Over the past decades, states in the eastern wing of NATO have prioritised their defence partnership with the United States, sometimes at the expense of their Western European allies. This trend could most notably be seen in Poland, a leading…
Donald Trump’s vocal advocacy for confronting the rising People’s Republic of China, combined with his criticism of America’s role as Europe’s security guarantor, has led him to strongly endorse redirecting U.S. foreign policy from Europe to Asia. However, his signalled…
The volatile crisis in the Taiwan Strait poses a significant risk of escalating tensions into open confrontation. China’s “peaceful rise” has led to the modernization and expansion of its military capabilities, which challenges U.S. influence, particularly in the Taiwan Strait….
By the end of 2024, South Korea’s democracy faced its most profound challenge. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s unexpected declaration of martial law sent shockwaves through the nation, testing the resilience of democratic institutions, which turned out to be more fragile…
Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, Russia has frequently used nuclear threats to influence Western decision-making by leveraging fear and uncertainty. However, nuclear weapons offer limited battlefield or strategic advantage for Russia while risking a decisive international response…
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has reached a pivotal moment, with recent months witnessing unprecedented military operations and escalating tensions. As Israeli forces target Hezbollah’s infrastructure and leadership, the group retaliates with relentless rocket attacks, raising the stakes…
Given the diversity of threats facing European countries combined with Russia’s growing belligerence, total defence strategies have gained significant traction in recent years. At the same time, the Women, Peace and Security agenda has highlighted the importance of understanding gender’s…
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to influence many aspects of human activity and the functioning of society, including the fusion of AI applications and security. In this context, we can identify two fundamental dimensions. The first dimension addresses how…
The U.S.-China tech competition, a battle between the world’s two largest economies for leadership in advanced technologies, has had a tremendous impact on the global economy, security, and international politics. Both, the United States and China, are competing for primacy…
Past years have seen an enormous, yet insufficient, rise in public debates over climate change and, consequently, investments in sustainable development worldwide. Even though sustainability-related conversations were developed and held predominantly in the geographic West, the eastern counterpart has recently…
Tensions in the Horn of Africa have surged following an unexpected announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ethiopia and Somaliland. The agreement reportedly involves leasing land for Ethiopia’s planned naval facility in exchange for potential recognition of Somaliland’s…
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the main topics of debate in the public space in recent years. AI has numerous implications for countless areas, ranging from increasing the efficiency of industrial production to drug development and language translators…
In the wake of a decrease in the number of recorded incidents of illicit maritime activities in the last few years, the institutional landscape utilised by the affected states to combat illicit maritime activities is developing slowly, but not universally,…
In the Pacific, the United States Air Force (USAF) is at a critical juncture and faces an urgent challenge: its long-standing reliance on large static bases is now increasingly threatened, particularly by escalating Chinese provocations. In response, the emergence of…
Nigeria is a West African country with immense potential, and numerous experts predict that its significance will only grow in the coming decades. Still, it stands mostly in the shadow of contemporary events in other parts of the Sahel region….
The annual security conference in Munich, Germany, has just concluded. The attending leaders discussed the war in Ukraine, while the legacy of 1938—when Western powers chose appeasement, conceding to Hitler at Czechoslovakia’s expense—still hangs in the air. Russia’s full-scale invasion…
The character of space is changing, and new actors are stepping in. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the United Arab Emirates space program are perfect examples of modern stakeholders. Furthermore, the future offers additional commercialization opportunities, and with newer, less expensive,…
The Russian aggression against Ukraine has reopened the discussion about cyberattacks and the use that states make of them during conflicts. Moreover, analysing the case of the cyberattack NotPetya of 2017 helps to contextualise the current events. The harmful acts…
For over two decades, the United States has been fighting an elusive epidemic that has grown into a serious Fentanyl crisis. The number of fatalities is increasing at an alarming rate every year, setting new records. The demand for the…
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of modern history’s most protracted and contentious disputes. Over the years, various proposals and peace initiatives have been put forth to settle the conflict, with the two-state solution being the most widely recognized framework. Complicated…
The definition of energy security is vague and varying. It covers a wide range of threats and their countermeasures, which concern three main parts of the energy sector: the generation of energy itself or secondary energy carriers, their storage and…
In July 2023, Niger, a longstanding Western ally in West Africa, has experienced a coup d’état. This came in time of French de facto expulsion from Mali and European withdrawal in general, redirecting most of the hopes to Niger. The…
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has challenged traditional notions of air superiority, as Ukraine successfully employed an air denial strategy against a larger adversary. As Taiwan faces its own security challenges, it can draw valuable lessons from Ukraine’s experience…
North Korea is often associated with nuclear weapons and displays of military power, to the extent that finding the combination of the terms soft and Pyongyang in one sentence would be truly unusual. However, some analysts believe that even an…
At the end of February 2022, the system of international security as guaranteed by the Vienna convention and United Nations was violated. Previous international agreements are once again put in question as to whether they can be trusted. Due to…
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world’s eyes have naturally been fixed on the Euro-Asian continent. However, rising grains, fuel, and fertilizer costs as a consequence of the invasion are dangerously worsening food security elsewhere in the world as…
A recent initiative was created in 2016, with an ambition to connect the Three Seas – Baltic, Black and Adriatic. The 12 European countries involved in this initiative share an experience of Communist rule in the 20th century, with all…
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its 1st year, both parties do not show any inclination to negotiate. Ukraine is emboldened after its autumn successes in Kharkiv and Kherson, with Ukrainian forces seemingly determined to retake more territory in…
