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This Week at ISN

20 24 January 2014

Our Weekly Editorial Roundup

JUMP TO Editorial Plan | Security Watch | Blog | Video

// Cities and Security

With the majority of the world's population now living in urban areas, we now face an important question to what extent should cities and those who govern them influence larger foreign policy and security agendas? Probing this question is particularly appropriate when we consider that a good number of urban centers are large sources of insecurity in their own right. They include the fragile, shantytown-chocked cities of the developing world, and politically turbulent ones such as So Paulo. Again, how to deal with these turbulent centers remains an open question, but while we debate our options a rapidly growing security economy has already been put in place.

How Can 'City Diplomacy' Influence Security?

20 January 2014

According to Michele Acuto, we have to start studying the impact that cities and those who govern them are having on global security. That's because their 'proximity' to today's security challenges is making them increasingly important actors in this domain. More

The Fragile City Arrives

21 January 2014

Fragile cities in Africa, the Americas and South Asia are about to become the sites of new and complex forms of violence, warns Robert Muggah. That's why humanitarian agencies are just as eager as military planners to understand the security challenges that these cities will face.
More

Megacity Slums and Urban Insecurity

22 January 2014

What is the most pressing security challenge facing the world's megacities? It's their slums, write Peter Engelke and Magnus Nordenman. Today, they highlight some of the conditions that make them fertile breeding grounds for conflict and instability.More

So Paulo: the City and its Protest

23 January 2014

While last year's protests in So Paulo involved a cross-section of society, it was the young and peripheral who dominated the demonstrations. According to Teresa Caldeira, their power highlighted the growing inability of established organizations and institutions to govern urban spaces effectively. More

Foucault's Boomerang: the New Military Urbanism

24 January 2014

According to Stephen Graham, a new set of 'Foucauldian boomerang effects' are shaping how states apply 'tactics of control' over everyday urban life. Today, he traces the emergence of what he calls a new military urbanism, which applies to cities both in the Global North and South.More

// Security Watch
Annual Forecast 2014 - The View from Stratfor
20 January 2014

What are the most important global trends we need to watch for in 2014? According to Stratfor, the world's great powers are going to cooperate more with each other, which is going to unnerve a lot of countries that want to play a more decisive role in their own regions. More

Ten Trends That Will Shape Asia in 2014

21 January 2014

According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Asia could be in for a turbulent 2014. Today, Evan Feigenbaum outlines the ten key factors both positive and negative that will shape the region's politics and security over the coming year.
More

Prospects for the Global Economy in 2014

22 January 2014

The International Monetary Fund predicts that global economic growth will accelerate to 3.6% in 2014. In today's Council on Foreign Regions feature, five economists outline what this positive forecast means for the United States, Europe and the developing world.More

What Iran Wants in 2014

23 January 2014

According to Hassan Rouhani, moderation and common sense will guide Iran's foreign and domestic policies throughout 2014. The Iranian President also hopes that the international community is prepared to take advantage of his country's more constructive approach to diplomatic relations. More

The Future of Transatlantic Security Cooperation after 2014

24 January 2014

With ISAF's withdrawal from Afghanistan on the horizon, 2014 promises to be a pivotal year for transatlantic security cooperation. Today, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs identifies three 'drivers' that it believes will shape the nature of this cooperation over the coming years. More

// Blog
Thailand: Conflict Alert
20 January 2014

Recent anti-government protests have pushed Thailand close to the edge of large-scale political violence, or perhaps even a political coup. Today, our partners at the ICG outline the steps that Bangkok needs to take if it hopes to prevent a possible political meltdown.More

Russia's Choices in the North Caucasus after Volgograd

21 January 2014

What security measures is Russia likely to pursue in the aftermath of the Volgograd bombings? When it comes to the North Caucasus region, Piotr Kociski and Konrad Zasztowt expect Moscow to create a police state much like the one already operating in Chechnya.More

Easing One-Child Policy May Be Too Late

22 January 2014

A rapidly aging population, a shrinking workforce and too many men have prompted China to ease its one-child policy. The problem with this adjustment, warns Joseph Chambie, is that Beijing may soon discover that increasing a family's size is actually harder to do than reducing it.
More

The 20th OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Kyiv: Addressing Persistent Dividing Lines
23 January 2014

Held against the backdrop of political protests in the streets, the 20th OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Kyiv highlighted the tensions that persist among the organization's members. It's now up to the Swiss and Serbian OSCE Chairs to try and bridge this divide, writes Stephanie Liechtenstein. More

Natural Gas and Albacore: What Tuna Says About the Future of Mozambique
24 January 2014

Will Mozambique be able to balance the development of its tuna industry with the exploitation of its natural gas holdings? Given the country's violent history, writes Laura Henson, it's essential that Maputo answers this security-related question. More

// Video
A New Model of International Governance: Why Cities Will Lead the Way
In this video, three experts discuss how 'high-impact' cities will transform international governance, how they might cooperate with each other, and how they are trying to cope with rapid urbanization. More

Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap between Us and Them
In this video, Joshua Greene discusses moral decision-making, with a particular focus on the tribal theory of us versus them. As he sees it, our brains were specifically designed for tribal life i.e., we identify with 'us' and reject 'them'. Unfortunately, globalization has now forced us all into 'a shared space', which has resulted in an epic clash of values.More

David Kilcullen on the Future Conflicts in Coastal Cities

In this video, noted military analyst David Kilcullen explores how climate change, urban overstretch and rural-to-urban migration can lead to conflict and its unwanted consequences i.e., downstream crises in health, governance and public safety. More

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Next week's theme: After Sovereignty?

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