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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Climate Change and Health: A Security Challenge in the Pacific Islands
Policy Brief No.166 - August, 2023 • By John Connell
This Policy Brief discusses, and provides an overview of, the impacts of climate change on health in the Pacific Island countries (PICs). Physical and mental health in PICs is particularly vulnerable to climate change, both directly, as an outcome of temperature increases and hazards, and indirectly, through increased threats to livelihoods. The health impacts of climate change constitute a slowly increasing threat to human security, but policies and practices centred on workforce development may minimise such threats and risks. The Policy Brief concludes with suggestions and recommendations for policy directions.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Rainbow-Washing: Corporate Co-optation and Hashtag Activism
Policy Brief No.165 - August, 2023 • By Jody Oetzel
This Policy Brief places ‘rainbow-washing’, or utilizing LGBTQ+ imagery for commercial ends, in a broader conversation of hashtag activism and considers when these displays represent authentic allyship as opposed to performative activism. While rainbow-washing is most frequently observed in an American context, global displays of Pride-themed brand activism in India and the Philippines are also considered. The Policy Brief ends with recommendations for consumers and corporate entities to prevent the co-optation and commercialization of LGBTQ+ symbolism.
Barriers and Limits to Climate Security in the Pacific
Policy Brief No.164 - July, 2023 • By Timothy Bryar
This policy brief seeks to examine the key barriers and limits preventing the Pacific from achieving its climate security goals through adaptation and what options might exist for the Pacific to overcome such constraints. Climate change remains the single greatest security threat to the Pacific Islands region. With emissions gaps persisting and agreements on mitigation efforts remaining contested, enabling opportunities for adaptation is now more crucial than ever for Pacific Island countries to meet their climate security ambitions.
Social Media, Technology and Peacebuilding
Counter Recruiting in the Online Gaming Community
Policy Brief No.163 - July, 2023 • By Sean Raming
This Policy Brief examines the practice of organisations, ranging from violent extremist groups to the US Army, of using online gaming for recruiting purposes. Online gaming is a popular form of entertainment among the world’s youth. The Policy Brief describes why recruiting in online gaming should be understood as a more general problem, involving any armed group recruiting online, which has simple solutions. It then presents several concepts from peacebuilding that can be applied to counter recruiting efforts in online gaming.
Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament
Major Powers in a Shifting Global Order
Policy Brief No.162 - July, 2023 • By Sverre Lodgaard
This Policy Brief outlines approaches to measuring power in international affairs and surveys the current state of global order using a variety of factors which fall under the headings of control over resources, control over actors, and control over events and outcomes Depending on the weight given to these variables on their own or in combination, global power could be viewed as unipolar, bipolar or multipolar. In summary, autocratisation is growing, democracy is on the defensive, globalisation is slowing, and the Western world is in the midst of a major rearmament drive.