September 16 - September 18 2005
2005 Global Strategic Review (GSR) concludes in Geneva
On 16–18 September 2005, the IISS convened the first of a new three-year cycle of ‘Global Strategic Reviews,’ the successor of our Annual Conference for Members. IISS Director Dr.John Chipman opened this year’s gathering of prestigious strategic thinkers, inviting them to debate, “Evolving Threats, Rising Powers and Systemic Change.”
The weekend conference, which was conducted at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, began with an insightful debate about the state of US-EU relations. Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister of Sweden and member of the IISS Council, gave a tour de force presentation, and Robert Hunter, the former US Ambassador to NATO and now Senior Advisor to the RAND Corporation, provided an American perspective on a common transatlantic agenda.
In the second plenary, Israeli National Security Advisor General (ret.) Giora Eiland explained both Israeli and Palestinian thinking behind the recent civilian and military withdrawal from Gaza and future challenges that lie ahead of the Middle East peace process.
In the first of four breakout sessions, IISS Council Chairman François Heisbourg mediated a discussion among Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman of King’s College London, Gilles Andreani of France’s independent auditing agency, Cour des Comptes, and Ambassador James Dobbins of the RAND Corporation, on the future of transatlantic relations in light of challenges like Iran’s nuclear programme and the rise of China.
A second breakout session, chaired by Professor Sir Adam Roberts, both of Oxford University and the IISS governing bodies, delved deeply into the widening counter-terrorism challenge with Sir David Omand, Former Security and Intelligence Co-Ordinator, Cabinet Office, UK; Dr David Gordon, Vice Chairman, US National Intelligence Council, and Tim Huxley, IISS Senior Fellow for Asian-Pacific Security.
Middle East reform was the subject of a third seminar chaired by Ellen Laipson, President of theHenryL.Stimson Center in Washington, DC, and addressed by Dr Shafeeq Ghabra, President, American University of Kuwait; Dr Bahiya Al-Jishi, Member of the Higher Council for Women, Bahrain; Professor Ali E. Hillal Dessouki, Professor of Political Science, Cairo University; and Dr Adel Abdellatif, Regional Coordinator, UNDP Programme on Governance in the Arab Region.
The last breakout group was chaired by Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Senior Vice President of the Boeing Company and member of the IISS Council. BP Group Vice President Nick Butler, EastLink Consulting Principal Jonathan Elkind, andRenmin University of China Associate Professor DrZha Daojiong debated the timely topic of energy security and international stability.
The IISS Global Strategic Review finished with a further two plenary sessions, the first on “ChinaandIndia: The Asian Rising Powers Debate,” chaired by Professor Heisbourg. India’s National Security Advisor, M.K. Narayanan, presented a authoritative and candid discussion from an Indian perspective, and Dr. Harry Harding, now Director of Research and Analysis with Eurasia Group, illuminated and clarified issues related toChina’s peaceful rise.
Dr Chipman again chaired the last session, on “Competing World Views and the Bases of International Order in the 21st Century.” Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Singapore’s Lee Yew School of Public Policy and IISS Council member, elucidated a thought-provoking framework for alternatives to the existing world order, and Ambassador Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation inEuropeoffered remarks rooted largely in Western democratic values.
Professor François Heisbourg concluded the successful weekend conference by underlining the growing challenges posed to the existing global order by evolving threats and the re-emergence of Asian power.
This third Global Strategic Review was made possible by generous support from the Swiss government, Democratic Control of Armed Forces, and IISS Executive Council member Andre Hoffmann.
Plans are already underway for next year’s GSR, which will return to Geneva on 8–10 September 2006 in Geneva.
