Sounds Strategic

In this special episode of Sounds Strategic to mark the opening of the IISS–Europe office in Berlin, we meet key members of our new European research team. From great-power competition to state-led influence operations, and arms control to emerging and disruptive technologies, they explain how the IISS will bring a unique perspective to the European strategic debate.   Joining host Meia Nouwens to discuss the strategic questions that the Institute’s new European research agenda seeks to address are: Dr Ben Schreer, Executive Director, IISS–Europe; William Alberque, Director of Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Policy; Dr Simona Soare, Research Fellow for Defence and Military Analysis; and Thornike Gordadze, Senior Fellow for Statecraft and Influence Networks.     As Ben explains, with IISS–Europe now fully open for business, the Institute is uniquely placed to facilitate a debate on key strategic questions in Germany and Europe as a whole, and between policymakers and industry alike. William, Simona and Thornike each explain the research themes that will dominate their work in the coming months, including arms control and non-proliferation initiatives, great-power competition, setting rules and norms for outer space and the cyber domain, the uses and challenges of emerging and disruptive technologies, and the changing, multidimensional influence operations of revisionist states. _________________________________________________________________ We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Date of recording: 31 August 2021 Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Meia Nouwens is joined by Dr Samir Puri, IISS Senior Fellow in Urban Security and Hybrid Warfare, and Antônio Sampaio, Senior Analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, to discuss how technology impacts urban security and the democratic landscapes of cities.  With over half of the world’s population living in cities, new technologies, such as smart cities or surveillance tech, have increasingly been leveraged to make life in cities safer and more efficient. This includes leveraging technology to combat crime and terrorism, to respond to natural disasters or to improve the quality of life of citizens. New technologies are also starting to play an important role in political landscapes, for example by connecting people in protest movements. But these technologies can also be leveraged to other ends: to suppress protesters and restrict freedom of speech. We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 13 August 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Sounds Strategic episode, Meia Nouwens is joined by Dr Nigel Gould-Davies, Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia, Strategic Survey Editor and former ambassador to Minsk, to reflect on the protest movement in Belarus and Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.One year after an implausible election result ignited mass protests across Belarus, Nigel joins Meia to discuss authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s rule, the relationship between Putin’s Russia and Lukashenko’s Belarus, and why the 2020−21 protests became so widespread. Can Lukashenko, the autocratic president of Belarus since 1994, regain the legitimacy he has lost? And what is his standing within the country today? We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 5 August 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This special episode of Sounds Strategic explores the significance of the 40th Fullerton Lecture, which US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III delivered on Tuesday 27 July 2021. Podcast host Meia Nouwens is joined by James Crabtree, Executive Director of IISS–Asia, Dr Euan Graham, Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Security, and Aaron Connelly, Research Fellow in Southeast Asian Political Change and Foreign Policy.   Secretary Austin’s visit was the first to Southeast Asia by a member of US President Joe Biden’s cabinet. In his Fullerton Lecture on ‘The imperative of partnership’, the Secretary made the case for the United States’ role as a reliable partner in helping nations in the Indo-Pacific make their own choices and ‘build back better’ after COVID-19.  Watch the recorded lecture on our website - The International Institute for Strategic Studies (iiss.org) _________________________________________________________________  We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Date of recording: 29 July 2021  Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Sounds Strategic, special guest host James Crabtree is joined by Meia Nouwens, Senior Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation, and Nigel Inkster, Senior Adviser for Cyber Security and China, to examine China’s domestic and international outlook. As China marks the centenary of its ruling party, James, Meia and Nigel assess what this anniversary signifies for the Chinese Communist Party and how strong the party is today.James, Meia and Nigel also discuss why the centrality of the party is so important to President Xi Jinping, where the relationship between the CCP and the People’s Liberation Army stands today, what to take away from Xi’s anniversary speech and where the party goes from here._________________________________________________________________We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 21 July 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sounds Strategic host Meia Nouwens is joined by Ben Barry, Senior Fellow for Land Warfare, and Shiloh Fetzek, Associate Fellow for Conflict, Security and Development, to discuss the implications of climate change for global security and defence.With climate security rising on the global security agenda, Meia, Ben and Shiloh discuss