Publications

The articles of this edition of the CTC Sentinel focus on 1) Basil Hassan, a radicalized Danish engineering graduate who was instrumental in furthering the so-called Islamic State’s (IS) drone-warfare capabilities; 2) how IS has recovered from its territorial defeats since 2017 to mount a strong and sustained resurgence as an insurgent force inside Iraq; 3) the 2017 suicide bombing attack at the Manchester Arena in the UK and what it highlights about British-Libyan jihadi connections; and 4) Iranian proxies in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.chevron_right

How do countries like Ghana and India – two of the main contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping missions – define, approach, and experience the task of protecting civilians? What do they consider the key components of such protection to be? And what do they think is required to protect civilians? In this report, Peter Albrecht and Sukanya Podder address these questions and more, concluding that the individual combat experience of troop-contributing countries is a defining feature of how protection of civilians is approached in peacekeeping missions.chevron_right

Rebecca Strating writes that the disputes in the South China Sea concern overlapping claims to territory and maritime jurisdiction, strategic control over maritime resources, and differences in legal interpretations of freedom of navigation. In this report, Strating examines the responses of non-claimant regional states—India, Australia, South Korea, and Japan—to the disputes. In doing so, she highlights the extent to which such “like-minded states” are actually “like-minded” on the existing maritime order as well as what this tells us about the balance-of-power dynamics between China and the US.chevron_right

Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam are the five countries of mainland Southeast Asia that make up the Mekong region. These countries are bound together and geographically defined by the Me...chevron_right

This publication looks at the risks the coronavirus crisis presents to Africa, as well as potential opportunities. In doing so, the text’s authors explore how the crisis could contribute to the regres...chevron_right

This publication contends that the efforts of the so-called Islamic State (IS) to gain a foothold in India have not been successful so far. However, after the Indian government’s August 2019 decision ...chevron_right

The publication analyzes how Taiwan has managed the COVID-19 pandemic. The text’s author contends that Taiwan has fought the pandemic with a combination of vigilance, early proactive measures, coordin...chevron_right

This publication addresses how China has responded to the coronavirus pandemic regarding its global posture and foreign policy. Key contentions include 1) that China hoped that in tackling the Covid-1...chevron_right

This publication looks at Bhutan’s position in the geopolitical rivalry between China and India. Key issues addressed include 1) the military standoff between India and China in a disputed territory a...chevron_right

This publication examines the situation in Afghanistan against the background of the coronavirus pandemic. The author contends that as the Afghan government attempts to deal with the pandemic with its...chevron_right

Diese Publikation beschäftigt sich mit dem Vertrauen der russischen Bevölkerung in Putin und politische Elitegruppen, welches im März 2020 gemäss verschiedener Moskauer Meinungsforschungsinstitute mit...chevron_right

This publication contends that any multilateral or collective security architecture requires a minimum of common ground and mutual trust between the participating nations in order to benefit from such...chevron_right

Dieses Interview fokussiert sich auf die Volksrepublik China (VR) und beleuchtet politische, wirtschaftliche und militärische Auswirkungen der Corona-Krise. Nach anfänglichen Verzögerungstaktiken wurd...chevron_right

According to Daniel Kurtzer and Maira Seeley, collective security arrangements in the Middle East have proven elusive. In the Gulf, Russia, Iran and the US have proposed competing mechanisms to foster cooperation, but these proposals have foundered, with the prospect of progress towards Gulf security cooperation continuing to remain unlikely unless Saudi-Iranian tensions decrease. To address this, Kurtzer and Seeley recommend that US efforts to support regional security cooperation should focus on strengthening defense and political relationships within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).chevron_right

This issue of Comparative Connections updates us on the trajectory of key bilateral relationships in East Asia, and between East Asian countries and the US, during the first third of 2020. As usual, t...chevron_right