Content Type: Report

Content

Report

Nov 3, 2026

Religion as statecraft: What a decade of research reveals about the geopolitics of religious soft power

By Peter Mandaville

The post-Cold War assumption that international politics was converging toward a secular liberal framework in which religion would play at most a marginal role has not survived contact with the evidence. From China to Turkey to Saudi Arabia and Russia, states are integrating religion into their foreign policy in strategically significant ways.

China India

Report

Oct 26, 2026

Pakistan’s changing development assistance landscape: Manifestations, implications, and opportunities

By Leon S. Waskin, Imran Shauket

Pakistan’s development assistance landscape is undergoing a major structural shift. Western bilateral aid is declining, multilateral development bank (MDB) financing is increasing to compensate, and non-Western bilateral and philanthropic flows are growing steadily.

Pakistan South Asia

Report

Oct 26, 2026

Bangladesh’s changing development assistance landscape: Manifestations, implications, and opportunities

By Leon S. Waskin, Jon F. Danilowicz, Imran Shauket

Bangladesh is absorbing one of the most severe aid shocks in its history while simultaneously benefiting from an unprecedented surge in remittances and multilateral development bank lending.

Bangladesh South Asia

Report

Oct 20, 2026

The European Union as a compound power in Cold War 2.0

By Piotr Arak and Velina Tchakarova

Contrary to the prevailing narrative, the European Union has the economic power and strategic vision to act as a credible major power. Willingness to act is the missing piece.

Defense Industry Energy Transitions

Report

Oct 15, 2026

How Syria can avoid the trap of ethno-sectarianism

By Marie Forestier, Arthur Quesnay

In postwar Iraq and Lebanon, power-sharing agreements allocated top government jobs based on ethnic and religious affiliation. Political deadlock and violence followed. As Syrians rebuild after decades of dictatorship and war, they should avoid making the same mistake.

Civil Society Democratic Transitions

Report

Sep 23, 2026

Building a multilateral cognitive warfare defense network: A collaborative framework for the United States, Japan, and Taiwan

By Yu-Hao “Vinson” Shen

Beijing is pressuring Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines not only with ships and aircraft but also in the cognitive domain—which no multilateral mechanism defends. This report explores what it would take to build a coordinated multilateral defense network to combat this threat across the first island chain.

Artificial Intelligence China

Report

Sep 8, 2026

Preparing for and countering limited nuclear attacks in East Asia: Guardian Tiger III

By Markus Garlauskas with John Park and Kyoko Imai. Contributors: Andrew Brown and Jonathan Corrado

The risk of North Korea launching a limited nuclear attack will likely increase over the coming decade. The United States and its allies are not preparing adequately to deter and prevail in the face of such nuclear strikes.

Indo-Pacific Korea

Report

Sep 4, 2026

The right wing takes aim at the EU’s linchpin

By Jeffrey Gedmin

Germany's far-right AfD party is closing in on a once-unthinkable prize: an absolute majority in a state government. As polls show the party in the lead ahead of Saxony-Anhalt's September 6 election, can the center hold? 

Elections European Union

Report

Aug 27, 2026

AI and autonomy in contested operations

By Owen J. Daniels

Any potential major conflict the United States engages in will be shaped by AI and autonomous systems. US forces should expect their systems to operate in denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited (DDIL) conditions imposed by jamming techniques, cyber-attacks, and anti-satellite capabilities designed to sever the connectivity and wreak havoc on military operations.

Artificial Intelligence Defense Policy
A view from the top of Sassafras Mountain on the border of South Carolina. Unsplash/Bradley Allweil

Report

Aug 26, 2026

Atoms for Appalachia: Building state capacity for nuclear-enabled economic development

By Lauren Hughes

Appalachian states, despite different industrial foundations, aim to convert interest in nuclear energy into broad economic gains. State-level strategies will be key.

Energy & Environment Nuclear Energy
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