Dr John Chipman, IISS Director-General and Chief Executive, introduced the book and a panel of IISS experts answered questions.
The Military Balance 2009 contains region-by-region analysis of the major military and economic developments affecting defence and security policies and the trade in weapons and other military equipment. Comprehensive tables detail major military training activities, UN and non-UN deployments, and give data on key equipment holdings and defence economics, as well as defence-expenditure trends over a ten-year period.
The Military Balance 2009 also contains essays on defence industries in the Asia-Pacific region and UN peacekeeping. There is a further short essay noting trends in non-state activity, which complements the table of selected non-state groups. The Military Balance 2009 also includes an updated Chart of Conflict, a wallchart showing current conflicts around the world, with selected supporting tables.
This year’s Military Balance examines key military issues including conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq; the debate within NATO over burden-sharing in Afghanistan; an update on EU military operations; the conflict between Russia and Georgia; continuing conflicts in Africa; and the increased attention given by the international community to piracy off the Horn of Africa. The book also examines defence developments in East Asia and Australasia, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the US and Canada.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies, an international think tank based in London, is the premier independent authority on political and military conflict. Its publications include the annual Military Balance and Strategic Survey, the bimonthly journal Survival: Global Politics and Strategy and the monthly online Strategic Comments briefings, as well as the Adelphi Papers series of monographs and the Armed Conflict Database.
The press launch of The Military Balance 2009 took place in the fifth-floor conference room at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
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