The International Security Forum (ISF) is a

Swiss government The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governme ...

-sponsored international conference on

security policy Security policy is a definition of what it means to ''be secure'' for a system, organization or other entity. For an organization, it addresses the constraints on behavior of its members as well as constraints imposed on adversaries by mechanisms ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and beyond. The biannual forum is held alternately in Zurich and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Background

The ISF is a Swiss contribution to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

’s

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; french: Partenariat pour la paix) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; ...

initiative. It was launched in Zurich in April 1994 as a platform for discussion and exchange on international security policy ranging from political-military to

human security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenges the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the human rather t ...

issues. The 10th edition of the ISF occurred from 22 to 24 April 2013 in Geneva under the overarching theme "Facing a World of Transitions". The 2013 forum also hosted the 15th Annual Conference of the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes.

Sponsors and partners

The ISF’s main sponsors are the Swiss

Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport, french: Département fédéral de la défense, de la protection de la population et des ...

and the

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten, french: Département fédéral des affaires étrangères, it, Dipartimento federale degli affari esteri, rm, ), so name ...

. The co-organizers include the

Geneva Centre for Security Policy The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation that was established in 1995 under Swiss law to "promote the building and maintenance of peace, security and stability". The GCSP was founded by the Federal Department ...

, the

Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces DCAF - ; Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance ( French: ''Centre pour la gouvernance du secteur de la sécurité, Genève,'' German: ''Das Genfer Zentrum für die Gouvernanz des Sicherheitssektors'') is an intergovernmental foundation-b ...

, the

Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD; french: Centre international de déminage humanitaire - CIDHG) is an international organisation working in mine action and explosive ordnance risk reduction, with a focus on land ...

, the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, or the Geneva Graduate Institute (french: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement), abbreviated IHEID, is a government-accredited postgraduate institution ...

, the

Center for Security Studies (CSS) The Center for Security Studies (CSS) is a center at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, which focuses on Swiss and international security. Overview The center was founded by Prof. Dr. Kurt Spillmann in 1986 and has been led ...

and its

International Relations and Security Network The International Relations and Security Network (ISN) was part of the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, which is located in Zurich, Switzerland. It was an online information service that provided a ...

at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain): * Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people ...

in Zurich, as well as the PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes. A number of other institutions are involved in the organization of the various conference panels.

Participants

The ISF is attended by researchers, academics, diplomats and other government officials, military officers, and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations. In 2013, approximately 700 speakers, participants and media representatives attended the ISF. About 55% of the conference participants came from outside Switzerland.International Security Forum
''10th ISF Comes To A Close''. Retrieved 2014-01-15.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.isf.ethz.ch/ Security organizations International conferences Government of Switzerland