The offensive on Mosul against Islamic State crystallises all of the political, social and security issues which determine the future of the Iraqi state.

The aim of this report is to describe and explain how structural changes have affected three generations of jihadists in Iraqi Kurdistan: The Jihadi generation of the 1980s, that of Ansar al-Islam in the 2000s and that of the Kurds of Islamic State (ISIS) or Daesh in the 2010s.

This study weighs up the different strategic approaches that Europe may adopt in the industrial race for electrical batteries, taking into account the demand potential for e-mobility and stationary storage, the global competitive landscape and the policy support for local players in Asia and the U.S.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) brings a dimensional shift in the two countries' relations at a time of significant geopolitical change. But while it promises wide-ranging benefits for infrastructure development and economic growth in Pakistan, a number of important challenges remain to be overcome if the project is to be sustainable and produce long-term benefits for Pakistanis.

The study analyses the European rules designed to promote renewable energy, highlighting their innovations and the difficulties they will raise. The study highlights the consequences of some of the measures envisaged and pays particular attention to the electricity market.

Sino-Belarusian relations are characterized by a gap between the quality and depth of the countries’ political partnership on the one hand, and the more limited economic reality of bilateral cooperation on the other.

By organising TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) for the first time in Africa in August 2016, Japan intended to accelerate and deepen its relationship with the continent. 

The decision of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to welcome over one million refugees in the years 2015 and 2016 had been interpreted by some to be a strategic choice to cope with the demographic problems that Germany is facing: the expected decline in the population, especially in its work force, as well an ageing population.