The ISN Editorial Plan: A Three-Part Narrative

At the ISN we believe that the world is experiencing fundamental structural changes. In scope, reach and complexity, these changes are historically unique. As a provider of high- quality information services to international relations and security professionals, we see it as our responsibility to offer intellectual guidance. In order to bring the special character of these changes to light, in November 2011, we launched an Editorial Plan that provides a new architecture for our content in the months ahead.

In Part One of the Plan we look at the structural factors gripping our world. In each of a variety of structural contexts (geopolitical, institutional, normative, economic, technological) we argue that the direction of change is towards the empowerment of the individual.

Structural change, however, does not give us the whole story. In Part Two of the Plan, we examine the impact of these structural changes on how power is understood, exercised and distributed globally and in various regional contexts.

Finally, in Part Three, we ask the question: What impact do these changes have – and what new perspectives can they give us – on issues already familiar to ISN readers, such as energy security and nuclear proliferation?

The following table provides an outline of the ISN Editorial Plan. Clicking on the topics will bring you to the relevant content.

1. Structural Factors

• Future Forecasting and its Challenges
• Forecasting in the ‘Real World’: Near-, Mid- and Long-Term Trend Analysis
• Competing Views of Geopolitics
• Colliding Geopolitical Approaches in New ‘Great Games’
• Global Interdependence and Effective Multilaterlism
• Nationalism in a Globalizing World
• The State in a Globalizing World
• International Organizations: Required Adjustments and New Opportunities for Change
• Laying the Groundwork: The Definition, Scope and Roles of Human Rights
• International Public Law in Action: The Application Phase
• The International Economic and Financial System: Past, Present and Future
• Development: Describing and Prescribing Progress
• Economics, Politics and War
• The New Information Revolution

2. Shifting Power Dynamics

1. Theories and Views of Power
2. Revisiting Transnational Institutions and Organizations: Their Evolving Power and Influence
3. Major Powers’ Strategic Cultures and Grand Strategies: Their Role on the World Stage
4. Regulating the Global Commons
5. Regional Perspectives on Power (1-2 weeks on each of the following): North America, South America, Europe, Post-Soviet Space, West Africa, Southern Africa, Central and Horn of Africa, Middle East, South Asia, East Asia and Australasia

3. Implications for/on Specific Issues

1. Climate Change
2. Identity Politics
3. Demography-Migration
4. WMD/CBRN
5. Small Arms Trafficking
6. Food Security
7. Energy Security
8. Water Security
9. The Privatization of Violence
10. Organized Crime and/or Drugs
11. Terrorism and Counterterrorism
12. Intelligence-Privacy
13. Commerce and Security
14. Sanctions and Other Coercive Measures