Resources
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The purpose of the Resources section of the CSS website is outreach - i.e., it features the analyses of CSS experts, external partners and like-minded institutions in order to promote dialogue on international relations and security-related issues. CSS Resources is the successor to the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).
Featured Publications
Feb 2020 | Publications
Space Security: The Next DecadeMichael Haas contends that private-sector initiatives have created considerable momentum in the space industry. As a result, the importance of space systems as critical infrastructures will continue to increase. At the same time, it is increasingly likely that weapons will be deployed in space. For Switzerland, Haas suggests these trends create economic opportunities as well as increased security risks.
Feb 2020 | Publications
Current Dynamics of Urban Military OperationsIn this article, Niklas Masuhr writes that intense and protracted combat in towns and cities seems to confirm predictions that urban areas will increasingly become the primary battlefields of wars and conflicts.
Feb 2020 | Publications
Sicherheitspolitische Trends 2020-2028: Intensivierte GrossmächtekonkurrenzEvery year, the CSS analyzes developments in world politics and their potential consequences for Switzerland over the next eight years. In this brief, Michael Haas et al focus on the intensifying great power competition between the US, China and Russia, as well as Artificial Intelligence as a key technology and a strategic resource.
24 Jan 2020 | Publications
Russian Analytical Digest No 245: Russian YouthIn this issue of the RAD, Anna Sorokina and Valeria Kasamara first examine the values and attitudes of Russian students towards their home country as well as federal and regional political elites. They conclude that the majority of young Russian students describe themselves as the “Putin Generation” and perceive President Vladimir Putin as the ideal political leader of a nation-state. In the second article, Irina Meyer-Olimpieva posits that young people in Russia have similarly ambivalent attitudes to corruption to older generations and that Russian youth are also skeptical about public anticorruption initiatives.
Jan 2020 | Publications
OSCE Focus 2019: Building a Vision of the FutureAt the OSCE Focus 2019 conference, over 45 high-ranking participants from the OSCE community engaged in focused, open and frank discussion on the challenges and opportunities currently faced by the organization. This report summarizes key reflections made at the conference, including those dealing with 1) the implications of great power politics for the OSCE; 2) the work of the organization regarding the Ukraine crisis; 3) arms control, disarmament and confidence and security building measures; 4) the chairmanship of the OSCE; and 5) OSCE partnerships with other organizations and cooperative security.
CSS Blog Network
Here is a selection of articles recently featured on our blog.
Mediation Perspectives: Artificial Intelligence in Conflict Resolution
Marta Lindström argues that peace practitioners cannot afford to disregard ongoing developments related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) — both from an ethical and pragmatic perspective. Indeed, she contends that such actors need to engage with AI proactively rather than reactively. To highlight why, Lindström looks at how AI is changing the nature of armed conflict and the way we respond to it.
PESCO: Two Years Later
In 2017, the EU launched the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) to step up cooperation in security and defense. Marcin Terlikowski writes that since this time, PESCO has grown quickly. However, its role in developing European defense capacity may turn out to be marginal if a compromise is not found on the issue of the participation of non-EU states in PESCO projects and on the size of the European Defence Fund (EDF). Further, large, European defense initiatives led outside the EU’s legal framework could end up diminishing PESCO’s importance.
Conflict Is Still Africa’s Biggest Challenge in 2020
This year is supposed to be a landmark year for the African Union, with its 2020 ‘Silencing the Guns’ initiative aimed at ending violence across Africa. However, Simon Allison writes that the continental body and its member states will have to work miracles to achieve this goal. Indeed, he outlines that the trend seems to be heading in the other direction.
Featured Organization
The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) is an independent organization that performs both basic and policy-relevant research. It also conducts graduate-level training on different facets of peace promotion (i.e., conflict resolution, dialogue and reconciliation, policy-making and public outreach).
