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This Week at ISN

31 March 04 April 2014

Our Weekly Editorial Roundup

JUMP TO Editorial Plan | Security Watch | Blog | Video

// Strategic Trends 2014

This week we feature the 2014 edition of CSS' popular "Strategic Trends" series. After highlighting the volume's general conclusions, we will then feature individual chapters on 1) the problems Russia's increasingly aggressive foreign policy poses for the West, 2) the EU's eroding influence in its southern neighborhood, 3) the 'Talibanization' of radical Islamists in other parts of the world, 4) the gradual erosion of the US-led global security architecture, and 5) the evolving nature of US foreign policy under Barack Obama. More

CSS Launches Strategic Trends 2014

31 March 2014

The Center for Security Studies has just published its annual "Strategic Trends" volume. Today, we speak to its authors about the themes they stress and the issues they raise throughout the text. Then for the rest of this week, we will present individual chapters from this well-researched AND practical guide. More

Russia as a Challenger of the West

01 April 2014

Despite its fragile power base, Russia is likely to continue acting as a foreign policy spoiler in the years to come. According to the CSS' Jonas Grtz, Western leaders will just have to accept this and learn to cope with a 'new normal'. More

Sinking in Shifting Sands: the EU in North Africa

01 April 2014

The EU's influence in Northern Africa wasn't strong before the Arab Spring. And now, warns the CSS' Lisa Watanabe, things are only about to get worse. That is, of course, unless Brussels develops a bolder and more coherent vision for engaging with its southern neighborhood. More

The 'Talibanization' of Insurgency

02 April 2014

Should we expect radical Islamists in other parts of the world to copy the tactics used by the Taliban? Yes, says Prem Mahadevan. Those who have studied the insurgency in Afghanistan have learned a blatant truth persistent subversion coupled with steady battlefield attrition can nudge outside powers into strategic retreats. More

Mounting Challenges to Geostrategic Access

03 April 2014

Emerging economies may be putting greater demands on the global energy market, but so is the European Union. Today, Iana Dreyer and Gerald Stang appraise their competing needs and the impact the latter might have on Brussels' energy security policies. More

People Decide, Parameters Shape: US Foreign Policy under Barack Obama

04 April 2014

What factors will shape American foreign policy from now into the mid-term? According to the CSS' Martin Zapfe, the lingering aftermath of the financial crisis, the US public's fatigue with war, and the shale gas revolution will all make the US a 'strategic pragmatist' when it comes to its external affairs. More

// Security Watch
Artillery Systems 'Boom' in Asia
31 March 2014

While defense budgets continue to shrink in other parts of the world, the demand for new weapon systems continues to grow across much of the Asia-Pacific region. Today, Gordon Arthur looks at the regional market for artillery systems and assesses who is locally able to build what. More

Draining the Swamp in Iraq

01 April 2014

What explains the recent upsurge of violence in Iraq? According to Frank Gunter, there are several interrelated reasons the Syrian Civil War, President al-Maliki's pro-Shia policies, and the general mismanagement of Baghdad's oil funds. More

The New Vietnamese Vocabulary for Foreign and Defense Relations

02 April 2014

Vietnam has not only enhanced the professionalism of its defense and foreign ministries, it even has a new strategic vocabulary. So, what's the next step? As Lewis Stern sees it, it's time for Hanoi to have a 'strategic' rather than 'comprehensive' partnership with Washington. More

What to do About Putin's Information War

03 April 2014

The West needs to develop an information offensive that is capable of challenging Vladimir Putin's stranglehold over Russian media, writes Justin Burke. One thing he warns against, however, is recycling the self-celebrating tactics of the past. More

Exporting Security? Questioning Colombian Military Engagement in West Africa

04 April 2014

Colombia's expertise in fighting insurgencies and drug traffickers could be easily exported to West Africa, right? Wrong, says, Mabel Gonzlez Bustelo. Exporting militarized approaches to any 'war on drugs' will most likely lead to failure, as it has in Latin America. More

// Blog
War Is a Video Game and We're Losing
31 March 2014

We've heard this question before Are advances in unmanned systems and virtual reality making war more like a videogame, and therefore emptying the 'moral seriousness' of combatants? Not exactly, argues Adam Elkus. Today, he takes on the handwringers. More

Mediation Perspectives: The Tunisian National Dialogue

01 April 2014

What can mediators learn from Tunisia's national dialogue process and how it is shaping the country's ongoing democratic transition? For Owen Frazer, there are two key lessons political neutrality is not a precondition for successful mediation and the latter process can indeed be shaped decisively by external events. More

Indian Ocean Regionalism Picking up the Pattern of Connectivity

02 April 2014

Although the Indian Ocean is becoming an unrivaled maritime highway, the littoral states that encircle it remain strategically unconnected. For Anthony Bergin, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) can overcome this problem by developing a comprehensive engagement strategy with the area's stakeholders. More

Why 2014 in Asia Will Not be a Repeat of 1914 in Europe

03 April 2014

Are China's assertiveness and Japan's military 'normalization' creating the conditions for another 'World War I'? The similarities are more superficial than real, argues Paul Dibb. Nuclear deterrence did not exist then, nor did the level of economic and technological interdependence we see today. More

Disarmament: Learning to Challenge Our Assumptions

04 April 2014

Public interest in nuclear disarmament has declined since the end of the Cold War, writes Rebecca Cousins. The British American Security Information Council's (BASIC) Next Generation Initiative aims to change that and to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the process. More

// Video
Getting it Right in Afghanistan: Prospects for 2014
In this video, three experts discuss how the April 2014 presidential elections in Afghanistan might impact the ongoing peace process with the Taliban. More

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If you are a teacher, researcher, student or someone who just finds it useful to bundle international relations (IR) and security-related materials together, the ISN has a new web application for you. Our e-learning staff has just created a free tool that you can use to build personal dossiers. That means you can now tap into the approximately 75,000 publications, videos, podcasts and images available in the ISN's Multimedia Library to create course packages or supplements, ehandouts, or tailored collections on the IR and security topics of your choice. If you're interested in learning how to use this useful educational and research tool, please click here to get started. The ISN Personal Dossiers Tool -- it's just another way to make your professional or student life better. More

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Next week's theme: Air Power vs Sea Power

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