see url:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies
see full entry...One of those institutions and think tanks which are
completely independent and thoroughly objective of course...funded by no
one in particular...except the Bahrain Royal family...not that such
funding would affect the thinking of the independent collaborators and
intellectuals and specialists in their own fields...😉
The *International Institute for Strategic Studies* (*IISS*) is a
British <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom> research
institute (or think tank <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_tank>) in
the area of international affairs
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations>. Since 1997 its
headquarters have been Arundel House
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_House> in London
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London>, England
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England>.
The 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index ranked IISS as the tenth-best
think tank worldwide and the second-best Defence and National Security
think tank globally,^[1]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-1>
while Transparify <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparify> ranked it
third-largest UK think tank by expenditure, but gave it its lowest
rating, 'deceptive', on funding transparency.^[2]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-2>
Contents
Overview
The current director-general and chief executive is John Chipman
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chipman_(chief_executive)>. The
chairman of the council is François Heisbourg
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Heisbourg>, a former
director. Sir Michael Howard
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Howard_(historian)>, the British
military historian, is president emeritus
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emeritus>. Howard founded the institute
together with the British Labour MP Denis Healey
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Healey> (Defence Secretary
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Defence>, 1964–70
and Chancellor
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer>, 1974–79)
and University of Oxford
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford> academic Alastair
Francis Buchan
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Francis_Buchan>.^[3]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-3>
The IISS describes itself as a:
primary source of accurate, objective information on international
strategic issues for politicians and diplomats, foreign affairs
analysts, international business, economists, the military, defence
commentators, journalists, academics and the informed public. The
Institute owes no allegiance to any government, or to any political
or other organisation.
The Institute claims 2,500 individual members and 450 corporate and
institutional members from more than 100 countries.
Based in London, the IISS is both a private company limited by guarantee
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_guarantee> in
UK law and a registered charity
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_charity>.^[4]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-4>
It has branches in Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.> (IISS-US) and in
Singapore <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore> (IISS-Asia), with
charitable status in each jurisdiction, and in Manama
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manama>, Bahrain (IISS-Middle East).
Research
The Institute's work is built on the activities of its eleven research
programmes. Dozens of experts and consulting experts contribute to the
institute's studies. Research includes work under seven thematic
programmes: Armed Conflict; Future Conflict and Cyber Security; Defence
and Military Analysis; Economic and Energy Security; Geo-economics and
Strategy; Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Policy; Security and
Development. There are also four active regional security programmes:
Asia-Pacific; Middle East and Persian Gulf; South Asia; US Foreign
Policy and Transatlantic Affairs.
Notable former employees include H. R. McMaster
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._McMaster>, United States National
Security Advisor
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Security_Advisor>,
and diplomat Rose Gottemoeller
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Gottemoeller>, currently Deputy
Secretary General of NATO
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Secretary_General_of_NATO>. Orwell
Prize-winning academic and journalist Anatol Lieven
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatol_Lieven> also worked at the
institute, as did James Steinberg
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Steinberg>, former US Deputy
Secretary of State
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Deputy_Secretary_of_State>. The
institute has worked with governments, defence ministries and global
organisations including NATO
<http://www.ndc.nato.int/news/news.php?icode=544> and the European Union
<http://www.iiss.org/en/events/eu-conference>.
Publications
The IISS publishes The Military Balance
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military%20balance/issues/the-military-balance-2017-b47b>,
an annual assessment of nations' military capabilities. Since 2017 it
has also published Military Balance+
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military-s-balance/militarybalanceplus>,
an online database on the same subject.
Other publications include the Armed Conflict Database
<http://acd.iiss.org/>; Survival
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_(journal)>, a journal on global
politics and strategy; Strategic Survey
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/strategicsurvey>, the annual review
of world affairs; and Strategic Comments
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/strategic-s-comments>, online
analysis of topical issues in international affairs. Since its inception
the Institute has published the Adelphi
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/adelphi> series of books, covering
topical strategic issues. Recent editions have covered subjects such as
Chinese cyber power
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/adelphi/by%20year/2016-d199/china--39-s-cyber-power-f1db>,
conflict in Ukraine
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/adelphi/by%20year/2017-cd3c/everyone-loses-21b7>,
negotiating with armed groups
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/adelphi/by%20year/2016-d199/fighting-and-negotiating-with-armed-groups-f961>
and the Iraq War
<http://www.iiss.org/en/publications/adelphi/by%20year/2017-cd3c/harsh-lessons-b53e>.
