Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. Due to its systemic nature, improvements in Positive Peace not only strengthen peace, but are also associated with many other desirable outcomes for society, such as higher GDP growth, better measures of wellbeing, higher levels of resilience and more harmonious societies.

Importantly, it provides a theory of social change, explaining how societies transform and evolve. Positive Peace describes an optimal environment under which human potential can flourish.

The Institute has developed a conceptual framework, known as the Pillars of Peace, that outlines a system of eight factors that work together to build positive peace. Derived from a statistical analysis of over 40,000 datasets, the Pillars of Peace provides a roadmap to overcome adversity and conflict, and to build lasting peace.