International Institute for Strategic Studies
AbbreviationIISS
Formation1958 (1958)
TypeInternational relations think tank
HeadquartersLondon, England, United Kingdom
51°30′41″N 0°06′49″W / 51.511502°N 0.113550°W / 51.511502; -0.113550
Director-General and Chief Executive
John Chipman
Websitewww.iiss.org

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]

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

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

The institute has worked with governments, defence ministries and global organisations such as NATO.[8]

Publications

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

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

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

Council

Council members as of 2017 are:[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Contact Us". IISS. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ 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. 1 2 IISS, Dr John Chipman CMG Archived 13 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ "Authors of the report – Iraq". The Times. 10 September 2002.
  7. ↑ "IISS Governance and Advisory Structure". Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "FARC files 'show ties to Chavez'". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "Think Tanks". repository.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  11. ↑ A Journey Through the Cold War, 2004, p. 64. See also "Conflict: An International Journal", 1987 edition, 85–86.
  12. ↑ "British thinktank received £25m from Bahraini royals, documents reveal Archived 16 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine", The Guardian, 6 December 2016 .
  13. ↑ "Our funding", IISS, 10 November 2016.
  14. ↑ "IISS activities in the Kingdom of Bahrain", IISS, 7 December 2016.
  15. ↑ "Bahrain and the IISS: The questions that need to be answered", Middle East Eye, 9 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "The Council". International Institute for Strategic Studies. 2017. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
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