PEACE TALKS Edition 1: 2026 Global Peace Index

Book your spot here: Peace Talks Edition 1: 2026 Global Peace Index

PEACE TALKS:

Peace, Power and the Future of International Cooperation

🕊️ The First Edition

The first edition of Peace Talks will centre on the launch and discussion of the 2026 Global Peace Index (GPI) – published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

Widely regarded as the world’s leading measure of peacefulness, the Global Peace Index covers 163 countries and territories, and assesses trends in societal safety and security, ongoing conflict, and militarisation.

The findings of the 2026 Index will serve as the starting point for a broader conversation on peace, power, and the future of international cooperation.

International cooperation is facing profound change.

The number of armed conflicts is increasing and has become more complex and protracted. Geopolitical competition is intensifying. New centres of economic and political influence are emerging and reshaping global collaboration. Technological disruption, climate pressures, and a disregard for the norms and principles of rules-based world order challenge the premises that have underpinned international cooperation for decades.

At the same time, the challenges confronting humanity have become increasingly interconnected. Conflict, displacement, climate change, food insecurity, pandemics, and emerging technologies transcend national borders and cannot be addressed by any country acting alone.

The institutions and norms that have helped manage international relations since the end of the Second World War are facing increasing strain, yet the need for international cooperation has arguably never been greater.

Against this backdrop, fundamental questions are re-emerging:

• Is peace more than the absence of violent conflict?
• How are changing power dynamics reshaping the prospects for peace and security?
• Can international cooperation adapt to a more contested and multipolar world?
• And are the assumptions that have guided the international system for the past 80 years still fit for purpose?

🇺🇳 These questions sit at the heart of Peace Talks – a new conversation series by UN City Copenhagen

Bringing together leading thinkers, diplomats, policymakers, academics, and practitioners, Peace Talks explores how peace, security, development, and international cooperation are evolving in a rapidly changing world.

💬 Join us for an afternoon of evidence, dialogue, and reflection on some of the most defining questions of our time.