 Arundel House, Temple, London | |
| Abbreviation | IISS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1958 |
| Type | International relations think tank |
| Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom 51°30′41″N 0°06′49″W / 51.511502°N 0.113550°W |
Director-General and Chief Executive | John Chipman |
| Website | www |
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London.[1][citation needed]
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,[2] while Transparify ranked it third-largest UK think tank by expenditure, but gave it its lowest rating, "deceptive", on funding transparency.[3]
Overview[edit | edit source]
The current director-general and chief executive is John Chipman.[4] Sir Michael Howard, the British military historian, founded the institute[5] together with the British Labour MP Denis Healey (Defence Secretary, 1964–1970 and Chancellor, 1974–1979) and University of Oxford academic Alastair Francis Buchan.[6]
Based in London, the IISS is both a private company limited by guarantee in UK law and a registered charity.[7]
Research[edit | edit source]
The institute has worked with governments, defence ministries and global organisations such as NATO.[8]
Publications[edit | edit source]
In 2011 the institute published the FARC files[9]—documents captured from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that shed light on the movement's inner workings.
The 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index ranked the Shangri-La Dialogue as the best Think tank conference worldwide.[10]
History[edit | edit source]
Raymond L. Garthoff wrote in 2004:[11]
In 1959 the IISS 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, 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.
Controversy[edit | edit source]
In 2016, 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", noting that leaked "documents reveal that IISS and Bahrain's rulers specifically agreed to keep the latter's funding for the Manama Dialogues secret".[12][13] The IISS did not dispute the authenticity of the leaked documents or deny receiving funding from 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".[14]
Peter Oborne in Middle East Eye subsequently reported that IISS may have received nearly half of its total income from Bahraini sources in some years.[15]
Directors[edit | edit source]
- Alastair Buchan (1958–1969)
- François Duchêne (1969–1974)
- Christoph Bertram (1974–1982)
- Robert J. O'Neill (1982–1987)
- François Heisbourg (1987–1992)
- Bo Huldt (1992–1993)
- John Chipman (1993–present)[4]
Council[edit | edit source]
Council members as of[update] 2017 are:[16]
- Professor François Heisbourg, Chairman of the IISS and of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Joanne de Asis, founder and chairperson, Asia Pacific Capital Partners
- Fleur de Villiers, journalist
- Field Marshal Charles Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank
- Bill Emmott, journalist
- Michael Fullilove, academic
- Marillyn A. Hewson, Chairman, President and CEO of Lockheed Martin
- Badr Jafar, President of Crescent Petroleum
- Bilahari Kausikan, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore)
- Ellen Laipson, president and CEO, Henry L Stimson Center
- Chung Min Lee, Professor of International Relations, Yonsei University
- Eric X. Li, founder and managing director, Chengwei Capital
- Jean-Claude Mallet, Councillor of State (France)
- Moeletsi Mbeki
- Michael D. Rich
- Charles Powell, Baron Powell of Bayswater
- George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen
- Ambassador Andrés Rozental Gutman, President, Rozental & Asociados
- Thomas Seaman, Fellow and Bursar, All Souls College, Oxford
- Grace Reksten Skaugen, chair of Norwegian Institute of Directors and deputy chair of Statoil
- Major-General Amos Yadlin, former IAF General
- Igor Yurgens, chairman of the management board of the Institute of Contemporary Development
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Contact Us". IISS. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ↑ McGann, James G. (31 January 2018). "2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report". Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ↑ Transparify (16 November 2018). "Pressure grows on UK think tanks that fail to disclose their funders". Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 IISS, Dr John Chipman CMG Archived 13 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Thorpe, Vanessa (30 November 2019). "Sir Michael Howard, distinguished historian, dies aged 97". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ↑ "Authors of the report – Iraq". The Times. 10 September 2002.
- ↑ "IISS Governance and Advisory Structure". Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
- ↑ "NATO Defense College and the International Institute for Strategic Studies convene the first NATO-Gulf Strategic Dialogue in Manama". www.ndc.nato.int. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ↑ "FARC files 'show ties to Chavez'". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
- ↑ "Think Tanks". repository.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ↑ A Journey Through the Cold War, 2004, p. 64. See also "Conflict: An International Journal", 1987 edition, 85–86.
- ↑ "British thinktank received £25m from Bahraini royals, documents reveal Archived 16 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine", The Guardian, 6 December 2016 .
- ↑ "Our funding", IISS, 10 November 2016.
- ↑ "IISS activities in the Kingdom of Bahrain", IISS, 7 December 2016.
- ↑ "Bahrain and the IISS: The questions that need to be answered", Middle East Eye, 9 December 2016.
- ↑ "The Council". International Institute for Strategic Studies. 2017. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
External links[edit | edit source]
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