Raising awareness of both existing and emerging foreign and security policy challenges facing the European Union, EUISS Briefs provide key information in a concise, focused format.
Russia's grand aspirational objective is to bring back what is deemed in Moscow to be a more natural state of play for the Balkans: multipolarity. But what is the Russian modus operandi in the region? Is it confined only to coercion, as the headlines suggest, or is there a softer...
In light of rising tensions between Washington and the EU over defence markets, this Brief looks at the asymmetry between US and European defence markets. It examines the web of regulations and laws which effectively provides the US government with the discretionary power to...
This Brief looks into connectivity-related challenges and how they relate to the EU’s new Central Asia Strategy and its vision of connectivity. It examines the legacy of Soviet connectivity, the significance of regional informal networks, as well as the impact of China’s Belt and...
This Brief demonstrates how a ‘pivot’ to conflict prevention in foreign assistance to Mozambique is needed, adjusting international donors’ support towards more targeted conflict-prevention objectives, and balancing the need for conflict sensitivity with the imperative of...
This Brief launches a new EUISS series on conflicts, by focusing on the renewed attention to prevention in international peacebuilding at a time when the human and economic costs of violent conflict keep rising.
This Brief explores the ways the international community has responded to the new developments to preserve and strengthen the norm against CW use. It first offers a short historical overview of chemical warfare, followed by a review of resurgent use of toxic agents. It next...
How can SSR assistance lead to effective and sustainable reforms, and ultimately contribute to reduce fragility, conflict and violence? This Brief seeks to answer these questions by analysing the introduction and implementation of the security sector public expenditure review...
This Brief examines how reflecting on past predictions and assessing how accurate – or not – they proved to be helps to improve foresight capacities. It also shows that mistakes in foresight are not necessarily negative, as long as they are examined to evaluate the reasons why...
The third in the EUISS connectivity series, this Brief focuses on China’s Polar Silk Road project, which officially incorporates the Arctic Ocean into Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, and examines what it reveals about China’s broader geopolitical ambitions in the region.
Strategic autonomy. Two familiar words that are yet again in vogue in Europe but which cause confusion and, in some quarters, even alarm. This Brief compares the range of defence initiatives that have been developed by the EU since 2016 against three different conceptual visions...
