Governance

Fredrik Logevall is one of the experts who was asked by Politico to examine the life and legacy of Henry Kissinger.

In view of the aggravated conflicts in other regions that include Russia as the largest Arctic state, and China as its strategic partner, an understanding of China’s opportunities to affect Arctic affairs is urgently needed. Kobzeva and Todorov use a regime theory approach to outline the Arctic regime complex (ARC) and determine China’s actual potential for making amendments to the ARC.

Since September 2022, the Arctic Initiative - together with collaborators at the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute, the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, and the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Affairs - has hosted a series of workshops with Arctic governance experts and practitioners to explore possible pathways for cooperation through the Arctic Council and the broader network of institutions that support the management of Arctic issues, as well as pathways for eventual engagement with Russia.

Calder Walton recounts how Russia and China are using their intelligence agencies to reverse the outcome of the Cold War

Stephen Walt argues that when states are in trouble and worried that they might suffer a setback, they toss their principles aside and do what they think it takes to win.

From July 11-12, 2023, NATO leaders gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania for one of the most significant NATO summits in history. This timely brief by Eric Rosenbach, Grace Jones, and Olivia Leiwant serves as a background piece on Ukraine’s history with NATO, potential future pathways for accession, and the operational impact Ukraine’s NATO membership could have on the alliance. 

This year's G7 summit in Hiroshima sees nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation sitting high on the agenda, amid rising tensions between the nuclear states and an increasingly divided international order.  Six contributors offer their analyses, including the Belfer Center's Mayumi Fukushima.

According to the "Madman Theory" outlined by Daniel Ellsberg and Thomas C. Schelling, and embraced by Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, being perceived as mad can help make seemingly incredible threats—such as starting a nuclear war—more credible. However, recent research has largely concluded that the Madman Theory does not work. 

Stephen Walt asks that given that winning reelection will take precedence over just about everything else, how will the Biden administration handle foreign policy between now and Election Day? 

Paul Kolbe and Calder Walton analyze Russia’s arrest of Wall Street Journal journalist and US citizen, Evan Gershkovich, on espionage charges. This is the latest example of the Russian Federal Security Service's long practice of state-sponsored hostage taking and repression of the press.