Episode 308: The Arctic and the High North: Evolving Security Dynamics and Strategic Narratives with Dr Paal Hilde

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

This episode with Dr Paal Hilde explores how climate change, alliance dynamics, and geopolitical competition are reshaping the Arctic and the High North, and why this region is becoming increasingly significant in global risk calculations. We examine how melting sea ice is altering maritime access and infrastructure stress, while also challenging long-held assumptions about security, commercial opportunity, and…

Security, Climate Change, and Risk in the Arctic and the High North

Security, Climate Change, and Risk in the Arctic and the High North

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

The Arctic and the High North are undergoing rapid transformation. Climate change is reshaping the physical environment, while shifting alliance dynamics and renewed geopolitical competition are altering how states think about security, access, and risk in the region. Yet despite growing attention, the Arctic is often framed through simplified narratives that overstate militarisation, exaggerate commercial…

Episode 304: Debt as Leverage: Sovereign Lending and Geopolitical Influence with Dr Lev Breydo

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

*This episode was recorded in October 2025* This episode with Dr Lev Breydo explores how sovereign debt has evolved into a strategic instrument of power in an era of heightened geopolitical risk. We examine how credit markets, financial infrastructure, and legal design now shape state behaviour, constrain autonomy, and function as tools of coercion below the threshold…

Dr Lev Breydo

Dr Lev Breydo

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Lev E. Breydo is a scholar of law, finance, and technology whose work examines how credit markets, digital assets and AI shape the world economy and global risk. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in leading journals, including the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, and the…

Sovereign Debt as Strategy: Credit, Constraint, and the Quiet Reordering of Power

Sovereign Debt as Strategy: Credit, Constraint, and the Quiet Reordering of Power

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Sovereign debt is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Instruments once treated as technical matters of fiscal management have moved to the centre of international politics, shaping how states exert influence, constrain rivals, and manage risk without overt confrontation. In a recent episode of The International…

Grey Zone Warfare, Strategic Ambiguity, and the Future of Conflict

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Grey zone warfare has become one of the defining strategic challenges of the twenty-first century. Positioned between peace and open conflict, this domain encompasses cyber intrusions, election interference, disinformation, sabotage, covert maritime activity and the growing use of state and non-state proxies. In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, Dominic Bowen speaks with Professor…

Grey Zone Warfare as Strategy: Ambiguity, Risk Management, and the Erosion of Order

Grey Zone Warfare as Strategy: Ambiguity, Risk Management, and the Erosion of Order

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Grey zone warfare is not new. What is new is the role it now plays at the strategic level. Tactics that once sat at the margins of international politics have moved to its centre, shaping how states compete, coerce, and manage risk without crossing the threshold of open war. In a recent episode of The…

Episode 299: Grey Zone Warfare and Strategic Ambiguity: Risk, Deterrence, and the Space Between Peace and Conflict with Dr Andrew Mumford

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Today, Dominic Bowen hosts Dr Andrew Mumford on The International Risk Podcast to examine how grey zone warfare, hybrid tactics and strategic ambiguity are reshaping the contemporary security environment. They explore why sub-threshold activity has become a central feature of modern geopolitics, how states exploit ambiguity and deniability to pursue strategic objectives without triggering open…

Dr Andrew Mumford

Dr Andrew Mumford

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Dr Andrew Mumford is the University of Nottingham’s first ever Professor of War Studies. He is the editor of the Bloomsbury book series ‘Studies in Contemporary Warfare’ and Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Security (published by Cambridge University Press). He has published 4 books on facets of modern conflict. He has extensive experience in researching and engaging…

Hybrid Threats, Critical Infrastructure, and the Changing Landscape of European Security

Hybrid Threats, Critical Infrastructure, and the Changing Landscape of European Security

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Europe’s strategic environment is being reshaped by a rise in hybrid threats targeting the physical, digital and political foundations of modern societies. This episode of The International Risk Podcast examines these challenges through an in-depth conversation with Dr Tim Stevens, Reader in International Security at King’s College London and co-director of its Cyber Security Research…