07

In 2018, Switzerland released its second national cybersecurity strategy. To put the Swiss approach into perspective, this CSS study compares the strategies, policies and governmental structures of Germany, Finland, France, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands to highlight similarities and differences and to discuss the relevant challenges and further implications for Switzerland.

How do terrorist attacks influence migration attitudes? This study by Enzo Nussio, Vincenzo Bove and Bridget Steele suggests that sharing experiences with immigrants on a daily basis may make people less receptive to discourses linking migration to terrorism.

Collaborations of civic society and public administration play a key role for successful disaster management. This report by Tim Prior and Florian Roth addresses the challenges and opportunities of integrating volunteers in disaster management and civil protection. Further, it details 1) the relationships between state crisis management and the social environment in they take place, and 2) the instruments available to support volunteerism in the context of disaster management.

This book by Henrik Larsen, which explores what has driven NATO to pursue democratization in face of significant region-specific challenges, addresses the alliance’s adaptation to the current illiberal backlashes in Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Afghanistan following the alleged ‘return of history’. The book offers a theoretical conception of NATO as a patchwork of one hegemonic and several great power interests that converge or diverge in the formulation of common policy.

Nuclear arms control faces an existential crisis. The INF Treaty is about to end and the future of New START is also uncertain. But how should nuclear arms control be conceptualized to be effective today? In this article, Oliver Thränert argues that in the future it would have to be multilateral rather than bilateral. In addition, future negotiations should no longer focus solely on nuclear weapons, but should include other strategically important technologies.

Corinne Bara, former PhD student at the CSS, and CSS researcher Enzo Nussio received awards at this year’s Network of European Peace Scientists (NEPS) conference in The Hague. 

By the end of 2017, 25 EU Member States had joined the newly established Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). This cooperation framework aims at deepening technological and institutional interoperability between hitherto predominantly national armament policies and armed forces structures. This CSS study by Amos Dossi and Daniel Keohane sheds light on PESCO’s background, analyzes the positions of the main actors involved and discusses implications for Switzerland.

No disaster management practice has undergone as much change as emergency communication. One response to this rapid change has been the establishment of Virtual Operation Support Teams to monitor social media, support situational awareness, counter rumors and disseminate official communication. This paper by Florian Roth and Timothy Prior examines the evolution of these teams, including their use in seven countries.