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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament Peace and Security in Northeast Asia
Rallying for a China Strategy
Policy Brief No.112 - July, 2021 • By Herbert Wulf
This Policy Brief will assess how successful the new US administration was in convincing the G7, NATO and the EU to join hands in countering China. In several summit meetings in June, the US administration tried to convince European allies and other G7 members to rally for a containment strategy against China. While the three summits of the G7, NATO and US-EU demonstrated harmony, there remain reservations in Europe about subscribing to the confrontational course against China. European leaders are balancing the different economic, technological, political and security interests. while the US government is pushing hard for a joint effort.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Cognitive-Affective Mapping and Digital Peacebuilding
Policy Brief No.111 - June, 2021 • By Evan A. Hoffman
This Policy Brief presents a technique for visualising ideologies using a new software tool called Valence that enables technology-assisted Cognitive Affective Mapping(CAM). It then offers lessons from a recent online conflict resolution exercise in which multiple stakeholders used this tool in an ongoing water conflict in Canada via a series of facilitated Zoom sessions held in 2020. Ideologies play a fundamental role in the emergence, escalation and resolution of conflict by underpinning divergent narratives and worldviews. These ideologies develop and are reinforced over the course of a lifetime. Practitioners need the proper tools to adequately visualise these complex ideologies in individuals and/or groups and work with them as part of a larger peacebuilding process.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Japan and the Nuclear Ban Treaty
Policy Brief No.110 - June, 2021 • By Yasuyoshi Komizo
This Policy Brief discusses Japan's policy in relation to a new movement gathering momentum in the international community to seek international security without nuclear weapons. The TPNW has been adopted in this context. Japan has made the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty the axis of its security policy, relying for much of its security on the extended deterrence of the United States. On the other hand, as the only nation to have suffered atomic bomb attacks in war, Japan has for many years taken the lead in proposing resolutions calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Given the considerable gap between reality and the ideal, Japan would be well advised to recognise this trend as an important aspect of international reality, and examine its policy on that basis.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Stop Muddying the Waters on the Appointment of the Executive Secretary of the CTBTO
Policy Brief No.109 - May, 2021 • By Tariq Rauf
This Policy Brief examines the controversy surrounding the election of the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). For the better part of a year, diplomats from more than 180 countries have been feuding over this appointment. Together with the IAEA, the CTBTO contributes to preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons and furthering nuclear disarmament. It is too important an organisation to be left to the whims of feuding States or quarrelling diplomats.
Collaboration, Conflict and Mobility: Local Responses to Climate Change in Somaliland
Policy Brief No.108 - May, 2021 • By Mohamed Fadal and Louise Wiuff Moe
This Policy Brief shares insights generated from interviews with community members, experts and governance officials in Somaliland as part of a 2020-2021 qualitative baseline research study which looked at how local actors and institutions experience and respond to climate change impacts. Attention to these responses allows the analysis to include a focus on local strengths and point out the multifaceted nature of local responses to climate change impacts, involving conflict, collaboration and innovation. The Policy Brief concludes with a set of overall implications and suggestions for policy and further research.