Death of a Dynasty: Change vs. continuity in Cuba

For the first time in almost six decades, Cuba is headed by a man whose last name isn’t Castro: former vice-president Miguel Díaz-Canel succeeded 86-year-old Raúl Castro on Thursday as

Read More

Marketing for States – the Power of Nation Branding

The common war strategy of demoralizing the enemy by providing them with one’s own ideology over radio airwaves had found its way into the Cold War tactics. Western German radio

Read More

Power of the Passport and Controversies of Investment Immigration

This article was inspired by an open lecture on the 13th of February given by a RUG professor from the faculty of law, Dimitry Kochenov. In this lecture, which carried

Read More

A Link between Worlds: The History and Future of the Silk Road

When taking a look at the countries that once constituted the Soviet Union, one notices either violent internal unrest and bloody civil wars, or ongoing stagnation and economic crisis. Even

Read More

It’s the Economy, Stupid: Rising Food Prices Provide Impetus for Protests in Iran  

In the last days of 2017, Iran experienced the largest protests in the country since the protests that followed the disputed Iranian presidential elections in 2009. After incumbent President Mahmoud

Read More

An Economic War: Sino-Japanese rivalry in Southeast Asia

While the international community has been focusing on the possibility of an armed conflict on the Korean peninsula, a war – even though not mentioned in the headlines – is

Read More

Bitcoin mining: Undermining state legitimacy?

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets meant to work as mediums of exchange. They do not rely on central regulation but cryptography which, in the absence of banking control, secures transactions, verifies

Read More

Covert Partisan Electoral Intervention 101: How to interfere in a democratic election process

Does your next-door-neighbor-democracy have elections coming up, but you are not convinced that they will make a choice that best benefits your country? Don’t worry! Interference in democratic election processes

Read More

Natural Heritage as a Diplomatic Tool?

With its rise as the second most promising economic power over the last decade, China, by far regarded as the leading actor in using economic models in diplomacy. Whereas in

Read More

The Fall of Venezuela

Although Venezuela has been characterized by political turmoil in much of recent history, many claim it is currently experiencing its lowest point in the century. The land gifted with the

Read More