The IISS was founded in the UK in 1958 with a focus on nuclear deterrence and arms control. Today, it is also renowned for its annual Military Balance assessment of countries' armed forces and for its high-powered security summits, including the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Each year since 2002, The International Institute for Strategic Studies has organised the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. At this inter-governmental regional security summit, defence ministers, military chiefs and other leading members of the national security establishments of the Asia-Pacific states – and other countries vitally involved in the region – meet to discuss the crucial regional security matters of the day. The Dialogue has become a fixture in the calendars of key defence decision-makers from the 27 countries that regularly send delegations.

The Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2015 is the second IISS Strategic Dossier to be published in association with the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. It focuses on five centrally important groups of regional security concerns relevant to the important discussions of the Dialogue in 2015 and subsequent years:

The definition and extent of the Asia-Pacific, and its inter-regional connections; assessments of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept; Middle East–Asia security connections; and South Pacific island security challenges.

The strategic roles of the Asia-Pacific’s two most important powers – the United States and China.

The increasingly important security roles of the region’s medium powers – Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea and Russia.

Low-intensity and human-security challenges, ranging from internal insecurity in China and Myanmar to the potential for regional cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and search-and-rescue.

The continuing search for a peaceful and stable regional order, including ASEAN’s security role and the potential of strong new leaders in Asia to broker more effective regional security collaboration.