In a time of profound global complexity, our community came together to produce impactful research, convene key decision-makers, and train the next generation of leaders.

To sustain the exception that has allowed the world to experience an unprecedented period without a great-power war will require a surge of strategic imagination and national determination today.

Democracy requires a strong shared belief that our political differences must be settled through peaceful means... No other major American political leader in recent memory has so publicly entertained the idea of getting his way by force.

Even as hospitals in Gaza were turned into battlefields, some Palestinian–Israeli health care programs bridged the deep divides and continued to build trust between the populations in conflict.

South Korea, a stable U.S. ally, proved that even economically successful and democratic nations can implode at a moment’s notice. Such instability would only be exacerbated if South Korea were a nuclear weapons state.

“China is a status quo power concerned with regime stability,” the authors of a provocative paper in International Security write, “and it remains more inwardly focused than externally oriented.”

National security and technological competitiveness concerns have led to a “securitization” of science in the United States, which has cooled international partnerships.

Many have tried to define the war in Ukraine as one of attrition. It is not. It is a war of will. Victory will belong not to the side with more resources, but to the side with the stronger, more adaptive and unyielding will to win.

I propose an alternative approach to space governance: establishing a conference of the parties (COP) for the existing Outer Space Treaty. Rather than seeking a sweeping new agreement, this would allow for progress within the current legal framework.