Drivers of Strategic Change

Abstract

In the following pages, IISS experts seek to highlight developments and themes that have the potential to drive strategic change in individual regions, and in the world as a whole. They do not offer forecasts of specific future events: this annual book remains a review of international affairs covering a 12-month period, in this case from mid-2016 to mid-2017. However, regional experts use their analysis of developments in this and recent years to identify strategic risk factors. This section is not a comprehensive list of risks facing the world, nor does it attempt to assess or quantify threats. World events will remain unpredictable. But we hope our analysis is useful for the identification of key drivers of strategic change.