Security Praxis

China in Afghanistan: risks, interests and regional politics

After nearly 20 years the United States and NATO withdrew their troops from Afghanistan at the end of August, abandoning their Afghan allies at the mercy of the Taliban, who after a lightning-fast series of advances throughout the country, paraded in US-made Humvees to celebrate their victory. The US did not only leave thousands of high-end weapons, aircraft, equipment and armored vehicles for the Taliban to seize. It left behind a massive humanitarian disaster including 14 million people without food, 2 million malnourished children, more than 3.5 million internally displaced people and a ⋙

Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Iran

Research Highlights

New article on JISB: Drug Smuggling and the Stability of Fragile States. The Diverging Trajectories of Mali and Niger

What is the impact of smuggling on political ordering and stability in fragile states? The article I’ve ⋙

Workshop: Perspectives on Governance by Non-State Armed Actors

Workshop on 24 May 2021, 8:45 - 19:15 CEST (i.e. UTC+2), Scuola Normale Superiore ⋙

May-September 2021 Workshop Series Transnational Governance Cohorts: Debating Transnational Governance

The Scuola Normale Superiore and Scuola Sant'Anna are happy to announce a series of online workshops debating transnational ⋙

warbling security

A Twitter List by SecPrax

Afghanistan

Betrayal in Kabul. Staccato reactions to Western self-regard

Failure, debacle, fiasco. These are the most frequently used terms in the English language mediascape to assess the US and NATO performance following the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan. ⋙

Afghanistan

Taliban rule in Kabul: authoritarianism on the rise, democracies on the defensive

A world of mediation, alliances and ideological amalgamation, the resurgent Islamic emirate aims to gain legitimacy in the international system The Taliban are more careful today than twenty years ago ⋙

Liberalism

Is the Liberal International Order coming to an end? Uncovering how populists cooperate internationally

A seemingly never-ending stream of observers claim that the populist emphasis on nationalism, identity and popular sovereignty undermines international collaboration and contributes to the crisis of the so-called Liberal International ⋙

nuclear weapons

The New START and the geopolitical (dis)equilibrium: what role for the EU?

Nuclear weapons are perceived as an old story, especially after the end of the Cold War. The issue is still alive and still controlled by the United States and Russia. ⋙

Gaza

The urbicide of the Gaza Strip

The war in the Gaza Strip did not end on 21 May 2021, just as it did not begin 12 days earlier. In a sort of contemporary reinterpretation of many ⋙

Covid-19

Waiting for the next pandemic: Strengthening our preparedness and response capacity through human security

The global spread of Covid-19 has already taken the lives of millions of people in the world. Unfortunately, this may well not be a once-in-a-century event. Several interrelating factors – among ⋙

Turkey

The deep crisis of the Turkish mafia-State

Last month the notorious mobster Sedat Peker started posting incriminatory videos on Turkish media. Staring at the camera, Mr Peker discloses some alleged secrets and crimes of the so-called Turkey’ ⋙

terrorism

Lessons from 9/11: the politicization of espionage and the collapse of the US intelligence

President Biden recently announced the withdrawal of the 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan, to be completed by 11 September, ending America’s longest war on the 20th anniversary of ⋙

European Union

Pivoting Stabilisation in the Sahel: competing visions and implementation checkpoints

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has recently announced greater transparency from (and better conditionality with) Sahelian leaders following a visit to the region in April. This follows intentions for ⋙

Covid-19

The Double Tragedy: Circular Migration in India During Pandemic Times

Noise, shoving and chaotic people flows are nothing new in Delhi (India) where more than 16.5 million people are settled to date. Yet on 28 March 2020 something surprising ⋙

Jerusalem

The space of the conflict in Jerusalem. That is, distinguishing the wood from the trees

In the last few days, several media have accounted in detail for the Sheikh Jarrah events (the risk of forced eviction of several Palestinian Jerusalemites from their homes), which have ⋙

Interviews

How does Privilege Violence explain the world we live in: a conversation with Rachel Kleinfeld

In 2019 we read A Savage Order: How the World's Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security, a book that changed our view on violence and conflict and was ⋙