Publications and Resources
Toda has published numerous Policy Briefs and Reports, as well as books and journals, over the last twenty years. See below for the publications in each thematic area.
See the full list of Policy Briefs and Reports or view Policy Briefs and Reports by Research Theme:
Contemporary Peace Research and Practice
Winning Coexistence: Six New Nonviolent Tactics for Palestine and Israel
Report No.207 - January, 2025 • By Lisa Schirch
This report asserts that the crisis in Gaza requires building new coalitions and alliances between global protests in support of Palestinian liberation and mass protests by Israelis against their rogue leaders, who ignore international law and align with antisemites in Western countries. Activists around the world rightly celebrate that, at long last, Israel and Hamas announced a ceasefire. But more work is necessary to achieve a political settlement that could prevent the mass annexation of Palestinian land, address the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and prevent further violence. This paper offers six tactics to shift power away from extremists and overcome barriers to forming coalitions that build on shared goals for safety, dignity, and justice.
The US in 2024: An Election That Worked and a Democracy That Doesn't
Policy Brief No.206 - December, 2024 • By Heidi and Guy Burgess
This policy brief examines the divisive, hyper-polarized, us-or-them way politics is viewed in the United States. One test of a democracy is whether or not the voters get to choose their leaders. While, at this most basic level, the 2024 US presidential election was a success, it's easy to understand why both sides view contemporary politics as a battle that they absolutely, positively, must win. The only way out of this highly destructive confrontation is some kind of compromise that, more than elections, is the cornerstone of the democratic ideal. This policy brief concludes with three principles upon which such a compromise could be built.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Assad Flees Damascus for Moscow: Musings on Be Careful What You Wish For
Report No.205 - December, 2024 • By Ramesh Thakur
This report examines the fall of the House of Assad—a regime built on terror, ruled by fear and sustained by foreign and proxy forces—which can be traced back to Hamas’s attacks on southern Israel more than a year ago. Except that instead of a Free Palestine, a Free Syria has come into being. It raises the puzzle: how does one impress upon nationalistically inflamed consciousness the enormous disparity between the goals sought, the means used and the results obtained? The second part of the article references the same discrepancy of goals, means and outcomes as a note of caution against the first instinct to euphoria over the downfall of the much-hated Assads. The third and fourth sections look at the implications for regional and global actors with significant footprints in Syria.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
The Potentially Revolutionary Impact of Emerging and Disruptive Technologies and Strategic Conventional Weapons on Nuclear Deterrence
Report No.204 - December, 2024 • By Tom Sauer
This report posits that the combination of emerging and disruptive technologies and strategic conventional weapons may have a revolutionary impact on the future of nuclear weapons. While emerging and disruptive technologies may yield additional arguments to keep relying on nuclear weapons to defend against them, they are often regarded as destabilizing for the global nuclear order, which makes it more likely that nuclear deterrence will fail and nuclear weapons will be used. At the same time, strategic conventional weapon systems (including hypersonic missiles) have deterrence characteristics comparable to nuclear weapons. Because they could be used in a way that at least seeks to comply with jus in bello principles, by minimizing civilian harm (in comparison with nuclear weapons), they are also more credible as a deterrent. This may in turn increase political willingness to seriously consider fully delegitimizing nuclear weapons, and eventually replacing them with the default option: modern conventional weapons.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Arms Control in the Indo-Pacific Region: What Role for the Arms Trade Treaty?
Policy Brief No.203 - November, 2024 • By Andrea Edoardo Varisco, David Atwood, Manon Blancafort and Yulia Yarina
This Policy Brief provides a distillation of a recent Small Arms Survey report that examines the Arms Trade Treaty (2013) in relation to the Indo-Pacific region. The report focuses on the different attitudes of states in the Indo-Pacific toward the Treaty: it explores how armament dynamics in this region shape states’ perceptions when defining their own security requirements and attitudes toward an instrument that aims to regulate the conventional arms trade. Further, it identifies the main challenges and obstacles to ATT universalisation and compliance in the Indo-Pacific region, and provides insights into opportunities for enhanced engagement with the Treaty by the states in the region.
Books (1996-2017)
Toda Peace Institute's Publications: Complimentary copies of our publications are available where noted.
Journals (1996-2017)
Peace & Policy: Since 1996, Peace & Policy has become a significant journal of opinion on global peace and policy issues.