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…

Climate Litigation and Risk: Who Pays for Climate Damage?

Climate Litigation and Risk: Who Pays for Climate Damage?

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

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…