Category Topical

Asia Pacific, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

The United States Needs India and Taiwan to Counterbalance China: Will the “Milk Tea Alliance” Work?

March 5, 2021

The White House declassified one of its most sensitive operational policies, the “U.S. strategic framework for the Indo-Pacific,” as part of the final maneuvers of Donald Trump’s presidency in early January 2021.[1] That decision bewildered diplomats, policymakers, and scholars at home and abroad.…

Civil Society, South America

Chile 2010-2020: The Contentious Decade

February 18, 2021

If contention describes a state of sustained, massive protest combining peaceful, disruptive, and violent tactics, then the decade of the 2010s may be considered the most contentious in Chile’s history.[1] The decade’s contentious dynamics seem more spectacular and unpredictable considering Chilean…

Africa, Policy & Politics

Africa Is Not a Region, and Policymakers Should Stop Treating It Like One

February 11, 2021

With the new presidential administration in the United States, numerous articles have been published which suggest initiatives for the Biden administration, including from such Washington institutions as the Council on Foreign Relations,[1] the Center for Strategic and International Studies,[2] and Foreign Policy magazine.[3] Many innovative…

Asia Pacific, Book Reviews, Civil Society, Governance & Law, Special Content

Dapiran Observes a City on the Edge

January 21, 2021

In the waning days of Hong Kong’s 2014 student-lead Umbrella Movement, a hanging black banner read a prophetic message: We’ll Be Back. In 2019, those words came to fruition. The controversial introduction of a proposed extradition bill, allowing individuals in…

Asia Pacific, Europe, Security & Conflict

The Future Arenas of Great Power Competition

November 29, 2020

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…

Europe, Policy & Politics

The New Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: More of the same?

November 23, 2020

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…

Governance & Law, South America

Operation Mercury and Illegal Mining in Latin America

November 2, 2020

Money laundering serves as an important tool for transnational organized crime groups and terrorist organizations, enabling them to transform profit from illegal activities into clean funds for use in the licit financial system. Malign actors hide their money laundering efforts…

Asia Pacific, Security & Conflict

Bias and the Perceived China Threat

September 3, 2020

The health of Sino-American relations will be an important bellwether of American economic and national security success in the years to come. Because China is so important to America’s future, the United States must get it right with how it…

Book Reviews, Governance & Law, Security & Conflict

The Hacker and the State by Ben Buchanan

August 28, 2020

Review of Buchanan, Ben. The Hacker and the State: Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of Geopolitics (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2020) Juniper Networks, a Silicon Valley company that makes networking products, made headlines in early June. Sixteen members of…

Book Reviews, Europe, Security & Conflict

The Future of British Foreign Policy: Security and Diplomacy in a World After Brexit

August 2, 2020

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…

Governance & Law, Regional, Security & Conflict, South America

The Governance Competition in the Americas: “Criminal Charity” During COVID-19 Will Have Decade-long Consequences

June 9, 2020

Latin America’s criminal groups have leveraged the coronavirus pandemic to win the goodwill and support of local populations by delivering humanitarian assistance and co-opting public service provision in communities underserved by state institutions. Such levels of “criminal charity” could complicate the future efforts of Latin America’s weakest states to dismantle and defeat organized crime groups, whose power has grown in recent years.

Asia Pacific, Regional, Security & Conflict

A Rendezvous with Destiny for Two Unsinkable Aircraft Carriers

May 21, 2020

Since the Trump administration designated China a “strategic competitor,” Sri Lanka and Taiwan have increasingly become plausible geopolitical flashpoints in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. How could Taiwan and Sri Lanka dictate the post-coronavirus endgame for China and the United States?