From June 6 to July 25, 2026, India witnessed the world’s largest Gen-Z protest movement. Led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and student organizations, it mobilized tens of thousands of people of different class, caste and religious backgrounds onto the streets of the country. Independent journalists and media collectives, women and Gen-Z meme culture quickly became the face of the protest. The peaceful movement, calling for accountability from the national government after leaked exam…

Colombia is at the cusp of a major political shift in governance. Right-wing leader Abelardo de la Espriella will take over as President of Colombia on August 7. Promising to adopt a hardline approach, De La Espriella has said he will rule with an iron fist, end all peace negotiations, and dismantle key provisions of the 2016 peace agreement with FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo). While some of his promises may never see the light of day, concerted…

During the military conflict in 2026 centered in the Persian Gulf region, the constellation of attacks impacting civilian infrastructure has represented a concerning feature of hostilities. In consonance with humanitarian considerations, this dimension draws attention to the role and importance of international humanitarian law in protecting civilian infrastructure during conflict.

Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide on 28 June 2026 was framed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar as an act of moral and historic justice, decades overdue. Yet this framing conceals what the timing reveals. The recognition comes amid a recent increase in the number of Israeli politicians and members of the national security community framing Turkey as the “new Iran”, although others contest this characterization. Formal recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide also serves as…

The United States brokered a strategic partnership deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in December 2025, co-signing a DRC–Rwanda peace agreement on the same day. Whether a mediator with a strategic interest can also be neutral is a question the Washington Peace Accords have yet to answer. Critical minerals are no longer a backdrop to negotiations in eastern DRC but they are increasingly the point of concern. Yet understanding their role requires looking beyond the well-worn…

Following the G7 meeting in France in June, US President Donald Trump claimed that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “begged” to take a picture with him during the summit.1 Such a public rebuke is only one of a string of episodes evidencing a serious rift between the two leaders. The outcome is surprising given that the political and personal relationship between Meloni and Trump has, until recently, appeared to be rather idyllic.2 Placing the issue within the broader context of Italy’s…

With the upcoming transfer of power from leftist president Gustavo Petro to his newly elected radical-right successor Abelardo de la Espriella, Colombia faces a decisive shift in its approach to peace and violence. The implications extend not only to the still-unfinished implementation of the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC-EP guerrilla, but also to the state’s response to the fragmented landscape of persisting armed groups, the violence they inflict on civilians, and the illicit economies…

The Antarctic Treaty System has been a success story for international multilateralism, science diplomacy, and environmental protection for decades. However, for some time the system seems incapable of living up to its own commitments, seen in the ongoing failure to grant the quintessential Antarctic icon, the emperor penguin, special protection as an endangered species. Patrick Flamm attended the Treaty’s most recent diplomatic gathering in Hiroshima as an advisor to the German delegation. In…

Global child rights and child labour regulation aim to protect children from exploitation and abuse and to empower them to claim their rights. Yet organisations designed to help children, especially working children, often treat them as the passive beneficiaries of protective interventions that may alleviate hardship in the short-term but reinforce disempowerment in the long-term. Evidence from organised working children’s movements in the Global South challenges this assumption. These…

Why do some extremists deradicalise when confronted with counter-narratives or positive intergroup contact, while others entrench even deeper into their beliefs? While the external factors that pull people away from radical milieus are well documented, the internal psychological defences used to resist doubt are frequently overlooked. Drawing on interviews with former extremists, this Spotlight describes the unconscious defence strategies that allow radicalised individuals to reduce cognitive…