Research at PRIF

PRIF is a research center.
Many scientists work at PRIF.
PRIF means:
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt.

PRIF studies different topics.
Here, we examine some of the topics.
For example:

• These are reasons for war.
• This is how people fight less.
• This is what we need for peace.

Peace means: 

• There is no war.
• There is no violence.

Peace also means:

• Everyone has rights.
• Everyone can participate in politics.

PRIF examines:
This is what we need for peace.

There are different kinds of war:

• Inter-country war
  This means:
  This is a war between 2 countries or 
  between several countries.  
• Civil war
  This means: 
  Within one country,
  groups of people fight against each other.
  Or:
  People from a country fight against
  their government.

Security policy: 
Countries want to protect their citizens from other countries.
Because:
Sometimes, there are threats from other countries.
Countries then decide:
This is how we keep our country safe.
This is called: security policy.

Arms control:
Many countries decided:

• Countries can have certain weapons.
• Countries can have that many weapons.

Countries then make contracts with each other.
This is called: arms control.

International Organizations:
Countries cannot solve all problems in the world by themselves.
So, many countries work together.
These countries form groups.
These groups are called:
International Organizations.
For example:

• the United Nations
• the European Union

The groups make plans and rules together.

Political violence:
Many people have different opinions on politics.
Some people want to push through their opinions.
Sometimes, they use violence.
This is called: political violence.

Extremism:
People live together with other people.
That is called: society.
There are rules for living together in a society.
But: Sometimes, people want other rules.
When these rules are completely different,
then it is called: extremism.
Sometimes, people use violence to push through their opinions and rules.

Terrorism:
Some people want to push through their political opinion with violence.
These people form groups for that.
These groups want to scare people.
These groups use violence.
This is called: terrorism.

International law:
Countries work together with other countries.
They made rules for working together.
These rules are called: International law.
For example:
Countries do not fight each other.
But:
When a country attacks another country,
the other country can defend itself.

Women and girls in conflicts:
A fight between countries is called: a conflict.
In a conflict, there sometimes is violence against people.
Many times, the violence is against women and girls.
When talking about peace between countries,
women and girls are often excluded.
But:
The opinions of women are important for peace.

Environment and conflict:
The climate changes.
And some kinds of animals die out.
That changes the whole environment.
It may cause more conflicts.
But:
Maybe, more people will work together because of that.
We check:

• When do climate changes cause conflicts.
• When do climate changes cause collaboration.
   

Culture of remembrance:
Wars are part of the history of a country.
That is why we talk about wars.
For example: at school.
Sometimes, there are memorials of a war.
That is called: culture of remembrance.
But:
People have different opinions on how to talk about a war.
Some people want to talk about the war.
Some people do not.
Sometimes, this causes conflicts.