A detailed close-up of social media icons on a smartphone screen, including Facebook and Twitter.

Disinformation, Epistemic Fragmentation, and the Future of Trust in Digital Societies

ByElla Burden

21st-century digital transformations of the information environment have reconfigured how knowledge is produced, validated, and contested. Disinformation is no longer confined to discrete falsehoods or orchestrated state propaganda; it now operates within a participatory and highly networked ecosystem in which information is continuously generated, amplified, and recursively reshaped across digital platforms. In the United States,…

The Climate-Conflict Nexus in the Lake Chad Basin: Complexity Beyond Simplistic Narratives

The Climate-Conflict Nexus in the Lake Chad Basin: Complexity Beyond Simplistic Narratives

ByElla Burden

The Lake Chad Basin has become one of the world’s most frequently cited examples of how climate change, insecurity, and governance pressures intersect. With over 50 million people across Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, the region supports livelihoods that depend almost solely on natural resources, particularly fishing, farming, and pastoralism. Over the past six decades,…

North Korea Today: Strategy, Signalling, and the Calculated Logic of Risk

North Korea Today: Strategy, Signalling, and the Calculated Logic of Risk

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

For decades, North Korea has been framed as unpredictable, irrational, and perpetually on the brink of crisis. Missile launches, nuclear tests, and sudden diplomatic reversals often reinforce the perception of a regime driven by impulse rather than strategy. Yet this narrative obscures a more complex reality. Beneath the dramatic headlines lies a system that calibrates…

Climate Litigation and Risk: Who Pays for Climate Damage?

Climate Litigation and Risk: Who Pays for Climate Damage?

ByElla Burden

Ten years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the fight over climate responsibility has moved from the halls of diplomacy to courtrooms around the world. Climate litigation is increasingly being deployed as a device to test, enforce, and sometimes redefine climate obligations across jurisdictions. It does not replace political negotiation, regulatory reform, or market…

Ukraine Missile Attack in Russia

Hypersonic Missiles, Nuclear Deterrence and the New Arms Race

ByKeir Fairley

Nuclear weapons are back at the centre of global politics. For much of the post Cold War era, they lingered in the background, casting a long but often ignored shadow over international affairs. Today, that shadow has sharpened. Great power rivalry has returned, arms control agreements are eroding, and emerging technologies are reshaping how states…

Sudan Today: War, Power, and the Fragmentation of Authority

Sudan Today: War, Power, and the Fragmentation of Authority

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Since April 2023, Sudan’s conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has reshaped not only territorial control, but the deeper structures of governance, authority, and political economy. More than 12 million people have been displaced, and over 21 million face acute food insecurity. Yet beyond these staggering humanitarian figures lies a…

Inside the War in Ukraine: Strategy, Technology and the Future of Security

Inside the War in Ukraine: Strategy, Technology and the Future of Security

ByKeir Fairley

The war in Ukraine did not begin in February 2022. That date marks the escalation to full-scale invasion, but the conflict itself began in 2014 with Russia’s hybrid warfare in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea. Since February 2022, however, the war has evolved into Europe’s largest conventional conflict since the Second World War….

Aerial shot of a harvester working a cornfield in rural Austin, MN during fall season.

Food Security and Systemic Resilience: Preparing for Cascading Risks in Modern Food Systems

ByElla Burden

Food security is frequently treated as a domestic policy metric: a function of agricultural output, food prices, and household purchasing power. Yet, in an era defined by dense global trade networks and digitally mediated supply chains, national food systems operate as interdependent nodes within a transnational system. Producers, maritime corridors, energy markets and regulatory authorities…

Hypersonic Missiles and Global Strategy: Implications for Hegemony, Arms Control, and Systemic Security

Hypersonic Missiles and Global Strategy: Implications for Hegemony, Arms Control, and Systemic Security

ByKeir Fairley

Hypersonic missiles are typically defined as a missile which travels at Mach 5 and above for a sustained period of time and is manoeuvrable during its flight within the Earth’s atmosphere. While speed is often the headline feature, it is the combination of velocity, manoeuvrability, and atmospheric flight that distinguishes these systems from traditional ballistic…

Iran Under Pressure: Sanctions, Stagnation, and the Limits of Economic Coercion

Iran Under Pressure: Sanctions, Stagnation, and the Limits of Economic Coercion

ByKaterina Mazzucchelli

Iran has faced more than a decade of sustained economic pressure. Inflation has remained above 40 percent. The rial has experienced repeated episodes of sharp depreciation. Oil exports, once the central pillar of state revenue, have been significantly constrained by sanctions. From the outside, it looks like a system in permanent crisis. Yet despite these…