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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Weaponisation of Law: Assault on Democracy
Policy Brief No.252 - October, 2025 • By Jordan Ryan
This policy brief examines the growing instrumentalisation of legal and administrative mechanisms to target and suppress civil society organisations. Drawing on recent developments in the United States and global patterns of democratic backsliding, it explores how national security and counter-terrorism rhetoric are being repurposed to silence dissent and constrict civic space. The brief argues that this systematic abuse of legal frameworks, now increasingly amplified by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital surveillance technologies, represents an accelerating assault on democratic institutions. It concludes with actionable policy recommendations for governments, civil society, technology firms, and international bodies to resist this trend and defend an independent civic sector.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Nuclear Arms Control in Crisis: Time for Asia–Pacific to Step Up
Policy Brief No.251 - October, 2025 • By John Carlson and John Tilemann
This policy brief documents the framework of agreements and arms control arrangements which have hitherto restrained actions of the nuclear powers. Since the end of the Cold War, political leaders and the public have become complacent about the danger of nuclear war. While the taboo against the use of nuclear weapons has held, the nuclear-armed states have ignored their moral and legal obligation to pursue nuclear arms reductions and disarmament. The policy brief concludes by suggesting actions that could be taken to revitalize and extend nuclear arms controls globally and regionally.
Peace and Security in Northeast Asia
Prospects for Japan’s US and China Diplomacy in the Post-Ishiba Era
Policy Brief No.250 - October, 2025 • By Daiju Wada
This policy brief aims to assess the likely diplomatic trajectories of Japan in the post-Ishiba era. The outcome of the 4 October LDP leadership election will not only mark a turning point in domestic politics but also significantly impact Japan’s core diplomatic relations with the United States and China. The brief evaluates how the choice of centrist vs. hardline conservative orientations will affect Japan’s relations with China, the United States, and the broader region.
Peace and Security in Northeast Asia
Sanseitō, Moral Education, and the Future of Japan’s Civil–Military Relations
Policy Brief No.249 - October, 2025 • By Davide Campagnola
This policy brief analyses the rise of Sanseitō and the implications of its agenda for Japan’s civil-military relations. It argues that the party’s push to elevate moral education, revise the constitution, and centralize the military command directly threatens the civil–military balance. The convergence of generational change, worsening security perceptions, and rising nationalist sentiment has made large segments of the Japanese public, especially youth, more receptive to Sanseitō’s message. This trajectory risks undermining civil–military relations by eroding civilian control and enabling the militarization of education. The brief concludes by outlining policy recommendations to reinforce civilian supremacy over the military, support civil society’s watchdog role, and mitigate political polarization.
Slumdogs and the Millionaire: What a Project to Transform Mumbai Says About India’s Democracy
Report No.248 - September, 2025 • By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
This report investigates why a mega slum redevelopment executed by Narendra Modi’s key business ally has triggered political opposition and charges of opacity, arbitrariness, and cronyism. The development threatens to uproot people from the city and banish them to its peripheries as Mumbai’s turn to capitalist urbanism intensifies along with the suppression of its discontents. Fears of dispossession loom as the authorities decide who belongs and who doesn’t—mirroring the wider nativist politics of Hindu supremacism, fused with unfettered neoliberalism.