News & Media

September 1, 2018: ISDP is pleased to welcome Ambassador Diana Janse as a member of our board. Ambassador Janse is a Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Head of International Affairs at the Moderate Party (Sweden). She has held posts in the Swedish Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence before joining the Ministry for Foreign Affairs […]

August 30, 2018: Elliot Brennan was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about China’s role in Myanmar. “Beijing has a long wish list in Myanmar […] While Myanmar’s leaders are wary of China and may resist concessions on the biggest projects, an acceptable, if unpalatable, quid pro quo for its support will certainly be found.”

August 22, 2018: Halil Karaveli was interviewed by Istanbul-based writer William Armstrong about his new book “Why is Turkey Authoritarian?” “Turkey is constantly misunderstood. Turkish history is misunderstood. The Western notion that the Turkish military is trying to protect secularism is completely misguided.”

August 15, 2018: Gareth Jenkins was interviewed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on President Erdogan and scapegoating in Turkey. “A strongman particularly needs a scapegoat. Whether it’s another country, ethnicity, or religious minority, they’ve always had scapegoats to try to explain away the things that go wrong. It’s in their nature because the concentration of […]

August 12, 2018: Suat Kınıklıoğlu was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about President Erdogan’s standoff with the US. “Mr. Erdogan is trying to improve his bargaining position with Washington. If he sees an acceptable deal, he is capable of making a U-turn.”

August 10, 2018: Gareth Jenkins was interviewed by the Irish Times about the Turkish economy. “The Turkish economy’s current acute vulnerability to changes in international investor sentiment is a direct result of Erdogan’s simplistic obsession with high growth rates and his failure to address the economy’s structural weaknesses – and has been exacerbated by Erdogan’s […]

August 6, 2018: Elliot Brennan was interviewed by Bloomberg about Chinese control over the Mekong River. “The full brunt of this influence has not yet been demonstrated but, if exercised, it has the power to create famine, civil unrest, and potentially topple governments” 

August 2, 2018: Sangsoo Lee was interviewed at length by NK News about what North Korea might demand in return for denuclearization. “My personal opinion is that North Korea will make a request to recognize the Korean peninsula as a neutral state — which holds a neutral position between China-U.S. relations  — while persuading South Korea […]

July 25, 2018: Niklas Swanström presented at a Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies’ conference titled Stakeholder Consultation on the Korean Peninsula Peace Process in Siem Reap, Cambodia. For more information, visit the CPCS website.

July 20, 2018: Elliot Brennan was interviewed by Business Insider Nordic about the impact of the rescue of the Thai football team on the popularity of the Thai junta. “This kind of good news story raises all boats. Not surprisingly happier populations will prefer the status quo. That may translate as good news for pro-Junta […]