Month: November 2019

The Iterative Relationship between Technology and International Security

Image courtesy of Steve Jurvetson/Flickr. (CC BY 2.0)

This article was originally published by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) on 17 October 2019.

Scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations are often subject to public discussion about their capacity to affect international security, either by their military exploitation or their uptake and re-appropriation through non-state actors and terrorists. While accompanying proliferation and militarisation concerns are not new, the challenge of governing emerging technologies is as much about their often-unknown technical affordances as the way in which they capture the imagination of innovators, policy-makers, and public communities.

Continue reading “The Iterative Relationship between Technology and International Security”
Categories
CSS Blog

Missions of the Swiss National Economic Supply (NES) Organization

This week’s featured graphic summarizes the efforts of Switzerland’s National Economic Supply (NES) organization to deal with shortages in vital goods and services since 2010. To find out more about the NES, read Andrin Hauri’s new CSS Analysis in Security Policy on ‘National Economic Supply as an Emergency Precaution’.

The Risk of Selective Engagement in Relations between the EU and Russia

Image courtesy of GregMontani/jorono/Pixabay

This article was originally published by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) on 23 October 2019.

Since the Russian aggression in Ukraine, relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation have been at an impasse. The EU has limited cooperation with Russia to the principle of selective engagement. This model lacks precise definition and is not conditional on changes in Russian politics, so may weaken the EU’s external policy and threaten the bloc’s security.

Continue reading “The Risk of Selective Engagement in Relations between the EU and Russia”

Managing the Fallout of the US-China Trade War

Image courtesy of M Woods

This article was originally published by the Stimson Center on 31 October 2019.

Topline

Since the beginning of the tariff war in mid-2018, the escalation of the trade tensions has been widely expected to continue into the 2020 presidential election season. While President Trump’s team may still believe that a trade deal is well within reach in the near future, that perception is not at all shared by the Chinese government. The U.S. and China have entered a war of attrition. U.S. policy­ makers need to prepare for a long game regarding trade tensions and the eventual de-coupling of the two economies, regardless of whether that was the original intention.

Continue reading “Managing the Fallout of the US-China Trade War”

Explaining Turkey’s Cross-Border Operation into Syria

Image courtesy of Arnada Jones/DVIDS

This publication was originally published by Political Violence @ a Glance on 16 October 2019.

The Turkish incursion into northern Syria has revealed a central truth in international affairs: that the future of military interventions will not be Vietnam-style imbroglios or long wars of attrition. They will be mostly one-off cross-border incursions of limited lifespans, casualties, or attention (though, contrary to many recent cross-border operations, Turkey’s latest incursion has attracted a lot of attention). The terrain will be difficult and rural; the level of governance minimal.

Continue reading “Explaining Turkey’s Cross-Border Operation into Syria”