Climate, Infrastructure, and Strategic Stability: Rethinking Security in a Physically Changing World

Climate, Infrastructure, and Strategic Stability: Rethinking Security in a Physically Changing World

Climate change is no longer a distant or abstract risk in the context of global security. It is actively reshaping the physical environment in which military systems operate, altering the reliability of infrastructure, and introducing new forms of uncertainty into strategic decision-making. As Dr Florian Krampe of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) argues…

Woman writing on a protest sign during a demonstration against violence in an urban setting.

Violence as a Tax on Development: Growth, Risk, and Policy Failure in Latin America

Violent crime in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has for decades imposed a heavy toll on lives and economic performance. Outside of active war zones, the region remains the most violent in the world, accounting for roughly one-third of global homicides despite just 8% of the global population. The economic consequences are equally severe….

Disinformation as Risk: Trust, Markets, and Influence

Disinformation as Risk: Trust, Markets, and Influence

For years, disinformation has been framed primarily as a political or media problem, associated with election interference, bot networks, and foreign influence campaigns. It is often treated as something external to core systems. It is portrayed as an issue for platforms, regulators, or communications teams to manage. Yet this framing obscures a more complex and…

Organised Crime in Mexico: Fragmentation, Control, and the Political Economy of Violence

Organised Crime in Mexico: Fragmentation, Control, and the Political Economy of Violence

For years, organised crime in Mexico has been framed primarily through the lens of drug trafficking. Cartels are often portrayed as singular entities competing for control over narcotics routes into the United States, with violence understood as a by-product of this competition. Yet this framing obscures a more complex and evolving reality. As David Mora,…

The AI Bet: Huge Investment, Job Cuts, and Uncertain Returns

The AI Bet: Huge Investment, Job Cuts, and Uncertain Returns

AI is rapidly becoming a central axis of economic transformation, corporate strategy, and geopolitical risk. What began as experimentation with generative tools has evolved into a full-scale reconfiguration of how firms invest, operate, and compete. In a recent episode of the International Risk Podcast, host Dominic Bowen spoke with Craig Unsworth, a portfolio Chief Product…

Canada’s Defence Dilemma: Sovereignty, the Arctic, and the Limits of Strategic Autonomy

Canada’s Defence Dilemma: Sovereignty, the Arctic, and the Limits of Strategic Autonomy

Written by Edward Penrose – 01.04.2026 For defence leaders across Europe and North America, Canada has become an unusually revealing test case. The question is no longer simply whether Ottawa will spend more on defence. The harder question is whether a middle power can remain credible inside NATO while reducing dangerous overdependence on the United States. That…

Taiwanese Politics and the China Question

Taiwanese Politics and the China Question

Cross-strait tensions are once again at the centre of geopolitical risk. For much of the post-Cold War period, Taiwan existed as a persistent but often background issue in international politics. Today, that is no longer the case. Intensifying US–China competition, rising military pressure from Beijing, and shifting domestic dynamics within Taiwan have brought the island’s…

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

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

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

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…