This Brief explains how, in theory, the US spending less money on the UN could have yielded more desired outcomes by providing greater clarity of priorities and efficiency of operations. But in practice, having fewer resources and engaging less seems to have resulted in more festering crises and...
On the eve of the European Council´s summit on defence, the EU´s six military operations to date can be considered to have been carried out with a certain degree of success. This brief examines how the Union still has room to grow as a European security provider in the context of an internationa...
Sub-Saharan Africa is both blessed with immense energy resources and challenged by desperate energy poverty. This Brief explains how, as Europe diversifies its energy suppliers and seeks improved energy security, a focus on better energy governance and improved energy sustainability in Africa ca...
As both China and India scramble for influence in the region, the ocean looks increasingly like the board of Go – the great encircling game. Is there a maritime governance role there for the EU? One which allows it to finally develop its strategic partnership with the South Asian giant?...
With the Arctic emerging as the new geopolitical hotspot, future developments will be defined by the tensions between the exploitation of natural resources and attempts to preserve the region. In this context, the EU, as a champion of regulatory policy, could contribute significantly to the sust...
The EUISS is now helping with the preparation of the HR/VP’s report assessing the ‘changes in the global environment’ which is to be delivered in June. In this Brief, the EUISS Director gives a first overview of some of the themes this report may include....
In the three decades after the Cold War, the perception of ‘Arctic exceptionalism’, the sense that the Arctic region is immune from broader geopolitical tensions, prevailed. However, this notion is currently being challenged: climate change is accelerating the opening of new maritime trade route...
This Brief highlights the importance of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as a political actor in its own right. However, China also has an effective system of civilian control over the armed forces, which works because they are thoroughly politicised....
The complex nature of cyber conflicts makes it difficult to design effective, targeted conflict prevention instruments. Yet existing approaches to prevent conflict in cyberspace have, so far, brought about very little change in state behaviour. How might the EU lead the way in preventing conflic...
Following the proposal to prepare an EU Cyber Defence Policy Framework at last December's European Council, this Brief seeks to explore how the EU can improve its cyber-defence capabilities and thereby better protect its critical infrastructure. What is there, for example, to be learned from int...