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The SIPRI Update on peace and security
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SIPRI Update: January 2025
The independent resource on global peace and security
NEWS    COMMENTARY    EVENTS    PUBLICATIONS

NEWS
Top 100 PR
SIPRI participates in fourth edition of World Emerging Security Forum

On 5 December 2024, SIPRI Director Dan Smith and two leading SIPRI experts—Dr Wilfred Wan and Dr Jingdong Yuan—engaged in discussions on emerging security threats at the World Emerging Security Forum in Seoul. Together with other renowned experts and representatives from governments, international organizations, the private sector and media, they explored the interplay of geopolitics and emerging technologies, focusing on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), space exploration and quantum computing; as well as the competition for resources for technological development.

 

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Top 100 PR
SIPRI to co-host intensive online course on WMD non-proliferation and disarmament for students and young professionals

SIPRI and the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPDC) are pleased to announce an intensive online course exploring the impact of novel technological and recent geopolitical changes on the proliferation of WMD, mechanisms to control their spread, and disarmament. 

 

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COMMENTARY
Commentary 1
Blurring conventional–nuclear boundaries: Nordic developments, global implications

Plans to develop and deploy advanced weapon systems in the Nordic region are meant to strengthen NATO’s deterrence, but they risk having unintended consequences for security, including for nuclear strategies, nuclear force structures and even nuclear use. The authors of this essay argue that as Nordic states take steps to deter aggression and maintain strategic stability, they should engage in discussions that more openly acknowledge the complexities and risks related to the deterrence paradigm and pave the way for more effective means to pursue national security objectives. 

Read the SIPRI Essay

 

External Commentaries

External outlets

SIPRI experts were recently featured in this external outlet:

 

UPCOMING EVENTS
 
8–11 April 2025
SIPRI-led online course on WMD non-proliferation and disarmament

SIPRI and the EUNPDC invite graduate and postgraduate students in technical or natural science disciplines to apply to the intensive online course ‘WMD Non-proliferation and Disarmament: Evolving Challenges’ taking place on 8–11 April 2025.

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PUBLICATIONS
Publication cover
Artificial Intelligence, Non-proliferation and Disarmament: A Compendium on the State of the Art

This multiauthored compendium offers a state-of-the-art summary of the AI issues facing non-proliferation and disarmament. It pulls together four topics—AI in the military domain and the intersection of AI with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nuclear decision-making systems—that, taken together, offer an overview of the proliferation- and disarmament-related challenges and opportunities that AI presents. 

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Publication cover
Subregional Arms Control and Conflict Prevention in the Western Balkans

The Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control establishes limitations on the numbers of major conventional arms and provides for arms control verification in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. This paper identifies the factors at work in the implementation of the Agreement and discusses its ability to contribute to regional conflict prevention. 

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SIPRI Yearbook 2024
SIPRI Yearbook 2024
SIPRI Yearbook 2024 presents a combination of original data in areas such as world military expenditure, international arms transfers, arms production, nuclear forces, armed conflicts and multilateral peace operations, with state-of-the-art analysis of important aspects of arms control, peace and international security. In addition to its detailed coverage of nuclear arms control and non-proliferation issues, the latest edition of the SIPRI Yearbook includes:
  • insight on developments in conventional arms control in 2023;
  • regional overviews of armed conflicts and conflict management;
  • in-depth data and discussion on military expenditure, international arms transfers and arms production; and
  • comprehensive coverage of efforts to counter chemical and biological security threats.

Browse the contents page | Download the summary (PDF) | Download the sample chapter on world nuclear forces (PDF) | Download the introductory chapter (PDF) | Order SIPRI Yearbook 2024