In 2014, Germany’s relations with Russia markedly deteriorated. The decline was precipitous but it did not occur suddenly. It began some time before Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the Kremlin’s support for separatism and thinly concealed military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

Lead Authors:  Christophe McGlade, Steve Pye (UCL)
Authoring Team: Carole Mathieu (Ifri); Željko Jurić, Marko Matosović (EIHP)
Reviewer: Paul Deane (UCC)

Since 2010, the United States has been undergoing a second shale revolution with the very rapid development of Light Tight Oil (LTO) or shale oil, following the revolution in shale gas. This development has allowed the production of oil and liquids to increase, so that the US is the world’s largest producer today, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia.

As President Obama makes an official visit to India, Martin Quencez, expert from the GMF Paris office reflects on the current administration's policy toward Asia and notably the "pivot to Asia". The celebrated Indo-American relationship does not appear to have held much promise until now. Could it grow significantly during Narenda Modi's presidency to constitute a key element of the American presence in the region?

Since her departure from the State Department in 2013, Hillary Rhodam Clinton continues to fascinate the press which scrutinizes her slightest actions, looking forward to an announcement of her candidacy for the 2016 presidential elections. For years nevertheless, the former First Lady kept her distances with the journalists. This notorious mistrust could turn out problematic if she confirms her candidacy.

Paper produced within the framework of the IAI-OCP Policy Center partnership and presented at the international seminar "Morocco's Role in Fostering Euro-Mediterranean Energy Cooperation" organised in Rabat on 26 September 2014.

About a decade ago, the U.S. started to examine options to develop and acquire Conventional Prompt Global Strike capabilities. This move fits in an effort to conventionalize deterrence, an effort initiated decades before and undertaken for profound and diverse motives. Although it has been renewed under the Obama administration, which aims to reduce the U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons, this ambition has resulted in very little concrete progress.

Policy Report,  Publication Insight_E

Lead Author: Bo Normark (KIC InnoEnergy), co-author: Aurélie Faure-Schuyer (Ifri),
Reviewers: Paul Deane (UCL) and Steve Pye (UCL)

For much of the post-Soviet period, Central Asia has been a backwater of Russian foreign policy. But things are changing. Circumstances in and beyond the region are driving a more committed approach in Moscow. 

The East Asian region has long been characterized by its informal structure. Strong economic integration, backed by dense intra-regional trade, has never been accompanied by regional institutional commitments. At the end of the 1990s, there was a vague desire to institutionalize the region, but to no avail.

Although the Greater China region is often said to constitute an increasingly well-structured economic player, a systematic analysis of intra-regional interactions is not readily available. This chapter seeks to fill this gap.

Morocco’s GDP growth has increased over the past three decades, mainly as a direct consequence of the expansion of domestic demand, triggered by an increase in both government-initiated public investment and minimum wage.

On December 13, 2013, in response to an Interpol initiative, the first ever African Conference on pharmaceutical crime was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its final communiqué declared the intention of 20 countries to reinforce the struggle against the production of counterfeit drugs.

Donald Tusk is set to make his mark as the new president of the European council. How will this be felt across the other institutions that make up the EU?

The use of chemical weapons (CW) in Syria and the decision to award the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reminded the international community that these weapons continue to represent a serious threat. The number of incidents of chemical attacks has been increasing in recent years, and efforts to curb CW programs – apart from the joint mission in Syria – have generally proven unsatisfactory.

Asia is now a nerve center for global economic activity and a theatre of some of the most pressing security concerns of our time. So important has Asia become to global affairs today, and ostensibly for the decades to come, that many have already dubbed the 21st Century as the “Asian Century”.

CSIS expert Jeff Mankoff explains the reasons of the crisis in Ukraine, and how the U.S. should try to reestablish a more stable situation in central Europe, mixing containment and engagement of the Russian partner.

California benefits from a long-time extraordinarily positive image. Because of its climate, its cultural diversity, its size, its population and its energy wealth, California itself represents the essence of the American dream, every day attracting new hopeful migrants.

The European Councils of March 2007 and October 2014 have defined the major guidelines of the European climate policy for the 2010-2020 and 2020-2030 decades. These commitments have then been used as negotiation roadmaps for two major conferences on climate held under the United-Nations umbrella, in Copenhagen in 2009 and in Paris in December 2015. In both cases, the aim was, and still is, to reach a global agreement to take over the Kyoto Protocol. The first one was a failure for the European diplomacy and all hopes are now placed in the second, which may well be the last chance for the international climate talks.

Hot Energy Topic n° 5, Insight_E publication

Lead Author: Paul Deane (UCC)
Authoring Team: Ulrich Fahl (University of Stuttgart), Carole Mathieu (Ifri)
Reviewers: Kimon Keramidas (Enerdata)

The Snowden affair could bring about major changes in the structure of the Internet and its governance. Technologies should now a priori integrate standards which give citizens the capacity to keep a check on what data is available.

The Internet Governance debate opposes multilateral thinking, favoring the role of State and interstate bodies, with a multistakeholder model, which aims to unite all concerned actors: states, business, experts, academics and internet groups, among others. 

Washington plays a leading role in Internet Governance, which is hardly surprising given the origins of the Internet and America’s technological ascendancy. However, the majority of Internet users are in non-Western countries. 

While internet traffic is exploding and there is new costly infrastructure to be implemented, the “net neutrality” debate is raging.

Big Data is changing our view of the world by changing our modes of approach, moving from analogue systems to digital-based knowledge.

Since 1976, there have been twenty-five recorded epidemics of the Ebola virus. The 2014 outbreak is the most serious.

One reason Ebola has been so difficult to contain is that it emerged in countries marked by poverty and violence. 

The rise of civilian self-defense groups in various states across Mexico since 2011 bear witness to the powerlessness and corruption of state bodies confronted with the pervasiveness of organized crime. 

The Indian People’s Party (BJP) coming to power in the 2014 legislative elections raises many questions about the country’s governance.

Cyber technology challenges conventional mechanisms of deterrence and conflict management.

Automatic lethal weapon systems are under debate and certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are demanding their precautionary prohibition.

The increasing judicialization of external military action is encouraging military law to fall into line with common law.

For several decades, there has been general consensus bridging the Dutch political class regarding the notion of a multicultural society. This consensus is now being challenged.