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.

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    From cyber to hearts and minds

    This brief examines how Cyber Influence Operations (CIOs) blend the use of cyber force with strategic interference in the Human Domain. It argues that CIOs are akin to 'dirty bombs' in cyberspace, where their initial 'blast' disrupts infrastructures through cyberattacks before...

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    Feeling the pulse: Countering foreign information manipulation and interference in Africa and the Western Balkans

    This Brief examines how foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) represents a challenge to the EU’s global interests and values. Focusing on the Western Balkans and selected African countries – two contexts where the EU’s strategic interests are increasingly at...

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    India's G20 presidency

    As India prepares to host the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi on 9-10 September, this Brief analyses the Indian government’s motivations in seeking to pursue such an active and high-profile presidency, focusing in particular on its various minilateral diplomacy initiatives.

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    Easing, suspending and phasing out

    This Brief examines the idea that compliance can be promoted through sanctions easing or relief. In particular, it shows how the gradual easing of sanctions employed in the field of development cooperation might be usefully transferred to the foreign policy realm.

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    Walking a tightrope

    For Georgia the clock is ticking as in autumn 2023 the EU will decide whether to grant the country candidacy status. This Brief assesses how both domestic and external factors affect Georgia’s EU integration prospects and examines the obstacles on its path, including the impact...

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    Rebuilding trust

    This Brief examines how EU-Iraq relations have evolved since 2003 and how they can be enhanced. The authors argue that the EU needs to revise its perception of Iraq in the light of how the country has changed over the past two decades, and explores ways for the EU to pursue a...

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    New wine in old bottles?

    According to the Renewed EU Great Lakes Strategy released in February, 20 years after it deployed its first CSDP mission to the DRC the African Great Lakes region remains a strategic priority for the EU. This Brief examines the key challenges facing the new strategy, which comes...

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    Pakistan's polycrisis

    Pakistan currently faces a perfect storm of economic, political and security crises. This Brief explores the key drivers of instability that plague Pakistan and their potential repercussions beyond the country’s borders.