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.
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.
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.
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.
Following recent signals between the US and Russia over the possibility of renewed nuclear testing, we asked members to reflect on what this could mean for the broader global non-proliferation and arms control regime.
The ELN’s first impact report details the organisation’s accomplishments in reducing the risk of existential conflict and the power of our unique network, even at moments of deep geopolitical tension.