Globalization and geopolitics are the two defining features of contemporary international relations. Yet there exists a fundamental tension between these two processes - one refers to a deepening and broadening flow of trade, goods, people, and information; the other to exclusive political and military control over space. These competing…

It may appear that Russia is equally dissatisfied with both Western security’s presence in and its departure from Afghanistan planned for 2014, but whether the Western withdrawal is seen as more of a gain a loss depends on how Moscow itself assesses and balances its own security concerns in the region: instability, extremism and narcotics.
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Last month’s deal between Serbia and Kosovo was a three-pointer for Cathy Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief. But she seems unfit to face different challenges
 
The deal, agreed after 10 rounds of direct talks between the countries’ leaders under the auspices of Catherine Ashton and the European External Action…

India entered the 21st century as a challenger for the role of a global center of influence, alongside the United States and China. Strategic partnership between Russia and India is a natural phenomenon and objective reality. The two countries’ national interests overlap in many areas. We discussed the current state of affairs and the prospects…

Drafted by Prof. Kiyul Chung.
 
On July 27, 1953, Korean War hostilities were ended only temporarily by introducing the fragile Armistice Agreement which was signed by DRPK, China and USA/UN. However, that “temporary cessation” of the deadly military conflicts has not put an end to all hostilities as it was supposed to and as was…

Same dilemma from the MENA
 
Both are fully devoted, supported and promoted by the social media. Highly polarizing, both are fracturing any consensus. What Lady Gaga with her gay/gender gigs (or any similar sort of stage-acting à la Pussy Riot) is for the human rights, are the so-called Islamists for the Muslim world– strategic…

 
 
Dr. Adrian Pabst is a political theorist and a theologian. He is a lecturer in politics at the University of Kent and a visiting professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lille (Sciences Po). His research concerns capitalism, religion, ethics, civil economy, European Union and wider Europe like Russia, Ukraine and Turkey…

 
Since last Monday, the day when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I have been monitoring the mainstream media in the U.S. (CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, NYT). Abundant information available on their websites about the bombing, suspects and investigation indicates that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are probably the ones who…

Since its landslide victory at the general elections in 2010, Hungary’s governing Fidesz party and its leader, Viktor Orbán, have been pursuing an ‘opening to the East’. Behind this should lie a reasonable rapprochement with Russia and the resource-rich countries of the Caucasus and the Arab Peninsula. But petty political…

Yuri Gagarin was the first man to go to space on 12 April 1961.  This day is losing its significance for the Russian people today; we no longer follow developments in space, nor do we know what has happened to former cosmonauts.
 
The RIAC editorial staff thought it appropriate to draw the attention of our readership to this situation, so…

On 24 March, in the aftermath of a conflict beginning in December 2012, the Central African Republic (CAR) suffered a coup. Its president, François Bozizé, was overthrown, and power was seized by a group of rebels headed by Michel Djotodia. We discussed the prospects for the new government and the potential escalation of the Central…

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand or more perilous to conduct… than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." 
 – Niccolò Machiavelli 
 
Machiavelli's quote stresses three things. Firstly, it underlines that any new route will likely be perilous. Secondly, it…