Let me welcome you to the 8th IISS Global Strategic Review. This year we are examining the current character of global security governance, and the emerging distribution of power. The agenda, consistent with this theme also offers the IISS an opportunity to engage with a number of its members on the Institute’s wide-ranging research activities. We address subjects in each of the plenaries, and all of the special sessions, on which the IISS has current policy-orientated research activity. This work is being carried out by its research staff in London, Washington, Bahrain, and Singapore. The IISS research programme continues to deepen and expand to provide strategic analysis on the issues that affect international strategic behaviour.
Earlier this week we released our annual Strategic Survey; it also looked at the changing distribution of power. One of its conclusions on the impact of the financial crisis on current strategy was this: the post-2008 economic crisis at first inspired the near universal appreciation of a global challenge, and the need for a response shaped by inter-governmental coordination; by mid-2010 Asians were referring to the recession as a transatlantic financial failing, and the G20 had to accept that each country would judge for itself whether it would continue with fiscal stimulus, or embark on dramatic austerity budgeting. This geo-economic international trend also had its geo-strategic parallel; international cooperation on large strategic projects began to stutter in 2010, and a number of countries began to take more national approaches to regional and global security challenges. While the immediate risk of protectionism in the economic realm has so far been averted, strategic protectionism appears on the rise as more countries define their national interests more precisely and accordingly.
This is a proposition we would be happy to have tested and debated during this year’s global strategic review, but to do this we have to be inspired by the finest in strategic thinking. Our theme tonight is power shifts and security. Dr Henry Kissinger is the best person to introduce thinking and debate on this issue; we are really delighted that he accepted the invitation to reflect on these very difficult strategic questions. I recall to you all that the IISS was founded in 1958 to deal with nuclear issues; Dr Kissinger was one step ahead, publishing in 1957, Nuclear Weapons in Foreign Policy. He was one of the early members of the IISS, and a very good friend of our first director, Alastair Buchan.
Now that the Institute is genuinely international and global, with offices in the Middle East and Asia, as well as in Washington and in our London headquarters, we as an organization are well placed to look at global trends with an international perspective. Again, Henry Kissinger has usually got there first, seeing before others the significance of China; keen to find fresh approaches to Middle East stability; always especially appreciative of the weight of history on current international relations; never dismissive of the cultural component in strategic perspectives and action; and keenly aware of the very different dimensions of power. We look forward to Henry’s current reflections on how today’s shifts in power affect security and to discussing them with [him]. Thank you for being with us tonight.
