Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, oil prices crashed to historical lows in the course of 2020. This translated into huge revenue losses, soaring debt and increased poverty in major oil-exporting states....
Since Islamic State lost its territory in Iraq and Syria, it has adapted its future script according to its circumstances. This Brief explores how the organisation invests in and manipulates an end-of-times narrative that exerts strong appeal for its followers, and will influence its next steps....
Despite political and industrial divergences between EU Member States, space will play an indispensable role in the Strategic Compass. Space is a strategic enabler that can enrich the EU’s approach to crisis management, resilience, capabilities and partnerships, and the Compass is an opportunity...
This Conflict Series Brief attempts to shed light on some of the risks associated with the use of digital technologies that can negatively impact mediation or negotiation efforts in civil conflicts, and examines how peacemakers might address them. Hence, rather than elaborating on the positive u...
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has heightened fears about the EU’s trade, resources and technology dependencies. This Brief outlines the challenges facing the Union’s supply security and explores how any EU trade diversification strategy needs to tackle three core risk factors: state frag...
Despite routine declarations that connect Sahelian terrorism to climatic and environmental factors, available scientific evidence does not allow us to conclude whether (and what) climatic factors impact (and how) conflict variability and terrorism. This Brief explores why....
Concerns about the erosion of the ‘taboo’ on chemical weapons use have deepened in recent years, in particular following the chemical weapons attacks that have taken place in the Syrian conflict. The sanctions regime against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons which the EU adopted in O...
China’s and Russia’s shared antagonism against the West fuels cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels. In its normative dimension, this cooperation is driven by the overarching aim of defining and re-interpreting existing international norms in a way that reflects the two countries’ sha...
In the sanctions practice of the EU, human rights motivations feature prominently, reflecting their centrality to the Union’s foreign policy. This Brief discusses plans to create a new EU sanctions regime addressing gross human rights violations. It examines the various challenges surrounding th...
The term ‘Indo-Pacific’ has made its way into official foreign policy rhetoric. Japan’s 2017 Foreign Policy Strategy, the US 2017 National Security Strategy, as well as its 2018 Defence Strategy, all refer to the ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ as the ultimate vision for managing international affa...