This paper intends to take a step back from current developments in Ukraine in order to analyze the lessons Europeans ought to draw from the crisis that caught many by surprise. Whether the Ukrainian crisis really turns out to be a »game changer« in a structural sense remains to be seen, but it has made clear that Europeans should rethink a number of fundamental assumptions underlying European foreign policy.

In March 2011, after a half-century of relative isolation and autocratic military rule, Myanmar took the world by surprise in announcing an unexpected political transition. Less than two years later the emergence of aggressive Buddhist nationalism grabbed the spotlight. The epidemic of violence against Muslims that began with pogroms in June 2012 in the Arakan region of southwest Myanmar has now spread across a large swath of the country and is a testimony to the seriousness of this phenomenon. In a country with a large Buddhist majority, the presence of Muslims is now considered a threat.

Following the 2014 separatist conflict in Ukraine, observers have worried about the potential for a similar conflict in Moldova that would interrupt the country’s EU association. Indeed, Moldova’s national minorities largely oppose the country’s process of approximation and integration with the European Union. 

In this article, Willy Lam argues that the events of recent weeks represent a turning point in China-Hong Kong relations. The author analyses the multiple facets of the movement in Hong Kong and Beijing's response.

In the course of its institutional development and the expansion of its activities, the European Union (EU) has tended to pile up rather than to rationalize its policies, creating a financial tool per objective. As a result, the European funds have become a labyrinth, for which management costs are high.

The Chinese gas market is facing four key challenges and the government is elaborating responses which will have implications for the Chinese and world energy markets:

Versatility and modularity have been praised as design imperatives for military hardware, in order to reduce costs as well as to facilitate training and maintenance. 

Jean-Claude Juncker has made a surprisingly strong start. But behind the clear priorities and the innovative team set-up, his ability to restore trust in the EU remains to be seen.

The energy transition from a socio-economic system based on fossil fuels to a sustainable low-carbon system is a multi-facetted process. This “transformation” of the energy system, more specifically of the power system, creates several challenges.

India hosts millions of economic migrants from neighboring countries, especially Nepal and Bangladesh. It is also a haven for large refugee communities from Tibet or Sri Lanka. In the past years, India’s dynamic economic growth has brought in new types of migrants: young European graduates, entrepreneurs and highly skilled Indian migrants returning home.

Michael Lind, Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C, was the guest of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) on September 29th 2014. In this video, he analyzes the major economic trends post-2008, and predicts the end of globalization.

Once widely praised as one of the best shows on television, Homeland will be back for a fourth season starting next week. The show was originally intended as a breaking point with the one-sided and trigger-happy foreign policy of the Bush administration. However, Homeland is sadly turning out to be the reflection of Obama’s foreign policy, itself rather disappointing up to now. What will the new episodes tell us?

Based on the realist theory of international relations, this article analyses whether Germany has any incentives to seek (regional) hegemony. It concludes that under the current systemic circumstances – in which the country's survival is ensured by the United States – Germany has no reason to become a hegemon, which is normally a strategy to escape the perils of the anarchic international system. 

Europe’s history books have always identified the Mediterranean as a bridge between different civilisations and cultures. Scholars, such as Fernand Braudel, have portrayed the Mediterranean as the bedrock of Western culture from which dialogue, mutual understanding and trade have been promoted since the very origins of our civilisation.

Developing economic relations with GCC countries has become a consistent objective of the Turkish government since the coming in power of AKP. They have been successful in rallying part of the Turkish business community to this objective, thus building an internal social consensus towards opening to the Gulf.

The March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station turned Japan’s energy policy on its head, shedding a harsh new light on Japan’s energy policy and power supply system, and throwing into relief six major problem areas that had largely escaped scrutiny before the disaster.

Regarded as a revolutionary weapon at the beginning of the 20th century, the tank is now suffering from a lack of legitimacy: in the last 20 years, most European states have drastically reduced their tank fleets, sometimes even entirely removing them from their arsenals.

Cette Actuelle est la quatrième d'une série de quatre Chroniques américaines sur l'éducation aux Etats-Unis, publiées cette semaine.

The United States has established itself as the indisputable global leader in the digital market followed by more interventionist actors such as Russia and China. Europe has fallen behind as it struggles to find its place in this crucial sector. The new European Commission must respond and provide Europe with tools to compete with the market's more dominant actors. 

This piece is the thrid in a series of four Chroniques américaines on education in the United States, published this week.

This piece is the second in a series of four Chroniques américaines on education in the United States, published this week. 

This piece is the first in a series of four Chroniques américaines on education in the United States, published this week.

At the crossroads of American, European and Asian interests in the Arctic, Greenland and Iceland, the importance of which had for too long been underestimated, are set to play a central role in future regional developments. In order to exploit the potential of their growing economic ties with Asia, without becoming the Arctic “weak links”, Greenland and Iceland need to secure their economy on a long-term basis.

Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated since Shinzo Abe and Xi Jinping came to power.

China is increasingly active in the Asia-Pacific region, an area that makes up the main focus of its foreign policy.

China, now the world’s second largest economy, is going to play an increasingly substantial role in multilateral economic organizations and mechanisms. 

Both perpetrators and forms of violence change. States are no longer the central referents of contemporary conflicts. We can no longer understand them as the outcome of a linear history starting from tribal societies and leading to Western political structures.

Displaced peoples, insecurity over food and sanitation, economic devastation, worsening community tensions: the Central African Republic is going through what must be the worst crisis in its history.

Since 1932, Thailand has been the stage of regular coups d’états and constitutional changes, with the most recent in May 2014.

The strategic position and economic value of hundreds of small islands in the South China Sea have provoked claims of sovereignty from most of the neighboring states.

Recent events have provided the opportunity for the rekindling of relations between Ukraine and the European Union.

Turkish leaders would like to turn their country into the leader of the Middle East. However, they are in competition with another of the region’s key players: Iran.

Lead Authors: Marie-Claire Aoun and Quentin Boulanger (IFRI); Authoring Team: Damir Pešut, Marko Matosović and Robert Bošnjak (EIHP); Paul Deane, James Glynn and Brian Ó Gallachóir (UCC); Reviewer: Nathalie Desbrosses (Enerdata)

China’s economic development has brought it to the center of natural resource markets.

Russia, as the fourth largest greenhouse-gas emitter in the world, and a major supplier of fossil fuels causing these emissions, played a decisive role in the enforcement of the Kyoto Protocol, the main instrument of global climate policy so far. 

Many Israelis and Palestinians contest the ‘two-state solution’.

In 2013, Barak Obama and John Kerry managed, not without difficulty, to steer Israeli and Palestinian leaders back to peace negotiations. At the same time, Washington re-established dialogue with Tehran in talks aimed at finding a solution to the Iranian nuclear problem.

The revolutionary forces that shook the Arab world in 2011 were fighting for more just societies. Justice, however, is difficult to bring about in post-dictatorship transitional phases.