BIISS

The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) is a statutory and autonomous institution established on June 25, 1978 under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, for undertaking and promoting research and deliberation on international affairs, security and developmental issues. The Institute is also expected to advance knowledge and understanding of contemporary international and strategic issues in national and regional perspectives.

The general guidance of the affairs of the Institute vests in a Board of Governors, headed by a Chairman and consisting of representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Finance, the three Armed Forces Services, academics and professionals. The Director General is the Member-Secretary of the Board and Chief Executive of the Institute.

The main activities of the Institute are carried out by the Research Faculty consisting of a team of full-time researchers. The research activities of the Institute are organized along territorial and functional distribution of four Divisions :

• Strategic Studies
• International Studies
• Defence Studies
• Non-traditional Security Studies

Research Activities

The following are the priority areas of the Institute's research activities:

• Foreign policy, security and strategic issues with specific relevance to Bangladesh
• Regional, sub regional, inter-regional and international cooperation
• Non-traditional security issues like human security, globalization and its impact on poverty and development process of developing countries, in general, and Bangladesh, in particular
• Socio-economic development, environment and natural resource management
• Conflict studies, peacekeeping, security of small states, disarmament, non-proliferation, global peace, North-South and South-South issues
• Area studies, particularly political and strategic developments in various parts of the world

Contemporary issues of South Asian politics, security and development are the focus of research activities of the Institute. Research agenda of BIISS are continually adapted to the dynamics of global changes. Thus, in the post-Cold War era, attention is focused more on ethno-religious issues, regional and sub-regional cooperation, globalization and environmental issues than on super-power rivalry, non-alignment and related issues of the Cold War period. BIISS has also developed some expertise on peace keeping and peace building

Some Collaborative Activities

• Dialogue on Interactions with the Bordering States: The Institute initiated a series of dialogues with scholars and opinion making elites from the bordering states of India with a view to better appreciation of each other's perceptions. The sub-themes covered in three dialogues held included: trade cooperation, management of borders and transport cooperation.
• Bangladesh-South East Asian Relations: BIISS was part of a triangular cooperation with the Ford Foundation and the Singapore-based Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) for exchange of scholars between Bangladesh and ASEAN countries
• Human Security in South Asia: Discourse, Practice and Policy Proposition: The basic purpose of the regional project sponsored by the Ford Foundation, New Delhi, will be to catalyze mainstreaming discourses on non-traditional security(NTS) issues. The specific objectives of the projects are : to provide an intellectual understanding of the concept of human security through synthesis of academic discourse, local/indigenous scholarship and practices and policies; to provide for capacity building - human development, institutional capacity, enabling environment - for policy making on human security; to contribute to the building of standards and norms of measuring human security; and to build a system of monitoring human security index/audit.

Contacts

Dr. Abdur Rob Khan
Research Director
Head, Non-traditional Security Studies Division
Email: ark@biiss.org

Mr Abdus Sabur
Research Director
Head, Non-traditional Security Studies Division
Email: sabur@biiss.org

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