Strategic Survey 2007 was launched on Wednesday 12th September 2007 at 10:30am. Dr John Chipman, Director-General of the IISS, presented the highlights and some of the main arguments of the book and commented on recent events. Dr Chipman, Alex Nicoll, Editor of Strategic Survey, and other senior IISS staff members then took questions.
This event and Q&A session were streamed live.
Strategic Survey 2007 begins as usual with Perspectives, an assessment of global developments over the past year, followed by three essays on particular strategic policy issues. Six chapters analyse developments in individual countries, grouped by region. Strategic Survey 2007 concludes with Prospectives, which briefly sets out the strategic outlook for the coming year. A chronology is provided in the Events at a Glance section, and new colour maps are grouped in the Strategic Geography section.
The chaos in Iraq since the 2003 American-led invasion has undermined the stature and credibility of the United States in world affairs. Strategic Survey 2007 examines the effects of this loss of authority, finding that other countries are either seeking to take advantage of perceived weakness, or to reconsider their security arrangements. The book’s essays consider new evidence that al-Qaeda retains the ability to instigate global terrorism, and investigate the implications of climate change for international security. In region-by-region analysis of the events of the past year, Strategic Survey 2007 examines the latest moves in confrontations over Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes, as well as in Iraq and the Middle East. Developments in Latin America, Africa, Russia and Asia are given full coverage, as well as the emergence of new leadership in Europe. The events of the past year are listed in a chronology, and the book is fully indexed.
New for 2007: 28 New colour pages of maps depicting strategically important activity and political change.
