working papers, policy briefs, fact sheets, and curated databases (SIPRI, 2006).

4. Representative Outputs on Muslim / MENA Issues

Below is a sample of SIPRI products relating to Muslim-majority regions:

Recent Trends in Arms Transfers in MENA (2025) Finds that MENA accounts for over 27% of global arms imports (SIPRI, 2025).

SALW Controls in MENA (2022) Documents weak small-arms governance systems (SIPRI, 2022).

SIPRI Yearbook Chapters on MENA Conflicts (2022) Surveys conflicts, missiles, UAVs, humanitarian consequences (SIPRI, 2022).

Trends in International Arms Transfers 2024 (2025) Global military-industrial trends with regional breakdowns (SIPRI, 2025).

Towards a Regional Security Regime in the Middle East (2009) Proposes regional arms control mechanisms (SIPRI, 2009).

5. Policy Impact & Government Use

SIPRI’s databases are used by governments, parliaments, and international organizations such as the UN for:

Arms embargo monitoring

Treaty compliance checks

Military expenditure comparisons

Regional conflict assessments (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

SIPRI receives annual Swedish government funding due to its recognized policy role (SIPRI, 2022).

6. Stakeholder Engagement & Fieldwork Ethics

SIPRI uses open-source research, minimizing human-subject ethical risks. However, there is little public documentation of:

local partnerships

community engagement in Muslim-majority regions

consent/ethics protocols

Thus, while ethically low-risk, SIPRI’s analysis may lack grassroots perspectives (SIPRI, n.d.-a).

7. Funding & Conflict of Interest Analysis

SIPRI receives a core Swedish government grant and supplementary donor funding, but does not publish a full donor list (SIPRI, 2006).

This creates:

Strength: stable public funding

Weakness: limited donor transparency

Estimated transparency score: 7/10.

8. Editorial Independence & Governance Scrutiny

SIPRI’s statutes emphasize research independence. Board members are international, mitigating national bias (SIPRI, 2022).

Publication decisions rest with the Director and Research Staff Collegium, not funders.

9. Academic Critique

Epistemic Rigor

Strength: transparent, open-source data. Limitation: opaque/illicit arms flows and non-state actors not fully captured.

Normative Framing

SIPRI’s framing is:

state-centric

arms-control oriented

secular-liberal in peace conceptualization

Bias & Positionality

Being European and government-funded, SIPRI reflects Western security paradigms.

Policy Relevance vs Academic Rigor

Strong macro-data → weak micro-level, cultural, or religious analysis.

Contribution & Gaps

Major contribution: global arms-transfer and military-expenditure datasets. Major gap: lack of local, identity-based, ethnographic perspectives.

10. Criticisms & Responses

There are no major public scandals. Scholarly critiques include:

state-centrism

lack of community engagement

incomplete donor transparency

SIPRI has not publicly issued formal responses to these concerns.

11. Comparative Positioning Institute Strength Weakness SIPRI Arms data, transparency Limited qualitative depth PRIO Strong academic & qualitative research Less global coverage GCSP Applied diplomacy & training Less quantitative data 12. Recommendations

Researchers should supplement SIPRI data with qualitative and field research.

Donors should encourage SIPRI to increase transparency.

SIPRI should enhance MENA field partnerships.

Policymakers should use SIPRI as baseline data, not as sole analysis.

References