The European Union has for years been pursuing greater cooperation in the field of defence in order to maintain its security and its position in the world.  Yet, the idea of a European army is a particularly contentious one with strong advocates for and against. Ultimately, a distinct European army is still not a reality due to the lack of a common strategic culture and the political will …

China has once more risen its degree of control over Hong Kong confirming that it does not intend to lower its grip on the autonomous regions thereby cutting the hopes that the latter will ever become an independent fully-fledged democratic state. This week nine pro-democracy activists who took part in last year’s banned Commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre …

The Persian Gulf Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman share similarities in terms of economic development patterns, state governing models and social lifestyles (Martin, 1984). One of the main common characteristics of these countries are the oil-driven economies, autocratic monarchical rule and religion based politics (Barnes and Jaffe, 2006). Strategically, Abu …

  One of the original achievements of European integration was to create a Union of states characterized by the absence of conflicts both between the member states and with third-party states, which have shaped European history for many decades. Ever since its rise the Ottoman Empire has been one of these third-party actors. This makes it clear that the only …

Following a 30-year period of “non-aligned” foreign policy after its independence, Ukraine’s commitment to a transatlantic orientation in its strategic culture, including the pursuit of NATO membership, was dramatically reinforced as a result of the 2014 crisis (Glebov, 2017). According to the vast majority of foreign policy experts, joining NATO would help Ukraine achieve three major foreign and security policy …

  Jacques Delors once defined the first-ever project of long-lasting peace and cooperation between a union of sovereign states, i.e., the European Communities and subsequently the European Union (EU) as an “identified political object” characterized by uncertainty and inexplicability (Zielonka, 2006, p.4). Just like many of those cooperative projects aiming at developing integration and closeness between member states (hereafter MSs) …

August 23, 2021 marked the day of launching the International Crimean Platform which has been initiated by the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky  as an international response and moreover, foreign policy instrument against the occupation of Crimea by Russia. The summit was solely dedicated to the illegal annexation of Crimea and to bringing the issue back in the agenda of the …

Morocco and Algeria have been rivals for decades since the end of the Spanish and French protectorates in Morocco (1956) and the independence of Algeria between 1954-1962. The first, Morocco, a parliamentary monarchy that has resolved its fit with rising Islam through the political-religious figure of King Hasan. The second, Algeria, a republic of socialist origin that has been veering …

The 54-year Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, namely, Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a sign of the international community’s lack of accountability in front of grave and repeated breaches of international law, including serious human rights violations.  Since the occupation began in 1967, Israel has gradually developed a dual legal regime that favors Israelis and their …

The peace process in Tibet ceased to be an internal affair of China from the moment when the Dalai Lama, the highest Tibetan authority, had to go into exile in 1959. Since 1959, China and Tibet have competed internationally to legitimize their own interpretation of history. The Chinese Government argues that Tibet lived under the extreme abuse of a feudal …