About IISS International Institute for Strategic Studies ( IISS ) is the world's leading authority on political-military conflict. The IISS, based in London, is both a limited company in UK law and a registered charity. It has offices in the US, in Singapore and in Bahrain. The IISS was founded in 1958 in the UK by a number of individuals interested in how to maintain civilised international relations in the nuclear age. Much of the Institute's early work focused on nuclear deterrence and arms control and was hugely influential in setting the intellectual structures for managing the Cold War.