Publications

The most important foreign policy challenges facing a new US administration are twofold and interconnected: a shift in the global balance of traditional power that will obstruct the ability of the US to assert international influence and, the changing nature of threat and risk that expose the increasing limitations of traditional power altogether.

For over two decades the EU has established a track record in global leadership on climate change. While producing mixed results, the EU remains committed to regional and global policies and actions advancing energy sustainability. Although sovereign debt, financial and other economic distresses have rocked the EU since 2008, these difficulties have not lessened the prominence of climate change on the EU’s political agenda.

With the tectonic shifts in the political landscape of the Middle East yet to settle, much still hangs in the balance. For Iran, this presents an opportunity to enhance its standing and gain new influence as countries such as Egypt make the transition towards a more democratic system of governance, which inevitably entails greater influence for Islamist groups and parties. The ruling elite in Iran was delighted when the Arab Spring increased the prominence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and even more so when Mohamed Morsi was elected president of Egypt earlier this year.

In no major country is less known about the way leaders are chosen or how foreign policy is made than China. There are certain rules and conventions, by which we know that every ten years there must be a generational change of top leaders.