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Publication year: 2025

As the US Government Joins “Team Authoritarian” – Here’s How to Maintain an International Rules-Based Order

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To effectively counter economic competition, global security threats, and assaults on the rules-based global order from authoritarian nations, democratic allies must work together to build support and push the adoption and integration of two core national strategies: 1) building stronger domestic economies and strengthening democracy within nations- through large-scale inward place-based investments in people, innovation …

The controversy about Tajikistan’s history textbooks

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Among its Central Asian neighbours, Tajikistan’s history textbooks still most closely resemble official accounts from the Soviet era. They stress the evils of the Russian Empire’s expansion to the region. At the same time, they also remain fairly positive about Tajikistan’s Soviet experience, underlining the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic’s contribution to the Soviet state. Perhaps …

Framing feminism in Eurasia: bottom-up strategies of depoliticisation and repoliticisation,

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Worldwide, feminist politics is increasingly marginalised and faces resistance from governments and societies. In post-socialist Eurasia, gender discourses are dominated by international donors promoting a neoliberal approach, as well as states mobilising patriarchal norms for nation building. Focusing on three grassroots feminist initiatives in Eurasia, this article explores alternative gender visions emerging from the ground …

The EU’s Need for a Strategic Shift towards China and Russia

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The growing cooperation between China and Russia post-2022 has not only seen a quantitative increase in trade volumes, but also a qualitative shift towards a more sophisticated partnership in new technologies, innovation, and research and development (R&D) in domains such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing, green hydrogen energy, etc. This may introduce new strategic, …

Enhancing EU-Africa Cooperation in Renewable Energy under the European Green Deal

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The European Green Deal (EGD) presents a transformative framework for sustainable energy transitions, offering a unique opportunity for enhanced collaboration between the European Union (EU) and Africa. This partnership is essential in addressing global energy challenges, particularly in light of shifting geopolitical landscapes and the urgent need for energy security. Africa’s vast renewable energy potential …

The long breath of autocracy

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Governing through as a foundation, participation as a façade: why the Erdoğan system is likely to last longer than many had hoped – and how geopolitics plays into the president’s hands.

Chinese and other foreign investments in Africa’s development

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Africa has become a focal point of foreign investments, particularly from China whose economic engagement with the continent has surged in recent years. However, the disproportionate focus of these investments on resource extraction raises concerns about long­-term benefits for Africa. This paper examines the development implications of Chinese investments, with a focus on employment. The …

The positive externalities of US–China institutional balancing in the Indo-Pacific

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The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the international order transition, featuring intensified strategic competition between the United States and China, especially in the Indo-Pacific region.1 A prevailing view of US–China competition is the ‘Thucydides trap’—rooted in power transition theory and suggesting that strategic competition between a rising power and the hegemon will inevitably lead to conflict in …

Routledge Handbook on Global China

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This innovative Routledge Handbook sheds light on the complex and transformative nature of Global China, prompting a re- evaluation of existing theories on global and regional dynamics. It encourages theoretical innovation, methodological reflection and analytical transformation, providing new avenues for critical engagement with China’s global interactions. The chapters propose three key commitments for the study …

Crisis of Authority and the Cybernetic Politics of African International Organizations: The ECOWAS and Its Institutional Circuits of Heterarchical Entanglement

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This chapter examines how African inter-state relations are shaped by the crisis management initiatives of African International Organizations using the case of the Economic Community of West African States. It leverages the insights of cybernetic politics and heterarchy to decentre the dominant heuristic of hierarchy in the framing of intra-African international politics given that it …