the impact of climate change on the strategic environment, how existing security challenges are made worse by climate-related impacts and the importance of integrating climate change considerations into national and multilateral security plans. Exploring the challenges ahead for defence and security establishments, Meia, Ben and Shiloh also consider how NATO, the G7, the European Union and the United Nations Security Council have addressed climate risk, as well as Biden’s climate agenda and the UK Ministry of Defence’s climate change strategy.We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 9th July 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sounds Strategic host Meia Nouwens is joined by Greg Austin, Senior Fellow for Cyber, Space and Future Conflict, and Franz-Stefan Gady, Research Fellow for Cyber, Space and Future Conflict, to discuss the findings of a new IISS report on cyber capabilities and national power. A new report by the IISS has assessed the cyber power of 15 states, placing them into three tiers of capability. Following the launch of this major two-year study, Meia, Greg and Franz-Stefan discuss how to define and measure cyber power and who comes out on top.Meia, Greg and Franz-Stefan discuss the categories used to assess each country’s cyber capabilities in the report, including strategy and doctrine, governance, cyber-intelligence capability, cyber security and resilience, global leadership and offensive cyber capability. According to the qualitative framework developed by IISS researchers, the United States is the only country with world-leading strengths in all categories, with China placed in the second tier of cyber powers. Meia, Greg and Franz-Stefan go on to discuss the role of political culture, organisational relationships and governance models in shaping the relationship between cyber capabilities and how they are used by a state actor on the international stage, what we know about the operational activities of the US, Russia and China, how much cyber industrial strength matters, the impact of political stability and instability on the development of cyber capabilities and how middle powers can compete with great powers in cyberspace.We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 24 June 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sounds Strategic host Meia Nouwens is joined by Irene Mia, Editor of the Armed Conflict Survey and Senior Fellow for Latin America and Conflict, Security and Development, and Amanda Lapo, Research Associate for Defence and Military Analysis, to discuss geopolitical developments in Latin America.How has the shifting global geopolitical environment impacted Latin America? Meia, Irene and Amanda examine geopolitical competition in Latin America and the region’s engagement with external powers. Irene argues that the Latin American order is no longer unipolar, highlighting China’s inroads in the region and growing importance as a regional commercial partner. She also notes the role of the United States and questions surrounding the level of engagement to be expected from the Biden administration, stressing the impact migration flows have had on US policy towards the region. Amanda talks about military-to-military engagement between China and the region, arguing that China is now the third largest regional player after the US and Russia. She explains that relationships between China and countries in South America in particular have become more formal in recent years.Meia, Irene and Amanda also discuss vaccine and military diplomacy in the region, the Pacific Alliance and the ongoing election cycle in Latin American countries. We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 11 June 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sounds Strategic host Meia Nouwens is joined by Nick Childs, Senior Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security, to discuss the United Kingdom’s naval ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.Following the First Sea Lord’s Sea Power Conference on 19 May 2021, Meia and Nick reflect on the UK’s Carrier Strike Group and its deployment to the Indo-Pacific region, discussing who the UK is looking to strengthen its relationships with, how China will react to the deployment and what the view from the region is more generally. Meia and Nick also discuss how the Royal Navy can help small and medium powers manage grey-zone threats in the region, as well as how it is going to balance commitments to the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic regions. With its limited resources, how prominent will the Royal Navy’s Indo-Pacific presence be in the near future?We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 26 May 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sounds Strategic host Meia Nouwens is joined by James Crabtree, Executive Director of IISS–Asia, to discuss the trends and developments that have shaped political and security dynamics in Asia in the past year.  Meia and James explore some of the major thematic issues that will be covered at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue on 4−5 June, including US−China competition, regional-security architectures, and the contributions of regional and extra-regional middle powers to security in Asia. They also consider India’s role in regional security and in the Quad, the situation in Myanmar and its implications for ASEAN, the Biden administration’s policy towards China and how countries in the region view the involvement of the United States in the regional security order.We hope you enjoy listening to the episode. Don’t forget to follow, rate and subscribe to Sounds Strategic on wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.Date of recording: 11 May 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.