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AlterNet reports:
Most peaceful countries"We are living in the most peaceful century in human history; however, the 2014 Global Peace Index shows that the last seven years has shown a notable deterioration in levels of peace."
So begins this year's peace index [script heavy site], an annual report released by the nonprofit Institute for Economics and Peace. The study ranks 162 countries (covering 99.6% of the world's population) according to a complex set of indicators that gauge the absence of violence and political instability. These include a nation's level of military expenditure, its relations with neighboring countries and the percentage of the population held in prisons.
Check out this infographic [pdf] to see which countries are the most and least peaceful, and access the IEP's full report here [pdf].
1. Iceland
2. Denmark
3. Austria
4. New Zealand
5. Switzerland
6. Finland
7. Canada
8. Japan
9. Belgium
10. Norway
Least peaceful countries
1. Syria
2. Afghanistan
3. South Sudan
4. Iraq
5. Somalia
6. Sudan
7. Central African Republic
8. Democratic Republic of the Congo
9. Pakistan
10. North Korea
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Justin Case on Sunday August 10 2014, @03:34PM
There's nobody there, so no fighting. Seriously: living creatures require resources, and when the population expands beyond the supply, there will be contention for those resources. It is inevitable. Of course you could impose population controls... enforced by people with guns AKA government. So, fighting again: the powerful vs. the rest of us.
The king who does not prepare for war will be killed by the king who does.
The only permanent peace is death.
A few things to think about when you're done marching around in your tie died tee shirts.
(Score: 5, Informative) by geb on Sunday August 10 2014, @04:46PM
Antarctica isn't a country. It's solid land, but it has a legal status similar to that of international water.
It retains that status because a large number of nations agreed through peaceful discussion to keep it so.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday August 10 2014, @10:22PM
And that agreement has held because there's nothing there worth fighting over.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by geb on Sunday August 10 2014, @10:26PM
There's an entire continent of untapped mineral resources. There is oil, metal ore, and coal. There's no transport infrastructure, so it's difficult to access, but it's not a worthless wasteland.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday August 11 2014, @12:17AM
The cost to retrieve those resources would exceed their value, so right now they have negative value.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday August 11 2014, @12:58AM
Russia seems to think they have a positive value [www.cbc.ca] ..
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday August 11 2014, @03:38AM
Interesting, but we were talking about the Antarctic.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday August 10 2014, @06:00PM
I'll make sure to inform my Swiss friends that they reek of corpses since 160+ years ago [wikipedia.org]; they are so dead not even Hitler managed to resurrect them.
Like I don't have anything better to do than to think on junk rate pretences of "morals and natural philosophy" (or, for the matter, marching).
Mate, I'm too old (and grumpy), don't try to sell me shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Sunday August 10 2014, @10:24PM
The reason the Swiss have enjoyed so much peace is that they've been so well prepared for war that no one wants to attack them.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 11 2014, @03:47AM
LoL. You joking, right? You must be joking.
(fact: in 26 November 1989 ,they considered abolishing the armed forces altogether. Almost got there [wikipedia.org]).
Usual definitions:
* brigade [wikipedia.org] - 3-6 batalions, min 3 brigades/division.
* division [wikipedia.org] - between 10,000 and 30,000 people.
Swiss army [wikipedia.org]:
* 8 land brigades (including army reserves)- equiv. max 3 divisions, equiv max 100,000 persons.
* air - approx 230 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft
* no real navy [wikipedia.org]
(yes, I know, army reserves and conscription and all that: what good are soldiers if you don't have enough resources [nationsencyclopedia.com] to build them internally when under attack)
No, mate. They can and could afford long-lasting peace because they are living in a geography with low strategic value and very high cost to conquer.
The fact they act as "the Gringotts of the muggle world" also helps (and their geography is suitable for their Gringotts role).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 11 2014, @03:54AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by bugamn on Tuesday August 12 2014, @03:32AM
No army of clockwork soldiers then? For a moment I thought the Swiss had some new assets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 11 2014, @04:05PM
I think a bigger factor is that the leaders of all potential attackers have their money there.
(Score: 2, Informative) by CRCulver on Sunday August 10 2014, @10:26PM
While neutral, Switzerland does prepare for war. The country has compulsory national service for males, and after their service many of them are placed on reserve status and maintain a weapon at home.