Recent articles
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The External Political Impacts of Rescheduling Iraq’s Debts Post-2003
(Volume 20, Issue 2)Abstract After 2003, Iraq underwent a profound political and economic transformation, accompanied by various challenges, including the burden of accumulated external debt. The post-regime government restructured Iraq’s debt within the framework of the ‘Paris Club’ and through bilateral negotiations with creditor countries. The debt rescheduling aimed to alleviate the financial burden and reintegrate Iraq into the global financial system, but this process was conditional upon implementing...
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Signalling and Balancing in the Conflict in Ukraine from 2014 to 2016: Ukrainian Actors, Russia and the European Union
(Ahead of Print)Abstract This paper analyses the conflictual and cooperative signals of two domestic actors – the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian separatists – and two international actors – the European Union and the Russian Federation – during the first three years of the conflict in Ukraine. Previous studies largely treated the actions of domestic actors as a dependent variable and the actions of international actors as an independent variable. Our results demonstrate that the European Union and the...
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Understanding Terrorism: A New Perspective through Group Cohesion
(Volume 20, Issue 2)Abstract Terrorism is a paradoxical phenomenon: Despite its status as a critical global security threat, its strategic effectiveness often proves counterproductive, failing to achieve its core agendas. Therefore, why does terrorism persist as a global threat despite its frequent failure to achieve political or ideological goals? This article argues that the answer lies not in simple political or strategic models, but in the complex, reciprocal relationship between individual psychology and...
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From Soft Power to Sharp Power: Weaponising Western Academic Knowledge in Russian Political Discourse
(Volume 20, Issue 2)Abstract This paper examines how Russia appropriates Western academic knowledge as a tool of influence in its communication with Western audiences. It pursues three main objectives. First, it argues that the concept of soft power has been widely misunderstood due to its intangible, non-kinetic nature, often being mischaracterized as disinformation and manipulative practices associated with Russian influence. Second, the paper offers a refined interpretation of sharp power. While sharp power...
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From Civilian Power to Emerging Security Provider? The European Union’s Evolving Role in Southeast Asia
(Ahead of Print)Abstract Over the past decade, the European Union has articulated increasingly explicit ambitions to act as a security provider in the Indo-Pacific. Southeast Asia constitutes a particularly revealing arena in which to assess this evolution, as the region sits at the geopolitical core of the Indo-Pacific while remaining anchored in ASEAN-centred security practices, non-alignment and sensitivity to external power projection. This article examines whether the EU’s expanding security engagement...
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Individual Threat Perception and Limits of Household Preparedness in Helsinki, Riga and German Cities
(Ahead of Print)Abstract European security policy increasingly relies on comprehensive defence and responsibilisation, expecting households to follow contingency protocols and sustain themselves for at least 72 hours. Using 2025 urban survey data from Helsinki (Finland), Riga (Latvia) and the German cities of Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, this article shows that urban populations are underprepared. Further, we examine whether threat salience, identifying a hazard as a personal concern, translates into...
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Remembering the Algerian War in France: The Role of Interest Groups in Framing Ontological (In)Security
(Volume 20, Issue 2)Abstract The Algerian War occupies a particularly contentious and emotionally charged place in France’s national memory – serving as the source of a veritable war of memories that is regularly fought on various political and scholarly battlegrounds. Previous research has shown that the tension between republican universalism and the colonial crimes committed during imperial conquest has produced a colonial legacy that sits uncomfortably at the heart of French identity. Contributing to this...
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The Politics of Water Security in the Nile Basin: From Hydrohegemony to Community of Hydrosecurity?
(Ahead of Print)Abstract The politics of Transboundary Water Security (TWS) reflect a complex interplay of power, discourse and competing national interests. Focusing on the Nile Basin and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), this paper examines how water security has become a contested political and security concept between upstream and downstream riparian states. Drawing on primary data generated through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with senior Ethiopian officials, GERD negotiators and...