Sounds Strategic

IISS Research Analyst for Conflict, Security and Development, Dr Eleanor Beevor joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic.With a research focus on East Africa, Eleanor is well-placed to discuss a region that has experienced significant developments in the turn of the year, including the aftermath of recent elections in the DRC. Eleanor’s expertise in the coercive methods of indoctrination and radicalisation in Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army under Joseph Kony allows for a fascinating discussion into similar methods used by ISIS.An anthropologist by training, she expounds the virtues of both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, which are central to her work on the IISS Armed Conflict Survey and the Armed Conflict Database.Favourite data visualisation:‘Ecocide in Indonesia’ by Forensic Architecture Reading recommendations:Eleanor Beevor, ‘Coercive Radicalization: Charismatic Authority and the Internal Strategies of ISIS and the Lord’s Resistance Army’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 496–521.Mike Martin, An Intimate War: An Oral History of the Helmand Conflict (London: Hurst, 2014). Date of recording: 21 January 2018 Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Theme music: ‘Safety in Numbers’ by We Were Promised Jetpacks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IISS Senior Fellow for Conflict, Security and Development Virginia Comolli joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic.Leading a team with incredible multidisciplinary strengths, Virginia presents a wide range of issues related to the state of modern conflict in Africa. From explaining the crisis in Cameroon, evaluating the spread of democratic values in the African continent, and debunking the myth of ‘ungoverned spaces’, Virginia explores the variety and depth of her work, and how this contributes to the work of her team as they develop the IISS Armed Conflict Survey and Armed Conflict Database. Favourite data visualisation:The World Economic Forum’s Mapping Global Transformation hub – ‘a dynamic knowledge tool to understand the issues and forces driving transformational change across economies, industries, global issues and the Forum’s system initiatives.’ Reading recommendations:Gary A. Haugen and Victor Boutros, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).Virginia Comolli, Boko Haram: Nigeria’s Islamist Insurgency (London: Hurst, 2015). Date of recording: 22 November 2018 Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Theme music: ‘Safety in Numbers’ by We Were Promised Jetpacks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Bastian Giegerich, IISS Director of Defence and Military Analysis, joins Dr Kori Schake for the first episode of Sounds Strategic.This new series aims to highlight the breadth and depth of analytical and intellectual talent at the IISS.In each episode, Kori will interview one of the Institute’s researchers about their area of expertise, and how they first got involved in the study of international security and defence. They share reading recommendations and discuss impactful data visualisations. Kori also offers each researcher the opportunity to debunk an analytical or policy myth within their field.In this episode, Kori and Bastian examine the significance of NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise, Russia’s reaction and the question of burden-sharing between the United States and Europe in the transatlantic Alliance.Bastian debunks the myth that Europe can never gain strategic autonomy and suggests that overcoming the ‘progressive anaemia’ in European military capabilities and mentality is imperative to the future of the Alliance.Favourite data visualisation:Armed unmanned aerial vehicles: production and procurement, IISS Reading recommendations:Paul Gordon Lauren, Gordon A. Craig and Alexander L. George, Force and Statecraft (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983).Heiko Biehl, Bastian Giegerich and Alexandra Jonas (eds), Strategic Cultures in Europe: Security and Defence Policies Across the Continent (Wiesbaden: Springer, 2013).Christopher Coker, Rebooting Clausewitz:‘On War’ in the Twenty-First Century (London: Hurst, 2017).Date of recording: 5 November 2018 Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Theme music: ‘Safety in Numbers’ by We Were Promised Jetpacks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.