Category Europe

Europe, Security & Conflict

Visions of Russia’s Imperial Future

April 20, 2025

History knows only very few examples of attempts to rebuild once collapsed empires, but it looks as if Vladimir Putin’s Russia is exhibiting such an attempt. More than a decade ago, I co-edited an anthology on the collapse of the…

Europe, Policy & Politics

“Long Live the Lords!” Tradition, Reform, and the Enduring Balance of British Democracy

December 4, 2024

On July 17, 2024, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in the King’s speech[1] that he would bring in legislation to abolish the remaining hereditary peers’ rights to sit in the House of Lords. On October 15, 2024 the…

Europe, Security & Conflict

How EU Enlargement Could Transform European Defence: Scenarios for a 2030 Agenda

December 2, 2024

To confront the resurgence of traditional geopolitics in Europe, the European Union (EU) should return to its oldest foreign policy tool—enlargement—to place defence transformation at the top of the agenda. As António Costa embarks on his tenure as president of…

Civil Society, Europe

Culture in Flux: The Role of Culture in Strengthening Georgia’s National Identity

November 7, 2024

Rustaveli Avenue, Tibilisi, is where Georgia’s culture and politics converge, lined by institutions including the National Museum and the Georgian Parliament. This May, the slogan “Yes to Europe, No to Russian Law” resounded through the avenue as Georgians protested the…

Europe, Policy & Politics

Is Georgia’s Dream of a Future Alignment with the West still a Possibility?

November 6, 2024

There are signs of yet another crisis the EU has to deal with after the parliamentary election in Georgia on 27 October. The pro-Russian party Georgian Dream has allegedly won 54% of the vote. This puts an end to hopes…

Europe, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

The Insecurities of Putin’s Russia

June 6, 2024

Professor Jef Huysmans at Queen Mary University of London describes insecurity as a politically and socially constructed phenomenon, and argues that insecurities arise from institutional and political reactions to a threat. In his interpretation, “a threat functions as an event…

Europe, Governance & Law, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

International Law’s Role in a Strat-Dominated World—Part 2

March 18, 2024

In our previous article we observed that in a world dominated by realists, academics are more likely to focus on strategic studies and not international law.[1] We nevertheless found noteworthy the extent to which international law enters into strategic thought…

Europe, Governance & Law, Security & Conflict

Utilizing the European Convention on Human Rights to Transfer Frozen Russian Assets to Ukraine

March 13, 2024

There is growing concern that countries funding the defense of Ukraine may not continue to do so. This has led to a discussion whether it’s possible to provide Ukraine with some or all of more than $327 billion in Russian…

Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Security & Conflict

WHAT IS ‘STRATEGIC COMPETITION’ AND ARE WE STILL IN IT?

February 2, 2024

The last two (Trump and Biden) US national security strategies have claimed that the United States is in ‘strategic competition’ (a.k.a., ‘Great Power Competition’) with the autocracies of Russia and the People’s Republic of China. What does the term mean?…

Europe, North America, Policy & Politics

How U.S. History Can Save North Macedonia and Defeat Putinism in the Balkans

October 2, 2023

Given the spectacular killing of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the less-than-spectacular Ukrainian counter-offensive, it’s looking a lot tougher to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fortunately, the United States has a rare opportunity to defeat Putinism in the Balkans. To score this…

Europe, Security & Conflict

Post-Soviet no more – the transformative impact of war on Russia’s neighbors

September 18, 2023

This is a shortened, significantly revised article based on the authors’ chapter “Shifting balances – the war and Russia’s neighbours,” published in the report “Russia’s War Against Ukraine and the West: The First Year”, edited by Maria Engqvist and Emil…

Asia Pacific, Europe, Security & Conflict

A World Historical Perspective on the War in Ukraine and the China-Taiwan Standoff

September 10, 2023

As the world faces a protracted war in Ukraine with no clear end in sight and a tense standoff in the Taiwan Strait with potential for catastrophic escalation, the time is ripe for a world historical perspective on these conflicts,…