Essays Archive

18 February 2025
The Dayton Agreement has been hailed as one of the most successful feats of American diplomacy. After all, it has ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina that took more than 100,…
27 January 2025
Humility has been widely valued in philosophical and religious traditions for centuries, and more recently by psychologists. However, its application to international relations…
15 November 2024
In November 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold its first “investment round” with the goal of raising USD 7.1 billion. The agency hopes to secure more predictable…
14 March 2024
The authoritarian regime in Iran has invested heavily in digital surveillance to identify and silence voices of dissent. Key institutions have emerged to develop new legal…
20 December 2023
As the world is rapidly ageing, there will be an unprecedented demand for domestic and caring labour, for which many countries are currently not prepared. The low status and…
31 October 2023
The government of President Biden has rolled out a “modern American industrial strategy”, dramatically qualifying the 40-year western consensus on free markets, globalization and…
23 October 2023
In this essay, I relate my personal experience in politics with the construction of the political economy of New Developmentalism and the definition of two alternative forms of…
22 June 2023
While the shock of Covid-19 has generated draconian containment policies in virtually all countries to limit the spread of the pandemic, it also brought a plethora of trade and…
15 June 2023
The Protection of Civilians (PoC) became a central norm in international peacekeeping and often rationalizes the use of force in peace interventions. The successes, failures and…
04 August 2022
Innovation ecosystems are said to vary across China. By examining all the startups operating in just one vertical – blockchain – across Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, we show…