Measuring peace using household-level data from post-conflict Solomon Islands

The definition of peace and its quantification has challenged many researchers. The extant literature defines and measures peace in contradistinction to violence, thereby making the measure an indirect one. There is scope for the alternative of a direct measure of peace in the form of a Peace Perception Index (PPI) as revealed here. We use household-level survey data from Guadalcanal Province in the Solomon Islands to compute the PPI. Our analysis shows that the once conflict-affected communities on Guadalcanal have attained a PPI of 88 per cent of the level of peace prior to the conflict. That is, the perception of the level of peace in the sampled community has improved to 88 per cent since the installation of a peacekeeping mission a decade back. We argue that recognising the people’s perceptions, rather than the use of the absolute minimalist or maximalist notion of peace provides nuances on the levels of peace reached in a post-conflict situation.