In 2011 the Institute published the FARC files
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARC_files>^[5]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-5>
—documents captured from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia>
that shed light on the movement's inner workings. It regularly publishes
one-off briefing papers and dossiers.^[6]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-6>
Events
Since 2002 the Institute has hosted the annual IISS Shangri-La
Dialogue^[7]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-7>
in Singapore, a conference on Asia–Pacific security issues featuring
heads of state, defence ministers and security experts from the region
and around the world. In 2017 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
said:^[8]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-8>
"The Shangri-La Dialogue has grown to become one of the world's great
strategic gatherings." The 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index ranked the
Shangri-La Dialogue as the best Think tank conference worldwide.^[9]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-9>
The annual IISS Manama Dialogue,^[10]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-auto-10>
held in the Kingdom of Bahrain, sees global heads of state and
high-ranking ministers discuss defence and political issues related to
the Middle East. In 2015 Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi
described the dialogue^[10]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-auto-10>
as a "major regional event focusing on regional security issues and
everything that impacts upon them".
In recent years the institute has hosted smaller conferences including
the Bahrain Bay Forum^[11]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-11>
and NATO transformation seminar,^[12]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-12>
and regularly holds debates and panel discussions^[13]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-13>
at its offices around the world.
History
Founded in 1958, with its original focus nuclear deterrence and arms
control, the IISS has strong establishment links, with former US and
British government officials among its members. The institute claims
that it "was hugely influential in setting the intellectual structures
for managing the Cold War <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War>."
Raymond L. Garthoff <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_L._Garthoff>
wrote in 2004:^[14]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-14>
In 1959 the ISS issued a pamphlet on the "military balance" between
the Soviet Union and NATO. It was unfortunately replete with errors,
having been put together from published sources of widely varying
quality. I called this to the attention of Alastair Buchan
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Francis_Buchan>, the
director of the institute, who was quite disturbed. A new version
was issued in November 1960, much more correct and accurate, though
still not up to the latest intelligence. Again, I called this to
Buchan's attention, and he undertook to check out with British
authorities what became annual issuances.
The second issue appeared under the title "The Communist Bloc and the
Free World: The Military Balance 1960".
Controversy
In 2016, /The Guardian <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian>/
reported that IISS "has been accused of jeopardising its independence
after leaked documents showed it has secretly received £25m from the
Bahraini royal family
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahraini_royal_family>", noting that
leaked "documents reveal that IISS and Bahrain's rulers specifically
agreed to keep the latter's funding for the Manama Dialogues
secret".^[15]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-15>
^[16]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-16>
The IISS did not dispute the authenticity of the leaked documents or
deny receiving funding from Bahrain
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain>, but issued a response stating
that "[a]ll IISS contractual agreements, including those with host
governments, contain a clause asserting the Institute's absolute
intellectual and operational independence as an international
organisation that does not participate in any manner of advocacy."^[17]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-17>
The Middle East Eye <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Eye>
subsequently reported that IISS may have received nearly half of its
total income from Bahraini sources in some years.^[18]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-18>
Directors
* Alastair Buchan
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Francis_Buchan> (1958–1969)
* François Duchêne
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duch%C3%AAne> (1969–1974)
* Christoph Bertram <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Bertram>
(1974–1982)
* Robert J. O'Neill
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O%27Neill_(historian)> (1982–1987)
* François Heisbourg
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Heisbourg> (1987–1992)
* Bo Huldt <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Huldt> (1992–1993)
* John Chipman
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chipman_(chief_executive)>
(1993–present)^[19]
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Institute_for_Strategic_Studies#cite_note-19>
