ELN publications feature authoritative research, high-quality analysis, diverse viewpoints and practical recommendations to address current foreign, defence, and security policy challenges.
Ahmet Üzümcü, Senior Network member and former Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) during the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, outlines the steps the international community can take to investigate allegations of chemical weapons use by Russia in Ukraine.
Ilana Bet-El, Senior Associate Fellow at the European Leadership Network, is joined by Salome Samadashvili, a prominent member of the opposition of the Georgian parliament, to discuss the protests that have erupted on the streets of Tbilisi since the Georgian parliament voted to designate Western-funded NGOs as foreign agents. Critics of the new law allege it negatively impacts Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU and further bolsters the perception that Georgia’s government is aligning itself with Russia.
As the situation on the battlefield has changed in recent months to the detriment of Ukraine, a “prolonged war” where there is no decisive military victory on either side is the most likely scenario, writes ELN Policy Fellow Katia Glod. Based on a scenario-building workshop with experts from Ukraine, Russia, and wider Europe, she outlines what implications this could have for Europe and how the EU and UK can prepare for it.
Nobumasa Akiyama discusses Japanese perspectives of strategic risks in East Asia, including the North Korean threat and navigating Japan’s relationship with China amid great power rivalry.
Following Iran’s direct attack on Israel on 13th April, Hemidreaza Azizi examines both the official and unofficial discourse in Iran in recent days. He writes that most political experts and analysts in Iran seem to agree that Iran’s goal has been to restore deterrence and not to enter into war. However, concerns about the outbreak of an unintended war and its destructive consequences appear to be more pronounced among experts than among official figures.
Ilana Bet-El, Senior Associate Fellow at the ELN, speaks with Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief of the Forward and former New York Times Bureau Chief in Israel, and Dr Roxane Farmanfarmaian of Cambridge University, Senior Associate Fellow at the ELN, and an expert on Iran and the Middle East. They discuss their own experiences of 7 October, their reactions to the war in Gaza, the implications for the media, geopolitics and the region, and the escalatory nature of the war following Iran’s increased role in the conflict over the past week.
Tanya Ogilvie-White writes that South Korea is becoming increasingly isolated from its Asia-Pacific security partners – Japan, Australia, the US, and the UK – in the way that it views the threat from North Korea. South Korea’s regional security partners’ increased focus on China and lessened attention on North Korea’s nuclear programme, risks isolating South Korea and undermining proliferation norms. Ogilvie-White argues that heightened collaborations are needed to avoid this.
Former ambassadors to NATO, Ahmet Üzümcü and Fatih Ceylan, look ahead at what a potential peace deal in Ukraine could look like. They write that neither mutual accusations nor wishful thinking can be taken as a guide to chart the future of broader European security. Instead, the focus should be on exploring peace by putting together potential elements of an enduring and sustainable deal that would ultimately serve the interests of global security.
Ilana Bet-El, Senior Associate Fellow at the ELN, speaks with Zeynep Atikkan, a renowned Turkish journalist, on the ramifications of the opposition CHP party’s victory against President Erdogan’s AKP in Turkey’s recent local elections. Together, they dissect the state of Turkish politics, covering the economy, the Kurdish issue, the role of women in Turkish society, evolving political dynamics, and more.