The Biden administration’s National Security Strategy is grounded in a “belief that the rules-based order must remain the foundation for global peace and prosperity.” Yet international security norms have come under increasing threat in the past decade,… Read more
In the nearly two years since the Taliban’s takeover, much of the Afghan population continues to struggle to meet basic daily needs amid a severe humanitarian crisis. The Taliban have imposed a raft of draconian restrictions on Afghan women and girls,… Read more
How do concerned parties facilitate diplomatic and humanitarian progress on conflict cases when the U.N. Security Council is gridlocked? By explicit design, the Security Council’s powerful permanent five members can deadlock its work with a unilateral… Read more
The 2021 military coup in Myanmar not only triggered an unprecedented nationwide revolt against military rule but is increasingly precipitating challenges to global security. The junta’s ineffectual rule has resulted in the rise of cross-border human… Read more
Gridlock at the U.N. Security Council draws headlines, but it never truly grinds diplomatic and humanitarian work to a halt. Instead, concerned parties approach the threat of the veto as the beginning of diplomatic creativity. They deploy procedural,… Read more
The state of Chad’s political transition is not reassuring. Despite some signs of progress during the National Inclusive and Sovereign Dialogue (DNIS) last October, security forces engaged in violent crackdowns of protests shortly afterward — killing… Read more
Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine has changed Japan’s assessment of Russia, as well as Tokyo’s policy toward Moscow. In doing so, it has also brought NATO and Japan closer together in their views of Russia and led to broader NATO… Read more
In the years since U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and the resulting Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda called for a gender perspective on peace and security, efforts have historically only addressed women and girls. However, feminist… Read more
Before Vladimir Putin launched his illegal war on Ukraine, the Russian-funded paramilitary Wagner Group was an infamous, shadowy tool of Moscow’s foreign policy, advancing its objectives in the Middle East and Africa. After Putin’s February 2022 invasion… Read more
In the fractured authority surrounding crime-group controlled enclaves on the Moei River separating Thailand and Myanmar, this is what a crackdown on armed gangsters looks like: China presses Myanmar’s military junta — a sometimes client of Beijing — to… Read more
Since April of last year, Xi Jinping and China’s foreign policy apparatus have been touting the Chinese leader’s vision of an alternative to the U.S.-led global security order, dubbed the Global Security Initiative (GSI). While Beijing has incrementally… Read more
Timor-Leste and Bougainville are two small, tropical island communities — one in Southeast Asia, the other in the South Pacific. While their culture and histories are distinct, they share a common political bond. They both voted overwhelmingly for… Read more