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IISS Voices - Climate wars: not if, but when

By Jeffrey Mazo, Research Fellow for Environmental Security and Science Policy

Imagine this: sometime in the next 10–15 years, a tide of refugees heading north from Mexico prompts the US military to seal the border. With an increasing proportion of the US population of Hispanic origin, negative publicity from the 24-hour news cycle and online media such as YouTube leads to 'the greatest social division since the Civil War'. This is just one of the dire scenarios that might arise from climate change set out by journalist and author Gwynne Dyer at a discussion meeting at the IISS in London on 4 November. Read More

Military Balance 2010

The Military Balance is the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual assessment of the military capabilities and defence economics of 170 countries world-wide. It is an essential resource for those involved in security policymaking, analysis and research.

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Discussing Britain's policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan

It would have been better for regional security if a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan had not been specified, IISS Senior Consulting Fellow and former British High Commissioner to Pakistan Sir Hilary Synott has told British MPs. Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, Sir Hilary said the timetable had left Pakistan suspicious that the West was going to 'cut and run'. He emphasised the implications for Pakistan of enduring 'ungoverned space' to its north, and was sceptical of recent proposals to divide Afghanistan, leaving the south to its own devices. Sir Hilary's wide-ranging evidence also touched on the powerful role of the military and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency in Pakistan; the civilian government's poor response to the recent flooding there and the risk that created for further radicalisation of the population; Kashmir; and recent remarks by British PM David Cameron in India that Pakistan was 'looking both ways' on terrorism.
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IISS Strategic Comments - UK cost-cutting review shrinks military capacity

Despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s claim that the outcome of the United Kingdom’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), announced in mid-October, does not represent ‘strategic shrinkage’, the overall result for Britain’s armed forces will be to reduce their capabilities. This broadly reflects a decline in the UK’s relative economic strength and in its consequent will and ability to play a major role in international security.

Read the latest IISS Strategic Comment

Adelphi Book Launch - Ending Wars, Consolidating Peace: Economic Perspectives

The transition from war to peace is fraught with tension and the risk of a return to bloodshed. Recent missions, such as in Afghanistan, Somalia or Sudan, have highlighted the fact that there can be no one-size-fits-all approach to steering countries away from violence and towards stability.

The new IISS Adelphi book 'Ending Wars, Consolidating Peace: Economic Perspectives'offers a series of economic perspectives on conflict resolution, showing how the challenges of peacebuilding can be more effectively tackled. The book was launched with a panel disucssion on Tuesday 02 November 2010.

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IISS Global Perspectives - Russia’s Policies and influence in Central Asia and the Middle East

IISS Global Perspectives Series, Oksana Antonenko

With the largest Muslim population in Europe, Russia is keen to strengthen its ties with the Islamic world. That was one of the messages coming out of the third of the IISS Global Perspectives Series by IISS Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia Oksana Antonenko.

In her talk on 'Russia's Policies and Influence in Central Asia and the Middle East', She also insisted that President Dmitry Medvedev had decided to cancel Russia's sale of S-300 air-defence systems to Iran on strategic grounds, without any pressure from the United States. Read More

Launch of 'Towards a NATO–Russia Strategic Concept'

Oksana Antonenko, IISS Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia and Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Development, Moscow today launched the new IISS and ICD report 'Towards a NATO–Russia Strategic Concept: Ending Cold War Legacies; Facing New Threats Together'.

The report provides key recommendations for how the forthcoming NATO summit and NATO–Russia Council Summit in Lisbon on 19–20 November can contribute to the transformation of NATO–Russia relations.

The report, which was prepared on the basis of discussions among leading experts in Russia and NATO states, attempts to answer the question of how the NATO–Russia partnership should be reflected in NATO’s New Strategic Concept, which is due to be adopted in Lisbon. The report also offers recommendations of what separate steps should be taken by NATO and Russia to help build trust and overcome mutual threat perceptions.

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'Demystifying the South Caucasus' - Thomas de Waal

Thomas de Waal, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace speaks on 'Demystifying the South Caucasus'

Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus – the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as the associated territories between the Black and Caspian seas – still pose the biggest security challenge in Europe’s neighbourhood.

Thomas de Waal, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace spoke on 'Demystifying the South Caucasus'. He examined misperceptions which have informed the general wisdom on the South Caucasus in the West, examined the new role of Russia in the region and discussed whether the region would profit from greater 'strategic insignificance'. Read More

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