The SAIS Review of International Affairs
In her book, Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West, former British investigative journalist Catherine Belton argues that the former KGB officer is determined to continue the Cold War in order to crush the West. The article evaluates Belton’s claims and logic on the nature of Putin’s regime.
For two decades, US military leaders have focused almost entirely on training and equipping the force for counter-insurgency operations. With politicians now intent on drawing down the United States’ involvement in the Middle East, the military has shifted its focus to meeting the next major challenge: conflict with another great power. From a security perspective, […]
Amidst Brexit and a pandemic, the U.K. government announced an ambitious merger of its foreign and development ministries, which took place in September. As the country undertakes a major review of its foreign and defense policy, what do the past and present of UK. aid tell us about the potential trajectory of British foreign policy under the Foreign, Commonwealth and […]
Review of Hill, Christopher. The Future of British Foreign Policy: Security and Diplomacy in a World After Brexit (Cambridge, Polity Press, 2019) On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom formally left the European Union. For most observers, Brexit Day meant the conclusion of a long drawn out negotiation process lasting for more than three-and-a-half years […]
The blockchain movement originated as part of a libertarian solution counter to centralized authority. And now, ironically, it is governments that are increasingly interested in the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). … Indeed, Blockchain technologies are poised to significantly benefit public services by improving governments’ efficiency and transparency. This article argues why and how governments should more boldly pursue the use of blockchain technology as a tool for improved governance outcomes.
In Pushkin’s 1822 poem, Prisoner of the Caucasus, the epilogue proclaims, “And the violent cry of war fell silent: All is subject to the Russian sword. Proud sons of the Caucasus, You have fought, you have perished terribly.”[1] The political overtones of the poem’s dénouement are jarring compared to the poem’s earlier verses on romance, natural beauty, and the heroism of the Caucasian people. But the poem’s ending reveals the complicated position of the region in Russian history and culture. The Caucasus is simultaneously a place to be controlled, otherized, and romanticized.
For seven decades, the United States has prided itself in being a reliable and committed NATO partner, willing to protect all allies at all times. Today such assurances no longer appear rock-solid. … In this context, one is reminded of Czech-born writer Milan Kundera’s insightful words regarding the fate of small countries: “What distinguishes the small nations from the large is not the quantitative criterion of the number of their inhabitants; it is something deeper: for them their existence is not a self-evident certainty but always a question, a wager, a risk.”
Since the pivotal event of former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s execution on Christmas Day 1989, and the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union, Romania has established itself as a friend to democratic values and to global security and stability. In less than 30 years, Romania has adjusted its economy to support capital markets, strengthened its institutions enough to gain membership into the European Union, and invested in its security and its internal values enough to gain membership into NATO.
