Curated expert opinion on intractable contemporary issues

Global Outlook: Global Challenges to Democracy

The Choice Is Still Clear: Renewing the UN Charter at 80

By Jordan Ryan  |  27 June, 2025

The Charter of the United Nations, born from the ashes of the most destructive war in human history, embodied a commitment: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to uphold the dignity and worth of every human being, and to build peace through cooperation—not conquest.

An Arab ‘MAGA’ Reset?

By Larbi Sadiki  |  20 May, 2025

US president Donald Trump’s visit to three of the world’s richest states in the Gulf calls for reflection on the prospects of an Arab MAGA (Make the Arab world Great Again).

This is Not Who We Are: The United States in Retreat

By Polly Byers  |  06 May, 2025

The current U.S. Administration's effort to disparage, dismantle and defund the institutions of America’s international leadership and engagement is strikingly at odds with America’s fundamental values and what it has long stood for.

Donald Trump’s Overwhelming Force/Surrender Style of Negotiation and Governing

By Heidi and Guy Burgess  |  02 April, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump is making worldwide news everyday with his “shock and awe” style of governing. Three particularly alarming actions of the Trump administration relate directly to the fields of peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

Trump’s First Month: Flooding the Zone

By Robert R. Kaufman  |  24 February, 2025

In the first thirty days of his second presidential term, Donald Trump and his associates have been engaged in what some have described as a slow-moving political coup. The incoming president has undertaken what amounts to a full-scale attack on institutional checks and balances and on civil and political rights.

From Democratic Leader to Autocratic Example: The Global Impact of U.S. Backsliding

By Jordan Ryan  |  30 January, 2025

The Trump administration’s recent freeze on billions in federally authorised funding signals an alarming shift in democratic governance with global ramifications.

The views and opinions expressed in Global Outlook are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Toda Peace Institute.