The Center for International Security channels research conducted at the University on issues related to strategy, especially foreign policy, defense policy and intelligence. After the end of the Cold War , the development of the jihadist threat, the effects of globalization, the emergence of new space and cyber domains and recent trade tensions, the world has entered a new stage, in which alliances, doctrines and institutions that have been the basis of our national strategies are anachronistic. The Center was created with the aim of becoming a meeting place for reflection and discussion on the characteristics of the new international scene.

Understanding the new international environment is the Center’s first aim. The priorities are to understand how the national strategies of the main reference powers are evolving to accommodate new circumstances; to assess the level of effectiveness of existing international organizations; and to identify new challenges, risks and threats directly or derived from our international commitments.

The second aim is to analyze how these changes affect Spain’s security. The deterioration of the cohesion of the Atlantic Alliance, the inability shown by the European Union to fully develop this dimension -aggravated by the abandonment of the United Kingdom-, and the growing instability in the Middle East and North Africa highlight once again the importance of the strategic position of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as its strengths and weaknesses.

The Center joins the collective effort to understand the new environment and define the best possible strategy to defend national interests, with the collaboration of its own and other national and international researchers.