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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Peace and Security in Northeast Asia
US-China Reassurance: Theory and Practice
Summary Report No.217 - March, 2025 • By Kai He
This Summary Report follows a recent Toda Research Cluster meeting on “US–China Reassurance.” In a global context which is increasingly volatile, a strategic approach is urgently needed to stabilize bilateral relations and prevent military conflicts between the United States and China. This report underscores the necessity of “reassurance” as a conflict prevention measure to address the growing risk of military confrontation and preserve the fragile “East Asian Peace” amid intensifying strategic competition and aims to provide actionable insights for mitigating tensions and fostering a more stable and cooperative relationship between the two great powers.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Mapping Tech Design Regulation in the Global South
Report No.216 - March, 2025 • By Devika Malik
This report examines the diverse set of incentives across countries in the Global South which influence the integration of upstream product and design considerations in digital regulation. As well as highlighting these variations, the report details the state of regulation, and identifies both opportunities and barriers to advancing accountability in digital platforms through design-focused interventions.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Taking Stock — Moving Forward: Opportunities and Shortcomings from the Pact for the Future’s ‘International Peace and Security’ Actions
Summary Report No.215 - March, 2025 • By Apolline Foedit and Keith Krause
This report captures the key insights and debates from a two-day international conference on the Pact for the Future, convened by the CCDP and the Toda Peace Institute on 30–31 January 2025. The conference explored pressing questions, such as: What role can the Pact for the Future play in strengthening global peace and security? How can it address the growing challenges of multilateralism at a time when international cooperation seems increasingly fragile? What opportunities does it offer for advancing inclusive governance and conflict prevention? This report sheds light on the Pact for the Future’s implications for peace and security and the opportunities it presents for more effective and inclusive global governance.
Reconstructing the ‘New Syria’: Peacebuilding and Political Transition After Assad
Report No.214 - March, 2025 • By Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh
This report identifies emerging dynamics and key challenges for both peacemaking and political transition after the downfall of dictator Bashar Assad's in Syria in Dember 2024. Events have unfolded against a backdrop of a region reeling from a 15-month long genocide in Gaza, a war and tenuous ceasefire in Lebanon and a new US administration under Donald Trump who maintains close ties with Gulf leaders. The report begins by mapping out the key actors and the latest political and security developments in the roughly three months since Assad’s fall. It then moves to identifying extant issues necessary for the country’s move out of war and into the uncertain terrain of political transition. It concludes with policy recommendations for Syrian civil society and political as well as regional and international actors.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Exceptionalism and Rules-Based Order: From Biden to Trump
Report No.213 - March, 2025 • By Sverre Lodgaard
This report examines the idea of American exceptionalism and the move from a Biden to a Trump presidency. After World War II, the new international order was unthinkable without American leadership. The USA was indispensable. The perception of excellence made Americans distance themselves from the old world’s corruption and colonial entanglements, and belief in their own moral superiority convinced the rulers that the USA had to lead the world by setting a good example and by using force if necessary. Now, the new president believes that to make America great again, the relationship with the outside world must become less burdensome. With a presidency centred on domestic affairs and the combination of lack of respect for liberal values and norms; dismantling of international commitments; focus on military strength, but not on war; preference for bilateral agreements; and unpredictability—all of it underpinned by a strong political mandate at home—Trump believes the USA should become a showcase for the rest of the world to admire.