Has Japan really swung to the right? Robert Nordström explores how the collapse of one-party dominance has fuelled European-style populism — and opened the door to wider social change
Nuclear weapons come with a hidden cost: they erode democracy. In every nuclear state, secrecy, executive powers and stifled debate cut the public off from their government’s nuclear decision-making. Sterre van Buuren explains why this is – and why citizens must still push for more accountability
The view that DeepSeek is a tool of Chinese censorship is, Ruairidh Brown argues, mistaken. The AI is not censoring but self-censoring, a crucial distinction for understanding its role in shaping political norms
Western governments have armies of Mandarin speakers and AI translators, yet they keep misreading Beijing. What’s missing, as Stefan Messingschlager argues, is independent, context-rich expertise – people able to decode China’s history-laden signals and puncture bureaucratic groupthink. This kind of knowledge is strategic insurance every democracy needs before the next crisis hits
Internationally hailed as a breakthrough, Armenia’s US-brokered peace with Azerbaijan has come at steep domestic cost. Logan Liut explores how Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s foreign policy pivot triggered a rupture between the state and the influential Armenian Apostolic Church — threatening a vital source of Armenian soft power
In the current climate of populist narratives, citizens need a clear message about democracy. Agnieszka Pawłowska draws inspiration from the notion of plain language. Here, she proposes that citizens should be provided with plain democracy, which would empower them to recognise, understand, and use the fundamentals of democracy
Analyses of Syria's new government focus on sectarianism. But this obscures the logic behind its dual policy of co-optation and brutality. Andrea Novellis has developed a new framework to explain this seeming contradiction. Here, he reveals how the logic of post-conflict consolidation drives the strategic use of both approaches
The security situation in the Middle East reflects the hard realities of power struggle and the implications of the quest for regional hegemony. Nadeem Ahmed Moonakal shows how Israel is exploiting instability to entrench dominance, while Iran’s projected restraint masks deep vulnerabilities. With the US’ ambiguous approach adding to tensions, the space for long-term stability is shrinking
Are we nearing a new incarnation of the French vision of a Gaullist Europe? Focusing on strategic autonomy, nuclear deterrence, coalitions of the willing, threat perception, and defence capability, Amélie Jaques-Apke examines the strategic dilemmas, and conceptual and operational deficiencies, in European defence policy
As the US and China unveil rival AI governance blueprints, Elif Davutoğlu explores how these policy visions reflect deeper geopolitical strategies. Framed as calls for innovation or cooperation, both documents signal a global legitimacy race in which AI governance becomes a battleground for shaping the future international order
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