Sounds Strategic

Emile Hokayem, IISS Senior Fellow for Middle East Security, joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic.Emile and Kori give a masterclass in understanding the Middle East and political violence. Emile explains the misconceptions surrounding the state of Iraq before the 2003 invasion, what non-proliferation experts miss about Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons, and the problematic notion that Iran and Saudi Arabia can and should share the Middle East, thus making it possible for the US to adopt an ‘offshore balancing’ posture, and much more.Emile responds to the US recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and reflects on his recent analysis of the continuation of the Arab Spring, stating that ‘the ebb and flow of street protests will be the new normal.’Emile is perfectly placed to explore the question of conflict in the Middle East, having grown up in Lebanon during some of the most intense years of the civil war, studied in the US during the invasion of Iraq, and used his expertise to conduct field research across the region. With a brief that is constantly in the news, his work and comments are referenced regularly in leading outlets.Favourite data visualisationThe impacts of climate change at 1.5C, 2C and beyond | Carbon Briefhttps://interactive.carbonbrief.org/impacts-climate-change-one-point-five-degrees-two-degrees/Map of Syria: situation as of January 2019, featured in ‘The US withdrawal from Syria’ (IISS Strategic Comment, vol. 25, no. 1, January 2019: https://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/2019/the-us-withdrawal-from-syria)Reading recommendations:Stathis Kalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil Wars (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) Further writings on Syria and the regional context by Emile:How Syria defeated the Sunni powers (New York Times, 30 December 2016)‘Assad or we burn the country’: misreading sectarianism and the regime in Syria (War on the Rocks, 24 August 2016)Obama’s disastrous betrayal of the Syrian rebels (Foreign Policy, 4 February 2016)Iran, the Gulf States and the Syrian Civil War (Survival, vol. 56, no. 6, November 2014) Date of recording: 25 March 2019Sounds 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.

Meia Nouwens, IISS Research Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation, joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic.Meia and Kori discuss the economic and intellectual property antagonisms of China’s military development, and the wider economic strategy implications of its goal to become a military world leader by 2030. China seems to have ‘activated the antibodies against [its] continued success’, suggests Kori, referring to the renationalisation of high-tech industries.Meia debunks the myth that China is inflexible because it is an authoritarian government and that, therefore, domestic public opinion doesn’t matter.She asserts that the Chinese public mood is a far greater threat to the Chinese Communist Party than the United States could ever be. Meia and Kori discuss how such assumptions can lead to poor policy decisions by foreign governments.Favourite data visualisation:Xi Jinping’s Thought https://i.stack.imgur.com/tO3Rg.jpgReading recommendations:Philip Ball, The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China (London: Penguin Random House, 2016)Date of recording: 19 February 2019Sounds 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.

Viraj Solanki, IISS Research Analyst for South Asia, joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic.Viraj and Kori discuss the distinct breadth and depth of research produced by the IISS South Asia Programme. Viraj explains how recent events in the Maldives and Seychelles reflect a geopolitical renaissance for small island nations in South Asia.Set within the context of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Viraj highlights the new importance of small power relations and the scale of renewed engagement by China, India and the West. Kori and Viraj also discuss the future of the BRI and prospects for peace in Afghanistan in this wide-ranging discussion on the region.Favourite data visualisation:Financial Times, How China rules the waves, January 2017Reading recommendations:Christina Lamb, Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World (London: William Collins Publishers, 2015)Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden (London: Penguin Books, 2005)Date of recording: 25 January 2019Sounds 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.

Douglas Barrie, IISS Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace, joins Dr Kori Schake for this episode of Sounds Strategic. This new series aims to highlight the breadth and depth of analytical and intellectual talent at the IISS. In this episode, Kori and Douglas examine recent developments relating to the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, an agreement that has represented the ‘high water mark of arms control’. Discussion ranges from IISS analysis of the likelihood of Russia being in violation, NATO’s joint statement condemning Russian failure to comply, how to bring Russia back into compliance, and the scope for another iteration of the Treaty to include China.IISS’s leading analysis contributed to the UK’s Combat Air Strategy, meaning Douglas is well-placed to debunk the conflation of air power with strategic power, seeing its role best used in concert with other capabilities. Favourite data visualisation:Henry Boyd, 2019 Military Balance wall chartReading recommendations:Piotr Butowski, Russia’s Warplanes Volume I & II (Havertown: Harpia Publishing, 2015 & 2016)Piotr Butowski, Russia Air-Launched Weapons (Havertown: Harpia Publishing, 2017)Colin S. Gray, Understanding Airpower: Bonfire of the Fallacies (CreateSpace, 2009)Colin S. Gray, Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare (CreateSpace, 2005)M. Shane Riza, Killing without Heart: Limits on Robotic Warfare in an Age of Persistent Conflict (Nebraska: Potomac Books, 2013)Date of recording: 11 February 2019 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 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.