Elena Cossu
China has delivered vaccines to Latin America on an extraordinary scale. We must understand this in the context of China’s long-term aspirations as a rising power in the international order. Elena Cossu argues that Chinese vaccine diplomacy directly challenges the already declining US authority in the region Read more
Samuel Brazys
China seeks to control the international narrative on its role in the pandemic. But while Beijing cannot always deflect criticism, its mask diplomacy efforts and external propaganda streams do affect China’s image, write Samuel Brazys, Alexander Dukalskis and Stefan Müller Read more
Alexander Dukalskis
Authoritarian states deliberately use a number of tools to manage their image internationally, writes Alexander Dukalskis. Creating positive news, distracting and silencing critique, and shaping elite opinion help make the world safer for dictatorships Read more
Franziskus von Lucke
The pandemic still dominates headlines, yet political attention must soon refocus on a crisis even more fundamental: climate change. Franziskus von Lucke argues that to deal with the climate crisis, actors such as the EU must recognise different understandings of global climate justice Read more
Kristin Haugevik
When states are criticised, they normally recognise, reject or counter the critique. Yet they could listen to and contain criticism without directly rejecting or recognising it. Using criticism of Norway’s Child Welfare Services as an example, Kristin Haugevik and Cecilie Basberg Neumann show that diplomatic containment can prevent conflict accelerating and then damaging bilateral relations […] Read more
Noe Hinck
The European Union has faced a long struggle performing alongside its member states on the international stage. States seek other states to deliberate over global issues. Noe Hinck argues that the newly concluded EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement may be the key to changing this status quo Read more
Ruairidh Brown
An absence of ideological universalism means that China-US relations have so far managed to escape a Cold War situation, writes Ruairidh Brown. With Biden’s promise of a value-centred American Foreign Policy, this could be about to change Read more
Domenico Valenza
The scientific credibility of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine has been seriously challenged. So why is Russia risking mass vaccination? Domenico Valenza argues that an international, biopolitical power-play presents Russia as the actor that can bring order to a disordered world Read more