VI. In conclusion: The 50th edition of the Yearbook

Chapter:

1. Introduction: International stability and human security in 2018

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2019

Author(s):

Dan Smith

This, the 50th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook, offers an opportunity to reflect on how the range of topics SIPRI covers has developed over a half century. There is significant continuity between our preoccupations then and now, yet also considerable change. The range is broader, reflecting changes in world politics and military technologies, and also new understanding about what insecurity is and what drives it. The impact of climate change and other forms of environmental deterioration, the concept of human security, the notion of peacebuilding, the importance of recognizing gender issues and making them explicit, the idea of a comprehensive approach to security, the necessity for a multifaceted explanation of what causes armed conflicts, together with the recognition of the importance of violence that falls outside the standard definitions of war and armed conflict—all these have enlarged the peace and security agenda over the past 50 years. Although not all of these are addressed in this chapter or, indeed, in this edition of the SIPRI Yearbook, they all feature on SIPRI’s evolving research agenda. There are also at least two essential constants.