Abortion rights advocates in hostile environments face difficult choices. Clare Daniel, Anna Mitchell Mahoney and Grace Riley’s research in Louisiana shows how traditional advocacy approaches fail to sway legislators, while attempts to communicate across differences risk long-term consequences. Gender scholarship must contend with the dilemma of sacrificing broader goals for smaller, immediate impacts in increasingly constrained political landscapes
Global South states have long advocated for nuclear disarmament, from the Bandung Conference to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Yet recent abstentions and muted positions on conflicts suggest waning commitment. Shivani Singh examines how multipolar dependencies shape these states' responses, and what it means for the nuclear order
From Ukraine to global finance, informal organisations are stepping into gaps left by traditional institutions at a time of great power competition. With speed, flexibility, and a lack of constraining rules, these informal bodies are quietly reshaping international order write Steve Biedermann and Matthew Stephen
The recent municipal election results in North Rhine-Westphalia barely disguise Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s unpopularity. The result offers no respite for the CDU/CSU-SPD government at national level. Bold actions are needed domestically to tackle Germany’s deep and structural challenges, argues John Ryan
A new book by this series’ founder introduced the radical idea of a yet-to-exist theoretician who can access and condense immense amounts of information. Rishiraj Sen looks at the advantages and pitfalls of this concept, arguing that the ‘Fourth Theorist’ risks becoming an authoritarian figure, undemocratic in their theorisation of democracy
Under President Bukele’s perpetual 'State of Exception', El Salvador has made international news for its historic decline in homicides. Despite this, women report that problems of violence are far from over in the country, write Julia Zulver and Anne Ruelle
Young people are an important part of nuclear weapons’ history. But despite their significant presence, historical records and scholarly research have paid scant attention to youth participation in nuclear politics. In this ‘third nuclear age,’ Franco Castro Escobar argues there is a growing need to record and understand the voices of young antinuclear organisers in the twenty-first century
We often consider business groups to be the dominant lobbying force in Brussels. But, based on his latest research, Frederik Stevens shows the opposite: citizen groups are more likely to influence what gets on, or stays off, the EU’s agenda. And when they attract media attention, their influence clearly outweighs that of business interests
Ruben Van Severen shows why politically cynical citizens often praise the idea of referendums, but are not necessarily enthusiastic when they take place. Drawing on research in Flanders, he shows how poor topic choice can turn a tool meant to reconnect disillusioned citizens into one that risks widening the gap
Hungary’s government recast Budapest Pride as a danger to children and national security, then banned the 2025 march. Varvara Prodai’s data show that the 'security threat' framing spiked in Hungarian, while English-language messaging remained legalistic, revealing a two-track playbook that weakens minority rights and narrows civic space
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