Members of the ELN reflect on what European responses to President Trump’s remarks on Greenland tell us about NATO cohesion and Europe’s capacity to act on its own security.
As State Parties prepare for the 2026 Review Conference, Bailey Schiff and Diya Ashtakala write that engaging with emerging technologies, which are already transforming military programmes, as well as verification and civilian nuclear programmes, offers a way to break entrenched debates. Revisiting longstanding challenges regarding non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear technology through the framework of emerging technologies may be one of the few practical paths to relieve pressure on the NPT by opening space for innovation and debate across the three pillars.
On Saturday, 10 January, Finland’s withdrawal from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention or ‘Ottawa Treaty’, will come into effect. This follows the earlier withdrawals of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Gary Toombs writes that while landmines may seem appealing as cheap, simple tools of defence, in reality, they are militarily outdated, strategically counterproductive, and devastating in humanitarian, economic, and environmental terms. States on the path to leaving the treaty should reconsider, as withdrawal would not strengthen their security but would undermine international law, erode alliances, and cause generational harm.
At the start of the new year, members of the European Leadership Network’s senior and younger-generation leaders’ networks offer their perspectives on their defining issue or policy trend to watch in 2026.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has made drone warfare a defining feature of modern conflict. Yet NATO and EU states continue to rely on interceptor systems that cost orders of magnitude more than the drones they are meant to destroy. Drawing on lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield experience, Gabriella Calder argues that European allies must urgently scale up affordable, interoperable counter-drone technologies, or risk exhausting their arsenals before deterrence can take hold.
Conflict is rising, institutions are strained, and fragmented interventions yield fragile gains. Robert J. Berg and Chair of the ELN, Lord Des Browne, propose a nationally led, evidence-based peacebuilding paradigm that scales beyond pilots and designs interventions to achieve lasting impact. Core elements include citizen-driven diagnostics, alignment with key public policies, police and military reform where necessary, investment in education and media, and the responsible use of technology. To catalyse this shift, they propose an International Fund for Peace.
Gender perspectives are integral to credible, effective, and inclusive disarmament and arms control. This policy brief by ELN Policy Fellow Jana Baldus examines the gender backlash in multilateral disarmament and arms control, and its implications. It suggests two approaches to preserve progress on gender equality and intersectional gender perspectives and calls on states, international organisations, and civil society to act collectively to defend and further advance gender perspectives.
President Trump’s recent statement about the US resumption of nuclear testing has heightened concerns over a renewed arms race and the erosion of the global norm against nuclear testing enshrined in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). This new policy brief from the ELN’s Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty project argues that the CTBT reinforces the NPT by bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation norm and constraining the development of new nuclear warhead types: sustaining it is a strategic imperative. States Parties to the NPT must work together to strengthen the CTBT’s credibility and relevance to international security and prioritise collective multilateral action over short-term security gains.
Any monitoring mission deployed to observe an end to the hostilities in Ukraine is likely to incorporate a range of remote-sensing technologies to support its verification activities. Drawing on insights from the Norwegian research institute NORSAR’s real-time monitoring of the 2022 Ukraine conflict, this policy brief by Ben D.E. Dando, Kjølv Egeland, and Sebastian Schutte, finds that scientific advances and a growing availability of relevant data have made ‘seismo-acoustic’ analysis a cost-effective means of complementing, backing up, and in some cases replacing other ceasefire monitoring technologies.
2026 started with President Trump’s astonishing show of force in Venezuela, culminating in the seizure of President Maduro to face drug charges in the US. Whilst Venezuela’s future may be unclear, one thing that is now more than apparent is President Trump’s willingness to use might and ignore norms and laws to advance what he views as America’s foreign policy interests. To understand this better, Rachel Ellehuus, Director General of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), joins ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El.
There is a common tendency to view and discuss Africa in terms of the problems affecting the continent. More recently, the West has also started to look anxiously on as China and Russia build influence with African leaders. However, Africa is a continent as vast as it is diverse, with the economic potential to match. To understand both the issues affecting Africa and its future potential, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Amaka Anku, Head of Africa Practice at the Eurasia Group.
Last week, President Trump announced his 28-point plan for peace to end Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. His proposal has attracted much controversy, with opponents alleging that it prioritises Russia’s demands first, American financial interests second, and Ukraine’s sovereignty and security third. To break down what Trump’s plan would mean for Ukraine and the world, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Dr Hanna Shelest, Director of Security Programmes at the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”, and Iryna Krasnoshtan, Programme Director at the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory.
Former and serving senior officials, military leaders, and experts from across the Euro-Atlantic region put forward three urgent steps for nuclear-armed states to take to build on the essential principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.
Former and serving senior officials, military leaders, and experts from across the Euro-Atlantic region put forward seven principles for Euro-Atlantic Security and the Global Nuclear Order.
Over 250 influential figures from 50 countries, including China, Russia, and the US, warn that nuclear arms control cannot fall victim to geopolitical competition
