Writer: Nina Renata Pop Editor: Shachi Gokhale “I will not be the president of China who loses Taiwan. If you force my hand, there will be war”, Xi Jinping allegedly told Biden at the 2022 G20 summit. This warning came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, which sparked strong military intimidation attempts from China, including missiles fired across the island. In April 2023, the US once again challenged China by hosting Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen on a v

Author: Christopher Gooding Editor: Prachi Saraf The constitution; two words that tend to send both politicos and ordinary voters alike into a state of idle stupor. And yet two words that in many respects reveal the Achilles heel at the heart of much of Westminster’s current ills. The fact that the United Kingdom has no formal written constitution means that the UK is, in paleontological terms, a dinosaur. In fact, Britain, along with New Zealand and Israel, is unique among m

Author: Ruth Lucas Editor: Shachi Gokhale Political leadership in the United Kingdom is diversifying at an unprecedented rate. In the last year alone, the United Kingdom has had its third female Prime Minister, first Asian Prime Minister, and now its first-ever Asian Scottish First Minister. These appointments shine a light on a new era of inclusivity in British Politics, but also the increasingly tricky rules of representation. Because of their historical exclusion from the

Author: Pratham Maheshwari Editor: Antara Basu In 1959, the Dalai Lama and his followers fled Tibet following an invasion by China and were welcomed by the then-Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Since then, many Tibetans have come to India attaining a count of 150,000 in 2011 . However, a recent survey conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India, in association with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) found that only 72,312 Tibetans

Author: Christopher Gooding Editor: Ruth Lucas Two articles caught my eye recently. The first, a piece in The Telegraph by Madeline Grant titled, ‘ The Centrist Dads are back – and they’re smugger than ever’ . There, she decries the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of self-proclaimed centrists: “smug and intellectually lazy, they assume that the middle position must automatically be correct”. The second, Andrew Marr’s politics column in the New Statesman . There he details

Author: Eleni Anagnostopoulou Editor: Ruth Lucas The Russo-Ukraine conflict has been addressed from a multitude of angles: from battlefield developments, European security and NATO, and the energy and food crises to sanctions. What isn’t adequately examined is the use of Russian state narratives that justify the invasion. Scholars like Khaldarova , Pupcenoks and Seltzer and Livingston and Nassetta have already conducted narrative studies on the post-2014 escalation. Howev

Author: Conor Walsh Editors: Siddharth G. Khare and Soline Germond Politics in Northern Ireland is complicated; in a nation already burdened with a troubled history, Brexit became an additional— and unwanted —nuisance. The new Windsor framework , announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is the best deal the UK can expect from the EU. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) should support it if they have the interests of the N

Author: Claudia Maggi Editor: Ruth Lucas By collecting and storing data of users' search actions, big tech firms fabricate behavioural predictions that they then sell to their real customers: advertisers . This logic of accumulation was termed ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ by Shoshana Zuboff in her renowned book - The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power . Given the sophistication and scale of tech companies’ surveillance prac

Author: Kamilla Kovacs Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen Over the last decade, the United States has seen several notable cases which reflect the unsustainable and injudicious nature of its policing practices. Police brutality, as demonstrated by the tragic cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols and many more is interlinked with systemic racism and discrimination. Black people are disproportionately affected by police violence, and such cases are glarin

Author: Margault Lepeytre Editors: Siddharth G. Khare and Soline Germond Many promises were made to the British people by the Brexiters, a significant one being ' taking back control '. In order to gain greater control over their destiny and greater sovereignty, the British people decided in a referendum to break away from the supranational organisation that is the European Union. So, three years after the official exit from the EU, has the kingdom really regained its soverei

Author: Clara Margotin Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf On the 24th of January 2023, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed the repatriation of 32 French children and 15 women who were held in jihadist refugee camps in northeast Syria. While the women have rapidly been brought before judicial bodies, the children have been placed in social services, which will handle their living conditions, health and education. This return operation constitutes the third official repat

Author: Kamilla Kovacs Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen Three years ago, during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, we called them “essential workers”. Those who delivered our mail ran our hospitals and kept needed services running while the rest of the country was under lockdown. During the pandemic, we realised how crucial these workers are for a well-functioning society. Despite this, we have failed our essential workers. Since November 2022, the UK has be

Author: Margault Lepeytre Editors: Siddharth G. Khare and Soline Germond Several global issues such as Covid-19, the conflict in Ukraine, and even the food shortage that annually kills 9 million people, each in their own right highlight how the international order is being contested, notably by the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation. These events clearly indicate the presence of a ' power transition ' at work: the dominant great power is being replaced by a

Author: Manya Gupta Editors: Siddharth G. Khare and Soline Germond The prevalence of the US dollar in international trade and finance is a well-known fact. The dollar runs the global economy, long enjoying the status of the world’s preeminent reserve currency since the end of World War II. With almost all currencies defined in relation to the dollar, the US occupies a dominant position from both economic and geopolitical standpoints, with decisions taken within the country sh

Author: Hanyoung Park Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen Despite the international restraint on nuclear weapons, North Korea has continued their pursuit by withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear weapons in January 2003. President Kim has been evident that the country's nuclear status is "irreversible" , codifying the policy into law in September 2022. Not bound by any global rules, I explore different explanations that have been used for why N

Author: Conor Walsh Editors: Antara Basu and Hannah Westfallen In the Western world, immigration is a salient issue. It is hard to escape the tsunami of anti-migration headlines: either too many people are leaving , forcing a brain drain—depletion of skills—on an already struggling economy; or too many people are entering , allegedly stealing our jobs, our homes and our healthcare. Our man-made borders—and those who cross them—form an integral part of our nation-states. But m

Author: Oliver M. Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf The drive for transgender equality has been associated with the proliferation of a supposedly controversial “woke” agenda. But conversion therapy is an independent matter. 2022 has been a difficult year for the LGBTQ+ community. On the 31st of March , a leaked document revealed that the government planned on ditching its long-promised ban on conversion therapy. Outrage from activist groups and supporters quickly followed,

Author: Clara Margotin Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf (Bakhan, 2022) On the 16th and 17th of January 2023, the Eiffel Tower in Paris lit up and displayed the slogan “ Femme, Vie, Liberté ” (“Women, Life, Freedom”), as well as the hashtag “# StopExecutionsInIran ”, in support of protesting women in Iran. On the 16th of January, more than 5,000 protesters gathered and marched to the EU Parliament located in the French city of Strasbourg, to express their support for the o

Author: Victoria Aarons Editors: Ruth Lucas and Prachi Saraf Xi Jinping is a significant threat to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and this might ultimately lead to its downfall. Xi Jinping’s leadership of China’s authoritarian regime is the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) most significant threat, due to the lack of succession planning, silencing of the opposition and suffocation of the economy. The regime’s obsession with control reached new heights at the CCP’s 20th Nati