Adopted by the Governing Board on March 30, 2007.

1. Focus and subject areas

Three subject areas

The Peace Institute's original idea of operating in the field where security and protection of minority rights/autonomy issues overlap remains important and relevant. The following graphic presentation attempts to describe three overlapping subject areas:

The Åland Islands Peace Institute has worked in all these fields, as is clearly borne out by a list of the Institute's publications (see www.peace.ax). Continuity in the research is ensured through recurring themes in the Institute's publications: the Åland example, its constituent elements and potential, demilitarisation, security cooperation, minorities rights and participation (minority women) and autonomies (especially in comparative studies). Since 2003, issues relating to democratic participation and democratic institutions have become increasingly prominent. Another focus area for the Institute is European security cooperation.

Security
The Institute's work on security addresses issues of military security as well as human and social security. The demilitarisation and neutralisation of the Åland Islands are still in need of analysis and monitoring in response to the emergence of new security environments and in reference to European and multilateral security cooperation.
Neutralisation, i.e. the prohibition of acts of war within or against the territory of Åland, is of more recent date and deserves to be studied in greater depth. The effect of the battle against terrorism on current security concepts is clear and is shifting the previously doubtful distinction between ‘peace' and ‘war'.
Ethnic conflicts, which are often internal, occur both in Europe, in the geographic sense, and in the rest of the world. The connection between issues of identity, including religion, and conflict is likely to remain and become stronger in future.

Autonomy
Territorial and non-territorial autonomy arrangements continue to be developed through the constant tension between centre and periphery. The Nordic region has both autonomous islands, i.e. Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and a certain degree of autonomy for the Sami people on issues that concern them and their traditional territories. In the rest of Europe regionalisation, decentralisation and autonomy issues continue to be discussed and evolve in many countries, while we are also seeing tendencies towards increasing nationalism.
In several of these arrangements political self-government is combined with various forms of support and legal protection of the minority group's language and identity. The subsidiarity principle of the European Union can be expected to evolve in coming years in tandem with continued discussions on the citizens' Europe. The role of the regions is being strengthened and is in need of more in-depth analysis.

Minorities
The issue of the participation of cultural minorities in democratic decision-making processes is one of the most burning issues after the Second World War and especially after the worldwide identity movements of the 1970s and 80s. For the Nordic countries the issue is how to combine an egalitarian welfare society with recognition of cultural specificity and support for languages and identity. How tolerant can we be towards those who advocate other ways of life than that of the majority? How can we ensure broad political participation?
How should we respond to those who may even be threatening the foundations of democracy? Issues of how identities are created and of what they consist, on legislation and constitutional practice, as well as issues concerning the relationship between national and international development are areas where the Åland Islands Peace Institute has long experience, not least thanks to the Åland example's potential as an object of analysis.

2. Examples of concrete research issues
The following is a list of examples of subject areas that are included and can be included in the Peace Institute's projects and research in coming years:

The constituent elements of the Åland example
Åland's participation and influence in the EU
Comparisons between Åland and other demilitarised islands and territories
Autonomies in the Nordic region and worldwide
Language politics in the Baltic Sea region
The status of international law in the Nordic countries
Minority protection and participation in the Nordic countries
Multicultural education and minority languages in schools
Comparisons of legislation and practice on the control of arms exports in the Nordic countries
Citizenship legislation and the discourse on citizenship laws in the Nordic countries
Regional citizenship: the right of domicile in Åland and similar arrangements from a comparative perspective.

3. Three perspectives
The Peace Institute's research areas (above) are addressed with particular awareness of the three perspectives that constitute the basic premises for the Institute's activities.

These are:

Conflict resolution and conflict prevention (objectives)
Åland, the Nordic countries and the Baltic Sea region (geographic focus)
The significance of gender issues in all three research areas (security, autonomy, minorities) and the importance of strengthening the status of women in these.

4. Interdisciplinarity and publications
Openness to interdisciplinary meetings and work is already a hallmark of the Peace Institute's activities. The focus to date has been on political science, international relations, peace and conflict resolution, international law and constitutional law and human rights. The Institute will continue to give priority to interdisciplinary meetings, work and environments in its three subject areas.

The Åland Islands Peace Institute aims to continue its publication activities and is developing a report series for distribution in printed and electronic form.

Download the programme as pdf file.