Asia Pacific, Policy & Politics

The Contradictions of the Party-State: China’s Experience with the COVID-19 Pandemic

October 9, 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited the debate regarding the relative merits of democratic, illiberal, and authoritarian rule; specifically, which system has more effectively responded to the COVID-19 pandemic,…

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…

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…

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,…

Asia Pacific, Civil Society, Regional, Security & Conflict, Topical

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

September 4, 2023

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…

Asia Pacific, Economics, Governance & Law, North America, Policy & Politics

How China’s Political System Discourages Innovation and Encourages IP Theft

July 31, 2023

U.S. observers have long complained that Chinese firms steal intellectual property (IP) from American companies, universities, and research institutions.¹ Most of these complaints stress that the government of…

Asia Pacific, Economics, Energy & Environment, Europe

Unveiling Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) Challenges: The Potential Dispute Between China and EU

July 24, 2023

In December 2022, the European Union (EU) approved a green tax on carbon-intensive commodities called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). It aims at reducing carbon leakage, a…

Europe, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

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

July 10, 2023

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…

Governance & Law, North America, Policy & Politics

Unmoored from the UN: The Struggle to Ratify UNCLOS in the United States

June 26, 2023

On July 9, 1982, after three series of multilateral conferences spanning decades of rigorous negotiations, President Ronald Reagan formally announced that the United States would not sign the…

Africa, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

Sudan: A Tinderbox to All-Out War

June 19, 2023

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,…

Regional, Topical

International Law’s Role in a Strat-Dominated World

June 12, 2023

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.…

Europe, Governance & Law, Interviews, Policy & Politics

A Conversation with Charles Dunst: On Defeating the Dictators

June 5, 2023

Charles Dunst is the author of Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman. In a world where democracy is in decline and…