“Security is not a destination. It is the quality of the decisions taken every day by those entrusted with it. And as the world grows more complex, the margin for error grows ever smaller.”
Prof. Dr Orhan Dragaš
founder and Director
About the Director
Prof. Dr Orhan Dragaš is the founder and Director of the International Security Institute. Born in Prizren, he was educated in Belgrade before earning a doctorate at the European University of Brussels, where he defended his thesis on modern national security systems and the intelligence and security community. His postdoctoral work took him to the London School of Economics and Political Science, Yale School of Management, the University of Oxford, and Harvard University, completing the sequence in 2022 with the Strategy Execution programme at Harvard Business School.
In 2002, he established ISI in Belgrade. Three years later, he founded the Faculty of Diplomacy and Security, the first institution of its kind in Eastern Europe. He serves as an expert to the European Commission in the field of migration and internal affairs, and is a member of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and RUSI, the Royal United Services Institute in London.
Publications
Dr. Orhan Dragaš is a prominent author whose scholarly work spans the fields of security, geopolitics, and international relations. Through his publications, he offers in-depth analyses of contemporary global challenges, combining academic rigor with practical insight. His writings reflect a strong commitment to understanding complex political dynamics and contribute significantly to both academic discourse and policy-oriented debates.
Dr. Orhan Dragaš is the author of six books. “The Modern Intelligence-Security Community: Utopia or Reality”, first published in 2009 and reissued in an expanded edition in 2018, remains a standard reference at universities across Serbia and Eastern Europe. “Two Faces of Globalisation: Truth and Deceptions”, published in 2019, examined the state of the global order a decade after the financial crisis of 2008.
As a regular columnist for the Kyiv Post, Prof. Dr Dragaš has established one of the most sustained analytical records of Russia’s war against Ukraine produced by any commentator in Southeast Europe. This work is inseparable from three books written in real time as the war unfolded: “The End of the Russian World”, “Russia: From a Failed State to a Rogue State”, and “Ukraine: Crime without Punishment” – a continuous chronicle of Russian aggression, its causes, and the hypocrisy of those who chose to look away.
His most recent book, “The Power of Perception: When Reality Loses the Battle”, was published by the renowned Chiselbury in London. It addresses one of the defining questions of our time: what happens to the world when the manipulation of perception becomes a more powerful instrument than reality itself, and when algorithms, digital platforms, and organised disinformation displace reason and fact. Lord Christopher Geidt, long-serving adviser and Private Secretary to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, wrote in his foreword that it is an outstanding guide, companion, and inspiration for all those who remain convinced of the significance of truth and will not surrender their right to think about it. The book has been published in Italian by the distinguished Cacucci Editore and in Serbian by the Official Gazette.
Areas of Expertise
International security and conflict analysis, hybrid warfare and information operations, geopolitical risk assessment, EU and NATO integration, economic security, intelligence and security systems, migration and internal affairs.