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Selected Urban Conflicts

This graphic provides an overview of recent military conflicts and long lasting protests in cities around the world. For insights on how urban areas are becoming primary battlefields in conflicts, see Niklas Masuhr’s recent addition to the CSS Analyses in Security Policy series here.

Countering Online Foreign Influence in 2020 Elections

Image courtesy of Element5 Digital/Unsplash.

This article was originally published by Political Violence @ a Glance on 23 January 2020.

Social media has proved an essential tool for catalyzing political activism and social change around the world. Yet, the very features that make it so useful to those with greater-good intentions—scalability, mobility, and low costs to entry—also make it prone to manipulation by malign actors who use it to spread disinformation and divisive rhetoric. These bad actors looking to sway public opinion include both fringe groups and well-funded, highly staffed government institutions. With the US presidential election approaching, voters and policymakers are rightly concerned with what should be done to mitigate the flurry of fake news stemming from beyond the border.

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Mapping the Known Unknowns of Cybersecurity Education

Image courtesy of joffi/Pixabay.

This article was originally published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on 3 February 2020.

Many universities are starting to include cybersecurity as a course of study. While there is a high degree of variation between the selected readings of the syllabi of cybersecurity courses across different universities, there is some thematic overlap. By reviewing the syllabi of university cybersecurity courses, the authors seek to systematically evaluate this nascent field and advance its maturity.

General Haftar and the Risks of Authoritarian “Stability” in Libya

Image courtesy of jorono/Pixabay.

This article was originally published by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in February 2020.

On 8 January 2020, Turkey and Russia sought to broker a cease-fire between warring factions in Libya, calling on both sides to resume negotiations and end this new phase of the conflict raging since April 2019. While the cease-fire remained a dead letter, with talks moving to the international conference in Berlin, the effort underscored Moscow’s and Ankara’s growing influence in the country, with each actively supporting opposing sides in Libya.

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Belarusian Integration

Belarusian Integration

Belarus’ importance as an independent actor in Eastern Europe is growing – a fact that is underlined by Swiss Foreign Minister Cassis’ attendance of the opening of the Swiss embassy in Minsk and meeting with Belarusian President Lukashenko on 13 February 2020. This graphic illustrates four different integration projects, of which Belarus is a member. For more on Belarus’ foreign policies and strategies, read Benno Zogg’s addition to the CSS Analyses in Security Policy series ‘Belarus between East and West: The Art of the Deal‘.