Sounds Strategic

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.

In this episode, Sounds Strategic host Meia Nouwens is joined by Robert Ward, IISS Japan Chair and Director of Geo-economics and Strategy, and Yuka Koshino, Research Fellow for Japanese Security and Defence Policy, to unpack the policy priorities and challenges on Japanese Prime Minister Suga’s 2021 agenda.Ahead of the next IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in June, Meia, Robert and Yuka discuss Japan’s domestic political environment and the challenges Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s administration will need to tackle in 2021. As Robert and Yuka explain, the administration’s focus areas include the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s slow vaccine rollout, the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race, and Japan’s 2021 general election.Robert and Yuka also explore Prime Minister Suga’s economic agenda and progress towards digitalisation, foreign and security policy priorities and goals, the role of the United States in Japan’s Indo-Pacific vision, and the impact of COVID-19 on structural reform and Japan’s thinking on economic security.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 April 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 Erica Pepe, Senior Coordinator for Research and Conflict, Security and Development Analyst, and Franz-Stefan Gady, Research Fellow for Cyber, Space and Future Conflict, to discuss NATO and AI.Meia, Erica and Franz-Stefan explore the motivations behind NATO’s focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and the future potential of this technology for security and defence. What role can NATO play in setting standards for the military use of AI?Erica and Franz-Stefan also explain why AI is so prominent in national-security thinking, noting the progress of the technology as well as the potential risks, challenges and ethical concerns associated with it. 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: 8 April 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 John Krzyzaniak, Research Analyst for Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Policy, and Timothy Wright, Research Analyst and Programme Administrator for Defence and Military Analysis, to discuss Iran, its missile-development programme and the JCPOA.  With a new, Democrat-led administration in power, is the United States in a better position to make progress on the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and negotiations with Iran? Meia, John and Timothy discuss where the JCPOA stands now, the impact of domestic politics in both Iran and the US on bilateral negotiations, and how far the Biden administration is willing to go to revive the agreement.  Meia, John and Tim also consider the status of Iran’s missile-development programme and the strategies that are driving Tehran’s investment in it. While noting that missiles are likely to be an ongoing focus for any negotiations between the US and Iran in the future, they argue that it is unrealistic to expect Iran to restrict its missile programme. 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: 30 March 2021Sounds Strategic is recorded and produced at the IISS in London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, podcast host Meia Nouwens is joined by Tom Waldwyn, Research Associate for Defence Procurement, and Haena Jo, Research Analyst for Defence and Military Analysis, to discuss the increasingly diversified landscape of defence industry and defence procurement. With successive governments in Turkey, South Korea, Brazil and Poland having invested heavily in their defence industries in recent years, could these countries soon provide greater competition for Western and Russian defence companies? While the big defence companies are still at the top of the pecking order, Tom and Haena explain that today’s defence-industrial landscape is more diversified.  Meia, Tom and Haena also discuss the export successes of other emerging defence-industrial nations, as well as the challenges they are facing. Drawing in particular on examples from Turkey, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, they highlight the importance of politics and political will in driving defence-industrial growth, and they note the different approaches that emerging defence-industrial countries have taken to get where they are 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: 18 March 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, podcast host Meia Nouwens is joined by Dr Benjamin Petrini, Research Fellow for Conflict, Security and Development, and Dr Umberto Profazio, Associate Fellow for Conflict, Security and Development, to reflect on the concept of fragility.Approaching the concept of fragility in a multidimensional way, Meia, Benjamin and Umberto examine the origins of the term, as well as the misconceptions often associated with it. Benjamin and Umberto explain what a fragile country is, highlighting that fragility is not limited to countries experiencing conflict. Explaining that fragility affects stability through several different and interrelated channels, Benjamin and Umberto highlight various dimensions of fragility, including technological transformations and rapid changes in society, poverty, migration and forced displacement, weak institutions, environmental pressures, economic challenges and demographic pressures. Meia, Benjamin and Umberto also discuss the impact of COVID-19 on fragility, stressing that the toll of the pandemic will be higher on fragile countries than more stable ones. Noting that more and more states are exerting their influence in fragile countries, Benjamin and Umberto conclude that fragility can now be viewed through the prism of foreign policy and geopolitics.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 March 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, Meia Nouwens is joined by Fenella McGerty, Senior Fellow for Defence Economics, and Henry Boyd, Research Fellow for Defence and Military Analysis, to discuss the global defence developments identified in the latest edition of The Military Balance. To mark the publication of The Military Balance 2021, launching today (25 February 2021), Meia, Fenella and Henry discuss recent developments in defence policy, military capability and defence economics. Highlighting the implications of the coronavirus pandemic and the landmark 2020 election in the United States for defence policymakers and industry, Fenella and Henry explore the current trajectory of global and regional defence spending, including in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and broader defence developments. Despite wider economic difficulties caused by the pandemic, the stronger growth in global defence spending that was achieved in 2019 was maintained in 2020, they explain. Meia, Fenella and Henry also discuss China’s investment in R&D, the challenges of calculating Chinese defence spending, and the role of unmanned aerial vehicles in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Military Balance is the Institute’s annual assessment of global military capabilities and defence economics. The 2021 edition includes updated data on the military organisations, equipment inventories and defence budgets of 171 countries; region-by-region analysis of major developments affecting defence policy, procurement and defence economics; and assessment of key trends in the land, sea and air domains, as well as in cyberspace. Order your copy on Amazon or Routledge.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: 18 February 2021 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.