Recent Posts

How to Deliver for Citizens in Fragile States After the Democracy Summit

Multilateral efforts to uphold democracy should be more inclusive of conflict-affected countries going forward. Last week’s Summit for Democracy hosted by President Biden was a call to action. The first-ever international convening of its kind, it offered democratic leaders an opportunity to announce political commitments to reform over the coming …

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To Consolidate Democracy, Change U.S. Security Assistance

Security sector assistance often undercuts democratic rule in nations facing violence or autocracy As the United States pursues its initiative to bolster democratic rule and human rights after last week’s Summit for Democracy, a priority should be to diagnose and repair the flaws in U.S. and allied approaches to helping …

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The Spending Review and the UK’s Strategic Priorities

The recent Spending Review highlights the close relationship between the UK’s international and domestic policy agenda. Key Points In contrast to previous national security reviews, the 2021 Integrated Review (IR), published in March, was not accompanied by a multi-year spending review. The publication of the Spending Review in November 2021 …

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Macron’s Middle East Ambitions Increasingly Pass Through the UAE

While U.S. President Joe Biden seems determined to reduce the U.S. footprint in the Middle East, finally embracing Washington’s long-discussed pivot to Asia, French President Emmanuel Macron is headed in the opposite direction. In recent years, Macron has made repeated trips to Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf states, and launched …

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Counterterrorism Needs a Course Correction in 2022

As the coronavirus pandemic continued into its second year, its impact on terrorist attacks worldwide was palpable—and positive. In a report on terrorism from July, the United Nations stated that “in non-conflict zones … the threat remains suppressed by limitations on the ability of operatives to travel, meet, fundraise and …

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U.S. Sanctions Might Be Easy, but They’re Not Cheap

As 2021 comes to a close, the international community faces several emerging humanitarian and security catastrophes—even beyond the global pandemic that has gripped the world for two years. Ethiopia is undergoing a complex and multifaceted civil war that has spurred a humanitarian disaster of monumental proportions, with nearly 1 million …

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