FSI Italia

“FSI Italia” (fsiitalia.com) is a private research company founded in Milano in 2023. It is an extension of two sister companies, FSI of Turkey which was founded in Istanbul in 2022 (fsiturkiye.com), and FSI of Lebanon (fsinstitute.org), which was founded in Beirut in 2014.

About FSI Italia

Our mission is to facilitate political, economic, and financial enterprises, especially in the realm of investment. We provide scientific analysis and research conducted by international and local experts. Our research is aided by continuously expanding and updated databases on countries of the Middle East and North Africa, which cover geopolitical, geoeconomics, and security domains.

Mediterranean Insights

We have been expanding the range of our services and our branches around the Mediterranean as we believe this part of the world is gaining more significance especially because of developments in the fields of energy, investment, and security. The growing relationship between countries around the Mediterranean incentives us to provide European and international clients with insight into developments in the Middle East and North Africa, which are likely to have far-reaching economic, political, and security impacts. Our research aims also to guide international investment endeavors by highlighting opportunities and identifying potential risks.

Global Client Solutions

FSI Italia maintains our commitment to providing services that meet the needs of a particular class of clients, including international and regional organizations and their representatives (e.g., the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab league…), managers of investment portfolios, multinational companies (in the monetary, financial, and energy fields), as well as media outlets and networks and other research companies and centers which share our interests.

Our services are continuously evolving to accommodate the nature of our clients and their needs.

In general, our work methodology involves three stages

1. Monitoring stage

Which involves conducting an around-the-clock monitoring of major media platforms and social media activists, in various languages, to glean data, and document significant analyses, opinions, and indicators relevant to critical issues of the Middle East and North Africa, including Turkey, Iran, and Israel. We also rely on the special access available to some of our researchers, especially their access to diplomatic and business circles.

2. Data analysis stage

Which involves applying a scientific and methodological analysis of the data, gathered in the monitoring stage, in order to construct our situation reports.

3. Report-preparing and scenario-forecasting stage

Which involves preparing reports on a particular case or set of events. Such a report covers the background and context, and explores the approaches of the various relevant parties, whether internal or external, with a particular focus on their goals, interests, influences, and their expected responses to the events in question. Our goal is to formulate conclusions and forecast possible scenarios, along with their prerequisites and impacts.

Our range of services include

Primary papers

Which provide essential background information necessary to start any analysis. These papers include “in-depth reports” and “introduction papers”. The first addresses a particular event or case while the latter provides background information about a person or an entity. Primary papers aim to collect, analyze, and explain data in order to highlight intersections and provide comprehensive answers to all relevant questions.

Intermediate papers

Which focus on and collect the minute details – the pieces of the puzzle – in order to formulate the ultimate scene with the goal of providing a situation assessment for the coming weeks. These reports are of two types. The first focuses on a particular event that may highlight or influence the balances or governing relations and equations of a particular file. The second focuses on a strategic case with the aim of highlighting its minute details and/or critical viewpoints and approaches governing the case.

Ultimate papers

Which provide long-term insights. There are three types: a futuristic study, a trend study, and a risk assessment. These studies build on the primary and intermediate papers and are produced by a special team within FSI, in consultation of some external experts. These papers employ unique techniques with greater focus on mental, inductive, and deductive reasoning, as well as reverse analysis, generalization, deconstruction, comparison and deductive analogy. These techniques are employed during brainstorming sessions, and comparison and analogy discussions with the goal of constructing hypotheses and formulating scenarios.

The list of our services

We offer a wide range of products which can be modified to meet the needs of our clients. We can also add other products which are tailored to the needs of our clients. Currently, we are providing the following products:

1. Monitor Reports

A monitor report covers all published reports about the political, social, economic, defence and security affairs of a given country. It also includes surveying public opinion regarding specific cases or events. In particular, a monitor report focuses on three sources: news and opinion articles in mainstream media, opinions and information circulated across social media platforms, as well as field reporting conducted by elite local journalists through direct contact with officials and concerned individuals.

2. In-depth Reports

An in-depth report tackles an event that is, on one hand, too important to be listed in the frequent monitor report, but, on the other hand, it is still evolving or some of its components are still vague or unavailable. An in-depth report is prepared according to the following steps:

· Examining the events;

· examining the viewpoints of the various concerned parties, whether local, regional, or international; and

· analyzing the data and indicators in order to provide an account for their background, context, causes, and possible consequences.

3. Situation Assessments

There are two main types: an assessment of an event that has consequences on the governing relations of a particular file or event, and an assessment of a particular strategic case. These reports aim to provide a short-term forecast, roughly a three-month period. In respect of the methodology, these reports are prepared according to the following steps:

· Reviewing and documenting the primary and critical events relevant to the case at hand;

· analyzing the data and discussing their background, contexts, and causes;

· examining the actual approaches of the relevant parties, whether local, regional, or international;

· exploring and measuring the influence and roles of these parties, and their points of strength, goals, interests, concerns, and the factors governing their action and behaviour;

· reaching conclusions in light of the balance of power between the concerned local and international parties;

· describing possible scenarios and identifying their probability, and the conditions required for their materialization; and

· concluding with a summary that also reflects the researcher’s estimation of the line of events, in light of the aforementioned analysis, and the researcher’s own experience and intuition.

4. Trend Studies

A trend study is unique in the sense that it aims to forecast the possible path of a particular case in the coming months by studying the effect of one parameter, or more, on the evolution of the case, while eliminating the effect of other parameters by treating them as constant. In this sense, a trend study resembles an experiment in a laboratory where the actual goal is not forecasting the future path of a given case but exploring the effect of a particular parameter on the evolution of the case.

5. Futuristic Studies

A futuristic study aims to forecast the long-term future of a particular case. It is unique because of the following:

· It tackles a primary and not a secondary case;

· it provides forecasts in terms of years and not months (roughly 5 years);

· it employs special techniques and methodologies;

· it is about 10,000 to 15,000 words in length; and

· it is the product of a team of experts and the result of working over six to twelve months.

6. Economic reports

An economic report tackles a particular economic event or case which has political consequences which could affect particular factors of a given file. Such a report is prepared as follows:

· Presenting the economic file and clarifying the political, defense, and security dimensions;

· examining the economic file and discussing its intricacies, context, background, and its consequences and paths;

· examining the political, military, or security dimensions of tis file, while discussing their intersections; and

· reaching conclusions which forecast the evolution of the economic file and the political, military, and security dimensions.

7. Defining Reports

A defining report addresses a personality or an entity (political, defense, security, economic…etc.) that emerged suddenly on the stage of events or one that has been present but has recently acquired a significant role or has attracted interest in respect of the development of events in their domain. A defining report includes:

· The history of the personality or entity;

· the ideology or political allegiance in the case of personality, and doctrine in the case of entity;

· the goals or agenda;

· sources of power (whether organizational, popular, military, financial…etc.);

· influence;

stances regarding various regional and international files and powers.

8. Risk assessments

A risk assessment examines the political, economic, defense, and security outlook of a territory, country or region, over the coming years, in order to help major corporations and investors make their overseas investment decisions.

9. The Defense Brief

The defense brief is a regular report that documents and analyses recent scientific and technological developments in the field of defense industry, the official and public debates of defense affairs all over the world. The defense brief also covers changes in the doctrines and strategic planning of the major armed forces as well as their organizational, deployment, and acquisition plans.

Meet the Team

Malek Nahle

General manager

[email protected]

Elie Chalhoub

Executive Manager