World at war: Just 11 countries free of conflict

insidetheKH

WITH the crisis in Gaza, the rise of Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria and the international stand-off ongoing in Ukraine, it can sometimes feel like the whole world is at war.

But experts believe this is actually almost universally the case, according to a think-tank which produces one of the world's leading measures of "global peacefulness" - and things are only going to get worse.

It may make for bleak reading, but of the 162 countries covered by the Institute for Economics and Peace's (IEP's) latest study, just 11 were not involved in conflict of one kind or another.

Worse still, the world as a whole has been getting incrementally less peaceful every year since 2007 - sharply bucking a trend that had seen a global move away from conflict since the end of the Second World War.

The UK, as an example, is relatively free from internal conflict, making it easy to fall to thinking it exists in a state of peace.

But recent involvement in foreign fighting in the likes of Afghanistan, as well as a fairly high state of militarisation, means Britain actually scores quite poorly on the 2014 Global Peace Index, coming 47th overall.

http://www.byronnews.com.au/news/world-war-just-11-countries-free-conflict/2352977/

Apognophos

Nobody would claim that the world gets steadily better in every way, every year. If we're having a downturn now, we'll have an upturn later.

Band on the Run

This does not make sense to me. Being passive is not a sign of peace. My Quaker years are over. September 11, 2001 was the last straw.

LostGeneration

So enlighten us InsidetheKH, does this mean Armageddon is "imminent'? Or maybe "just around the corner"?

Moses Joe

I think I still believe the Bible, because the Bible isn't the problem - religion is the problem. Christ said that he came not to bring peace to the earth, but a sword - some render it a fire. Either way the point he was making was right along with, "you will hear of wars and reports of wars, see that you are not terrified..."

He would say, don't worry about it. Either this is the beginning of pangs of distress or it's not and either way only one thing will reveal which it is - time. "Never be anxious about the next day." Just live your life. I used to watch the news like crazy, now I check a couple times a week to keep up but don't get into it too far. It only serves to disappoint.

kaik

I kinda looked into the text and artickle and it is rather stupid. 11 countries they meniotned were Qatar and Vietnam, both which have strained relationships and internal problems. Qatar and Iran do not like each other, and Vietnam has disputes with China over territores back from the 1970's. Blue countries were pretty much all NATO block, which exception of Slovenia and UK have not experienced a war in past 50 years.

wizzstick

http://economicsandpeace.org/research/iep-indices-data/national-peace-indices

The Global Peace Index ranks 162 nations according to 22 dimensions of peace; the Institute also produces national peace indices giving an in-depth analysis of internal levels of peace

Can anyone see evidence of context? Measurements for comparing whether the world is more or less peacefull than 100, 500, 1,000 years ago?

Feels like a thinktank trying to get government money to create more reports to fill newspapers.