It advances a wider understanding of critical 21st-century security issues and their potential resolution. Its policy themes include climate change and security, Arctic climate change and security, geo-economics, non-proliferation and disarmament, security and development, and transnational threats. The Institute holds security summits in Singapore and Bahrain for high-level officials. It provides information and analysis, advances understanding, enlarges networks, and influences the adoption of sound policies on security globally. Heads of state, foreign and defense ministers, high-level diplomats and officials attend IISS security summits to discuss policy in private and public, assisting in greater international understanding and conflict avoidance.
Work Regions:
Events:
- The Shangri-La Dialogue, held in Singapore since 2002, is Asia’s most relevant defense summit and has gained a reputation as the “military Davos.”
- The younger Manama Dialogue, held in Bahrain since 2004, is becoming similarly influential in the Middle East.
Programs:
- Defence and Military Analysis – Concerned with military and security policies and capabilities; defense spending, procurement and industry; and the impact of new technologies.
- Cyber, Space and Future Conflict – Analyses the military and intelligence application of information and communications technology, from satellites and robotics to artificial intelligence and social media, as well as impending advances such as quantum computing.
- Conflict, Security and Development – Exploring the drivers and socio-economic implications of conflict and instability, producing analysis of the interplay between international security and global development.
- Geo-economics, Geo-politics and Strategy – Analyzing the global interplay of economics and geopolitics in redistributing economic power from West to East.
Publications:
- Blogs and podcasts
- Strategic Dossiers – e.g., on nuclear programs, insurgent groups, and North Korean security challenges.
- Strategic Comments – Online analysis of international security and politico-military issues.
- The Military Balance – The Institute’s annual assessment of the military capabilities and defense economics of 171 countries worldwide.
- The Military Balance+ Database – An online database providing information and analysis for individuals and users in government, the armed forces, the private sector, academia, the media and more.
- Armed Conflict Database – Provides in-depth data, timelines and reports on conflicts worldwide.
- Survival: Global Politics and Strategy – A bimonthly journal for analysis and debate of international and strategic affairs.
- Adelphi Series – An academic research contribution on issues of international security.
- HIGHLIGHTS:
- Strategic Survey: Annual Review of Geopolitics – In-depth analysis of the developing relationships between major powers, charting the previous year’s significant events and strategic decisions.
- Armed Conflict Survey – An annual publication with an in-depth analysis of all major armed conflicts’ political, military and humanitarian dimensions. Provides detailed data on conflict-related fatalities, refugees and internally displaced people.