Explainers

Clear, accessible background on the complex topics shaping world affairs. Everything needed to understand the story behind the story. A good Explainer leaves the reader genuinely informed rather than merely less confused — answering the questions breaking news leaves unanswered and connecting background knowledge to the larger themes of power, accountability and international institutions. Never dumbed down. Never vague.

A Beginner's Guide to Political Realism for the 21st Century Reader

In February 2022, Russian tanks rolled across the Ukrainian border despite decades of international law, treaties, and diplomatic assurances. In 2024, the United States and China continue their technological cold

By Sunny Peter

/ 26 Sep 2025

A Beginner's Guide to Political Realism for the 21st Century Reader

Cultural Diplomacy's Quiet Revolution: How Identity Politics Are Reshaping International Relations

Cultural diplomacy is hardly new, but its contemporary manifestation represents a qualitative leap from earlier iterations. During the Cold War, cultural exchange served primarily as an ideological battleground—the United States promoting jazz and modern art to showcase democratic creativity, while

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Cultural Diplomacy's Quiet Revolution: How Identity Politics Are Reshaping International Relations

AI as Power: Can Diplomacy Keep Up With the Technology Race?

The relationship between technology and power is not new. From Britain’s mastery of steam power in the 19th century to America’s dominance in nuclear weapons and the internet, technological revolutions have historically redrawn the geopolitical map. What makes AI distinctive is its pervasiveness. Un

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

AI as Power: Can Diplomacy Keep Up With the Technology Race?

What is Environmental Geopolitics? A Guide to the 21st Century’s Most Critical Foreign Policy Challenge

Environmental geopolitics is the study of how environmental change interacts with global politics. It explores how states, multinational organizations, and non-state actors navigate competition, cooperation, and conflict around environmental challenges. Simply put, climate change and ecological pres

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

What is Environmental Geopolitics? A Guide to the 21st Century’s Most Critical Foreign Policy Challenge

Death of Privacy: How Digital Surveillance Is Reshaping International Relations and State Power

State surveillance has existed throughout human history, but its scale, scope, and sophistication have undergone revolutionary change in the digital age. Traditional intelligence gathering required significant human resources and physical access, naturally limiting governments' ability to monitor la

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Death of Privacy: How Digital Surveillance Is Reshaping International Relations and State Power

Scramble for Critical Minerals: How Lithium, Cobalt, and Rare Earths Are Fueling New Conflicts

Rare earth elements, despite their name, are relatively abundant in Earth's crust but extremely difficult to extract and process without severe environmental consequences. China's dominance in this sector stems not from geological advantage but from willingness to accept environmental and health cos

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Scramble for Critical Minerals: How Lithium, Cobalt, and Rare Earths Are Fueling New Conflicts

Terrorism's Evolution: From Al-Qaeda's Hierarchy to Digital Lone Wolves

Terrorism's modern evolution traces a path from the centralized, state-like ambitions of Al-Qaeda through ISIS's territorial caliphate to today's decentralized, digitally-enabled threat environment. This transformation reflects broader technological and geopolitical shifts that have democratized bot

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Terrorism's Evolution: From Al-Qaeda's Hierarchy to Digital Lone Wolves

Hybrid Warfare 2.0: How Disinformation, Cyberattacks, and Proxy Conflicts Define Modern War

Hybrid warfare concepts trace back to ancient strategies of deception and subversion, but the digital age has exponentially expanded their scope and effectiveness. Soviet-era "active measures" provided early blueprints for information warfare, while China's "Three Warfares" doctrine—psychological, m

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Hybrid Warfare 2.0: How Disinformation, Cyberattacks, and Proxy Conflicts Define Modern War

Rise of Middle Powers: How India, Turkey, and Brazil Are Reshaping Global Order

The traditional bipolar and unipolar frameworks that defined the Cold War and post-Cold War eras are giving way to a more complex multipolar system where countries like India, Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia wield disproportionate influence relative to their raw power capabilities. These

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Rise of Middle Powers: How India, Turkey, and Brazil Are Reshaping Global Order

Return of Great Power Competition: How the U.S., China, and Russia Are Reshaping the World Order

This return to great power competition represents more than a nostalgic replay of Cold War dynamics. Unlike the ideologically rigid bipolar confrontation of the 20th century, today's competition unfolds across multiple dimensions—economic, technological, military, and normative—while operating withi

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Return of Great Power Competition: How the U.S., China, and Russia Are Reshaping the World Order

Digital Diplomacy: How Social Media Is Rewriting the Rules of International Relations

Today's diplomatic landscape reflects this transformation through the proliferation of "digital embassies," virtual diplomatic missions that exist primarily online, and the emergence of "citizen diplomacy," where individuals and non-governmental organizations conduct quasi-diplomatic activities thro

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Digital Diplomacy: How Social Media Is Rewriting the Rules of International Relations

Global South Rising: How Developing Nations Are Reshaping World Politics

The concept of the Global South emerged from the Non-Aligned Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, when newly independent nations sought to chart courses independent of Cold War superpowers. The 1955 Bandung Conference, bringing together 29 African and Asian nations, established principles of sovereignty

By Sunny Peter

/ 19 Aug 2025

Global South Rising: How Developing Nations Are Reshaping World Politics