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Europe Security & Conflict

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

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 Wannheden, Stockholm: Swedish Defence Research Agency, June 2023, FOI-R—5479—SE.  Introduction Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine […]

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Asia Pacific Europe Security & Conflict

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

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, which may provide help in formulating effective policy responses. It is important to start by […]

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Asia Pacific Civil Society Regional Security & Conflict Topical

The Palestinianization of the Rohingya Crisis: No Money, No Love

Evidently, for quite a long time, the protracted Palestinian refugee crisis has not only condemned millions of Palestinians to a life of indescribable suffering but also kept the Middle East destabilized and much more volatile than any other region across the world. The refugee crisis has directly or indirectly contributed to the outbreak of numerous […]

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Europe Policy & Politics Security & Conflict

Hamster on a Treadmill: Western Diplomacy and the Kosovo Status Dispute

David B. Kanin is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Since 1878 the Balkan region has come under successive great power security caps, each of which has turned out to be less permanent than advertised. The war in Ukraine underscores the fact that stability in the area, and […]

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Africa Policy & Politics Security & Conflict

Sudan: A Tinderbox to All-Out War

Violent clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the infamous paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have plunged Sudan into crisis and renewed instability. In mid-April of 2023, brief gun battles in the streets of Khartoum and other strategic areas around the country quickly escalated. Reports indicate that both sides had been preparing for an […]

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Africa Asia Pacific Civil Society Collaboration Economics Energy & Environment Europe Governance & Law International Development Middle East North America Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict South America Special Content Topical

International Law’s Role in a Strat-Dominated World

This article originally appeared on May 15, 2023, in the SAIS Europe Journal of Global Affairs. “Even the finest warrior is defeated when he goes against natural law. By his own hand he is doomed and all creatures are likely to despise him.” Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Verse 31 Introduction Public international lawyers imagine […]

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Europe Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict Topical

‘Not in Our Name:’ Why Russia is Not a Decolonial Ally or the Dark Side of Civilizational Communism and Imperialism

Selbi Durdiyeva is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg.This contribution was written as part of the research project Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace & Conflict [grant number 01UG2205A], funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Though decolonial thinking has existed for as long as colonization […]

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Economics Governance & Law Middle East Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict Topical

Rethinking Irish Migration Governance: Why Refugees and Asylum Seekers Must Be Meaningfully Included in Policymaking Decisions

Serena Clark recently finished a consultancy at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN Migration. She recently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Maynooth University. She holds a doctorate in global politics from Trinity College Dublin, where she was a Rotary Global Grant Scholar. Introduction The contemporary relationship between states and migration is complicated, and […]

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Economics Governance & Law Middle East Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict Topical

Negotiating With Gangs: Lessons From the 2012 Truce in El Salvador

Siniša Vuković is a Senior Lecturer of Conflict Management and Global Policy and Director of the Master of Arts Global Policy Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Eric Rahman is a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State. His diplomatic postings have included Haiti and Algeria.  The views expressed in the article […]

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Economics Governance & Law Middle East Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict Topical

Book Review: Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers by Yan Xuetong

David B. Kanin is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Review of: Yan Xuetong, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2019, pp. 262). What follows is a reconsideration of Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers by Yan Xuetong, published in 2019. […]