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Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis underlined his support for the newly created Master's Program in Peace Mediation during his visit to the ETH Zurich on 23 October 2018. The course promotes the professionalization of peace mediation and stands for the promise of a peaceful world. The public speech was part of a high-level policy forum on the future of mediation.

In this CSS Policy Perspective, on the extent to which terrorism and organized crime are increasingly indistinguishable, Mark Shaw and Prem Mahadevan argue that policymakers should direct their focus toward stabilizing insecure spaces in the West and developing world. The authors contend that only by devoting more attention to the so-called violent entrepreneurs operating in these areas can we begin to leverage the tools that will be necessary to confront this threat.

In this new CSS Policy Perspective Owen Frazer and Anaël Jambers highlight that one of the more sensitive topics in discussions on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) has been the relationship between violent extremism and religion, and the implications for P/CVE programs. In response, our authors offer five tips for governments for a religion-sensitive approach to P/CVE.

This new CSS Analysis argues that a return to nuclear arms control would be a sensible move at this point in time. However, this would require taking into account the differences between the Cold War era and the current day: The replacement of nuclear bipolarity by multipolarity and the linkage with non-nuclear military developments. Moreover, for the foreseeable future, there is little prospect of political leadership in arms control.

Accordig to this new CSS Analysis, Donald Trump’s Middle East policy represents a significant change from that of Barack Obama. The president is seeking to bolster Israel and Saudi Arabia, in particular, and to isolate Iran. This agenda has emerged in piecemeal fashion rather than as part of a coherent strategy – and there are few indications that administration officials have considered the long-term implications of their approach.