The first-ever treaty banning nuclear weapons came into force on 22 January 2021 after decades of human struggle against one of the deadliest weapons. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is the… [Read more]
Could you patent the Sun?
In late-2020, a request for the temporary suspension of COVID-19 patents was submitted to the WTO. Today, some countries are still resisting the waiver. Milad Tabesch and Robert Schirmer examine the narratives exacerbating the global… [Read more]
Berlin’s alternative scene can’t be taken for granted
| Editorial | Berlin has long been known for its radical subcultures. As one of the city’s last left-wing autonomous housing projects is being shut down, the future of Berlin’s alternative scene is in doubt.… [Read more]
Vision Indo-Pacific: The Japanese pursuit
The Indo-Pacific region has received growing attention from the international community ever since Former American President Trump presented the United States’ ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) strategy at the 2017 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Hanoi. This is not fundamentally surprising. … [Read more]
Lonely and Left Behind
How tax policy could incentivise social volunteering without crowding out altruism It’s morning and she fades awake. She gazes blearily through the gloom at her bedroom, a thin film of dust in the spots she… [Read more]
The Disposable Lives: Covid-19 and Wars
In March 2020, war-time medical personnel were roped in to assist hospitals in the world’s wealthiest city, New York. Confronted with do-not-resuscitate policies, rationing and elective surgeries, they termed the situation as requiring ‘countermeasures’. Although… [Read more]
Behind China’s Health Silk Road
Chinese vaccine diplomacy in Africa is being seen as an opportunist geopolitical move to strengthen its Belt and Road Initiative. What can we expect from this new form of soft power? Vaccines in exchange for… [Read more]
Venezuela’s Banana Socialism: From a Revolution to a Corrupted Oligarchy
In the last 25 years, Venezuela has walked the path from a democratic to an authoritarian state. Having been one of the richest countries in Latin America in 1998, Venezuela is now among the poorest countries in the region with 95.5% of its population below the poverty line. Can the new reforms save the Venezuelan economy and alleviate the… [Read more]
People Are Grey; We Should Remember Them as Such
I remember the first time I ever heard her name. I was around 11 years old, sitting in the back seat of my dad’s green Honda Civic as we drove home from the hardware store… [Read more]
What’s Driving the Resurgence of Violence in Northern Ireland?
In just over two weeks, 88 police officers were injured in riots in Northern Ireland. The unrest constitutes the largest scale of violence in the region since the end of the thirty-year sectarian conflict known as the ‘Troubles’.… [Read more]