Global Security Briefing

How is the future of European security approached by Italy? We focus on Rome’s efforts to reconcile its strong commitment to transatlantic ties with its support for further European integration. Italy’s concerns about the deteriorating security environment around Europe are discussed, including Russia’s growing involvement in conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.

While Italy is one of Europe’s larger security and defence actors, with a historical focus on the Mediterranean region and North Africa, in public the country’s approach to European security has been relatively muted compared with other leading European states. Nevertheless, Rome is deeply involved in debates on the future of European security. In this episode, Karolina Muti, a researcher at the Institute for International Affairs in Rome, and Dario Cristiani, Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and the Institute for International Affairs based in Washington, DC, discuss Italy’s defence and security concerns and its agenda for European security with Dr Neil Melvin, Director RUSI International Security Studies.

Originally published 27 October 2021.

The new defence partnership has divided opinion and frayed some relationships, but Australia’s logic is crystal clear.

In this episode, Veerle is joined by Ashley Townshend, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and Founding Convenor and Co-chair of the US-Australia Indo-Pacific Deterrence Dialogue. Against a backdrop of rising Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and a perception that the US can no longer guarantee regional stability on its own, Australia took the bold decision to embark on an ambitious defence partnership with the US and UK, to France’s fury. France’s Ambassador to Australia has yet to return but, while Canberra seeks to rebuild its partnership with Paris, it has bigger fish to fry.

An examination of Poland’s approach to the future of European security, reflecting its perspective from the front line of NATO’s confrontation with Russia, the country’s focus on maintaining and strengthening the transatlantic relationship as the central pillar of the continent’s security, and Warsaw’s concerns about ideas of European strategic autonomy that would weaken NATO and the US security role.

Poland has emerged as a key voice supporting the transatlantic link as the foundation of Europe’s security and defence, and is increasingly acting as a pivot point in the basing and deployment of US forces to NATO’s eastern flank. A longstanding critic of Russia’s regional policies since 2014, Warsaw has increased its defence spending and strengthened security ties with its neighbours in the Baltic region and Northern Europe. In this episode, Justyna Gotkowska, Programme Coordinator of the Regional Security Programme at the Centre for Eastern Studies, and Dr Marcin Terlikowski, Head of the International Security Programme at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, discuss how Poland is looking to influence the European security debate with Dr Neil Melvin, Director RUSI International Security Studies.

This episode examines the fast-evolving Russia–China partnership, notably the security links, and considers the implications this cooperation has for the Euro-Atlantic community as it seeks to simultaneously manage security threats in the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions.

Over the past decade the relationship between China and Russia has broadened and deepened, and now covers cooperation on security, energy and economic issues and diplomacy, as well as developing into the realm of technology. Dr Elizabeth Wishnick, Associate Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University and Adjunct Associate Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and Dr Marcin Kaczmarski, Lecturer in Security Studies at the University of Glasgow, discuss the scope and drivers of the Sino-Russian relationship, how far the partnership can develop, and how the Euro-Atlantic community should best respond with Dr Neil Melvin, Director RUSI International Security Studies.

Originally published 15 September 2021

While the Pacific is in greater focus, the Indian Ocean region is of growing importance to the US.

Veerle is joined by Jeffrey Payne, who leads the maritime security programme at the Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies in Washington DC. Together, they explore why the Indian Ocean region’s maritime security is of importance to the US Indo-Pacific strategy, what activities are already in place and what could lie ahead. They also touch on Afghanistan, and how this impacts US strategy.

This episode examines Russia’s efforts over the past decade to shift its economic focus away from European markets and toward Asia, as part of a wider pivot to the Asia-Pacific initiated by President Putin from 2012 in the face of economic sanctions and a deteriorating relationship with the Euro-Atlantic community.

A decade after Moscow launched a strategic initiative to reorientate its economy toward Asian markets, Dr Richard Connolly, Director of the Eastern Advisory Group consultancy, discusses Russia’s policies and the challenges that Moscow has faced in developing new trade and business ties to promote its underdeveloped eastern regions with Dr Neil Melvin, Director RUSI International Security Studies.

Originally published 1 September 2021

As part of the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt, the Royal Navy stands to have a greater role in the region.

In this episode, Veerle is joined by Admiral Sir Philip Jones, who retired from the Royal Navy in 2019 as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff. They explore the Royal Navy’s past, present and future activities in the Indo-Pacific, and how these fit into the UK’s wider strategic approach to the region.

This episode examines Russia’s emerging strategy for the Red Sea, looking not only at Moscow’s efforts to establish a military base in Sudan, but also its plans to use its regional presence to project influence into Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean.

Dr Samuel Ramani, tutor in politics and international studies at the University of Oxford, discusses why Russia is paying growing attention to the strategic and increasingly unstable Red Sea region, as well as what Moscow’s expanding security presence means for the countries of the Red Sea and the Euro-Atlantic community, with host Dr Neil Melvin, Director RUSI International Security Studies.

Originally published on 18 August 2021.

The Quad brings together four countries with a shared purpose, but with some remaining differences.

In this episode, Veerle and Dr Tanvi Madan, Director and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, discuss what brings the members of the Quad together, how their cooperation and activities may evolve, whether there are any significant divergences between the members, and whether a Quad+ could be seen in the future. One conclusion is clear: don’t call it Asian NATO.

Originally published 4 August 2021.

Africa’s Indian Ocean coastline is not often discussed as part of the Indo-Pacific, but it should be.

Timothy Walker, Maritime Project Leader at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, discusses with Veerle the importance of the African littoral in different countries’ Indo-Pacific strategies, the priorities and challenges in furthering maritime security and the blue economy, and the impact of the increasing geopolitical focus on Africa on historical sensitivities in the region.