May 2018 has proven to be a time of disappointment, as hope that the United States can come to terms with Iran and North Korea first diminished and then disappeared. First, the United States announced that it has decided to unilaterally withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) […]
Introduction Control over the dissemination of knowledge in the form of intellectual property has emerged as a major issue in the current trade dispute between the United States and China. While many analysts may disagree with Trump’s approach on dealing with China, the majority of the experts are likely to […]
March seemed to be the month of trade protectionism coming out of the U.S. At the beginning of the month, the U.S. president Donald Trump announced that he plans to introduce tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium going into the U.S., causing apprehension among U.S.’ allies and neighbours. After […]
1. Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have emerged to become a major social issue over the past decade. While anxiety over AI has been around since at least when Arthur C. Clark wrote the novel Space Odyssey that featured HAL 9000 in the 1960s, it is only recently […]
The overthrow of Robert Mugabe in November 2017 marked another upheaval in the tortured history of democratic transition in Sub-Saharan Africa. The end of Mugabe’s thirty-year regime has been met with tempered optimism by democratic activists. Yet, even as people celebrate Mugabe’s overthrow, others are concerned that his successor, Emmerson […]
Donald Trump’s December tax cut is the first major American tax reform legislation since 1986 and is also Donald Trump’s first major success in passing a legislation that he had championed. The new Jobs and Tax Cuts Act reduced corporate and income taxes with the stated goal of stimulating the […]
The rapid change in how social media has been perceived by the public since the rise of populism in liberal democratic countries in 2016 has been astonishing. Whereas previously, social media was held up as the beacon of liberalism, post-2016 social media is viewed with increased suspicion by its former […]
Climate change is an implication in many violent conflicts, which leads to proliferation of humanitarian crises across the world. It is presumable that this trend will exacerbate in the future, as climate change is likely to worsen as greater demands are placed on the environment as a result of industrialisation […]
North Korea’s refusal to denuclearize continues to dominate news headlines around the world. The United Nations Security Council passed a new round of sanctions September 12th that aims to limit North Korea’s fuel imports and textile exports, and restrict the country’s ability to send workers abroad. The sanctions passed unanimously through […]
The heated exchange of rhetoric between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un has led to widespread fears of an impending war on the Korean Peninsula. In response to North Korea’s unapologetic continuation of its nuclear program, despite international condemnation, Trump has once again taken to Twitter to threaten North Korea with […]
The brief lull in the South China Sea dispute that had held since late 2016 may be over. Beginning in May 2017, events suggest that the brief peace in the region is due to the U.S. policy confusion in the Trump Administration, rather than due to mutual understanding and the […]
Introduction May has not been a peaceful month in the Korean Peninsula. The combination of political, economic, and diplomatic crises for the Republic of Korea (ROK) has not only rocked the foundations of the South Korean political establishment but also marks a major milestone in the nation’s history. Under the […]
The South China Sea maritime dispute continues to present nasty surprises despite the lowering of tensions since 2016. The recent Chinese push for its Belt and Road Initiative and the ongoing draft of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea has rekindled some of the old tensions and […]
The Belt and Road Forum was launched on May 14th in Beijing amidst much fanfare by the Chinese government. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which formally translates to One Belt, One Road, is a planned infrastructure corridor that would link China to Europe through massive investments in communication and […]
There has been a lack of strong language regarding the South China Sea dispute during the 30th ASEAN Summit chaired by the Philippines. This development has not come as a surprise to many, as one of the first actions of the Filipino president Roderigo Duterte’s actions after he came into […]
The Problem The territorial disputes over the maritime features in the South China Sea have been ongoing for more than 60 years and show no sign of being resolved. Instead, recent events seem to indicate that they are increasingly spiralling out of control. The littoral states in the region, principally […]
The American missile strike and the resulting diplomatic spat with Russia and its allies signal, at least for now, the end to Donald Trump’s agenda to improve relations with the Russian Federation. Having come to power praising Putin and Assad, as well as promising isolationism, but at the same time […]
The scheduled meeting between the American President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be the first face-to-face meeting between Xi and Trump. The meeting will run from April 4th to April 6th at Trump’s private mansion at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where Trump also hosted his meeting with the […]
The 12th National People’s Congress of China brought about some important announcements regarding China’s foreign policy directions. Given the recent troubles in the region, China aimed to send out a positive message to its neighbours. Much of the messages and the principles behind them are not completely new, but were […]
Despite the discussions of rule-based systems in governing maritime security, recent events seem to point to the erosion of influence of international law and supranational organizations. Instead, a resurgence of states in international affairs appears to be more than likely as global integration recedes and nationalists reassert themselves in national […]
