BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

Theme-1: Geopolitics and Evolving Global Order.

Great power stand-offs, geo-political competition, challenges to unipolarity, and proxy wars are the overarching phenomena of the evolving Global Order. With the Asian rise, the geopolitical centre of gravity has moved towards the Indo-Pacific. Geopolitical and strategic outlook and multilateral cooperation will be key aspects for sustained political, security and economic stability in the Indian Ocean region. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the dynamics of the evolving global order. Thus, in-depth research from multifarious angles will be necessary to anticipate coming threats, plan for countering the challenges and make required preparations for the uncharted waters of geopolitical pitfalls ahead of Bangladesh.

The sub-themes under this are:

• Indo-Pacific affairs
• Bangladesh’s foreign relations
• The Bay of Bengal
• Foreign Policy Analysis
• Regionalism
• Alliances and Bloc Politics.

Theme-2: Contemporary Security and Economic Challenges.

The Russia-Ukraine war, tension in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East Region and covid pandemic have instigated economic slowdown in recent years. The prolonged shocks disrupted the global supply chain of energy and food grains and, lowered growth rates amplifying financial risks. As anticipated geopolitical risks and disharmony in international relations may occur due to regional and global security threats. Bangladesh is not also alienated from the effect of looming global supply shortages, inflationary pressure, and a stable flow of remittances. The country’s susceptibility to other security-related complexities is evident, due to uncertainties about Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) repatriation, social disturbances, and other pressing issues related to climate, health, transnational crime, and cyber security. Against this backdrop, BIISS is attempting to examine Bangladesh's security and economic-related challenges originating from the ongoing global security and economic uncertainties.

The sub-themes under this are:

• FDMN Issues
• Cyber Security
• Environmental Security
• Global Economic Crisis and Bangladesh
• LDC Graduation
• Development Challenges
• Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Concerns
• Defence Modernization
• Border Security Issues.

Theme-3: Diplomacy and Negotiation.

The recent war in Europe and the Middle East region, peace support operations in Africa, global inflation, trade imbalance, the FDMN crisis, climate change, etc. are of significance to Bangladesh for manoeuvring diplomatic and security involvements; so that it can successfully tap the opportunities from the different bilateral and multilateral arrangements in Regional and Global platform. The research activities under this theme will include but are not limited to exploring possible ways and potential areas for the country to achieve diplomatic and security leverages and providing appropriate policy suggestions to the government and concerned authorities to address the abovementioned issues and concerns.

The sub-themes under this are:

• Public Diplomacy
• Defence Diplomacy
• Development Diplomacy
• Economic Diplomacy
• Maritime Cooperation
• Climate Diplomacy
• Energy Diplomacy
• Regional and Sub-Regional Cooperation.