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Commentary

Essays

Plans to develop and deploy advanced weapon systems in the Nordic region are meant to strengthen NATO’s deterrence, but they risk having unintended consequences for security.

A new generation of quantum technology promises to transform military capabilities and much more. There are profound security implications that demand a coordinated governance response.

This essay briefly summarizes the potential escalation risks at the space–nuclear nexus. It also considers some of the difficulties in addressing this nexus in existing multilateral forums and suggests ways to overcome them.

Closer integration of the women, peace and security agenda with the governance of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons could have benefits for both.

This essay presents some suggestions for how a proposed ‘forum for political coordination’ could help to coordinate and plug the gaps in the European Union’s strategic trade controls.

WritePeace blog

Closing climate security gaps requires more reliable data on climate finance

To ensure the new $300 billion climate finance goal benefits the most vulnerable, especially those affected by conflict, we need a clearer picture of how it is spent.

Long-term investment is essential to addressing protracted food crises—even amid conflict

Recent initiatives in Yemen, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa show how aid actors across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus can rise to the challenge of strengthening food systems in fragile settings.

To reduce violent conflict, support non-violent resistance movements

The wealth and power generated by kleptocratic networks help to put actors who drive conflict beyond the reach of international institutions responsible for maintaining peace and security. This blog explains why engaging non-violent resistance movements and the non-traditional institutions they create is therefore critical to building sustainable peace and security.

Demilitarizing environmental protection will benefit Colombia’s biodiversity

Successive Colombian governments have pursued an increasingly militarized approach to environmental protection, which in many cases has undermined and even criminalized ethnic communities and subsistence farmers who are vital to environmental stewardship and conservation. This blog explores why this is happening and what needs to be done.

Beyond food security: The potential gendered consequences of food aid

In conflict zones marked by food insecurity, men and women experience unique challenges, and food aid can impact them differently. While aid efforts seek to address these issues, they can sometimes unintentionally deepen gender inequalities, particularly for women. This blog examines these effects and how to mitigate them.

Backgrounders

The Ukrainian arms industry has seen prodigious growth and modernization since Russia's invasion, but its long-term viability still hangs in the balance.

States have varying understandings and practices when it comes to applying export controls to the provision of cyber-surveillance tools under a software-as-a-service model. The potential gaps and loopholes this leaves need to be addressed.

Autonomous weapons systems raise profound questions about the human role in the use of force. How those questions get answered on the international stage, or whether they get answered at all, currently hangs in the balance.

This backgrounder assesses the motivations behind the support for a new United Nations General Assembly resolution and two predecessors, the concerns they have raised, and their potential impact on the regimes and global non-proliferation efforts.

This backgrounder examines the EU Dual-use Regulation catch-all control and new guidelines intended to help exporters to comply with it.