The Strategic Survey is a journal of records that includes all relevant names and titles, chronologies and dates. But it is also much more: the hard facts are embossed in considered and nuanced analysis over 300 pages of text. The Strategic Survey opens with 'Perspectives', an assessment of the effect of major events and trends on the strategic landscape. Next, particular strategic policy issues, such as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, missile defence and the future of peacekeeping, are examined in separate chapters.

Another eighteen to twenty chapters of similar length, written along thematic rather than merely chronological lines, cover developments in particular regions or countries. The Strategic Survey concludes with 'Prospectives', an essay setting forth strategic priorities for the coming year. Also included are thirty-two pages of maps depicting strategically important activity and political change - such as piracy and Russia's new federal districts - globally, regionally and locally.

The interplay of political developments and the actual or potential use of military force remains The Strategic Survey's chief concern. Nevertheless, since the end of the Cold War and of the first distinct post-Cold War period, the Institute has recognised that any survey of matters strategic needs to broaden its scope to embrace economic

Strategic Survey's chief concern is the interplay of political developments and the actual or potential use of military force. This essential reference includes all relevant names and titles, chronologies and dates, in considered analysis in over 300 pages.

Events at a Glance Perspectives Strategic Policy Issues ■Countering Modern Terrorist Threats ■Europe’s Energy Security ■Towards a New Asian Security Architecture North America ■The United States: The Primacy of Politics ■Canada: Conservatives’ Tenuous Hold Latin America ■Mexico: Drug-war Escalation ■Colombia: FARC Down but not Out ■Venezuela: A Decade of the Bolivarian Revolution ■Bolivia: ‘Refounding’ a Polarised Nation ■Ecuador’s New Constitution ■Peru: Domestic Backlash ■Brazil: Lula’s Leadership ■Argentina: The Kirchners’ Decline ■Cuba’s Shifting Relationships ■Nicaragua: Ortega’s Move toward Autocracy ■Haiti: Steps toward Stability Europe ■Developments in European Defence ■France: A Year of Paradoxes ■Germany: Vulnerabilities in an Election Year ■United Kingdom: Political Drift ■Sluggishness in the Balkans ■Turkey: Continuing Domestic Wrangles Russia Middle East / Gulf ■Iran: Election Sparks Protests, Nuclear Programme Advances ■Middle East: New US Impetus Faces Old Challenges ■Iraq: Nation Gathers Strength ■Saudi Arabia and the Gulf: Cautious Modernisation Africa ■Crossroads in South Africa ■Cohabitation in Zimbabwe ■Somalia: Anarchy and Piracy ■Persisting Intra-state Crises South Asia and Afghanistan ■Pakistan: Political Fragility ■Afghanistan: Insurgency Grows ■India: Elections Bolster Stability ■Sri Lanka: Civil War Ends ■Bangladesh: Military-backed Rule Ends ■Nepal: Arguments Obstruct Peace Process Asia-Pacific ■China: Caution Tempers Rising Status ■Southeast Asia: Political and Security Questions ■Australia and New Zealand: Defence Policy Shifts ■The Korean Peninsula: Diplomacy Derailed ■Japan: Politics Overshadows Prospectives Index Maps: Strategic Geography Global Issues ■Global recession ■Slump in container trade Africa ■Anti-piracy operations off Somalia Middle East/Gulf ■West Bank settlements ■Iran’s disputed election Asia-Pacific ■Afghanistan: military supply routes ■The rise of Pakistan’s Taliban ■Confrontation in the Korean peninsula The Americas ■America’s decaying infrastructure ■Drug-cartel violence in Mexico