This article reviews Shadi Hamid’s book The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea. It interrogates three key assumptions behind the author’s call for abandoning a “stability first” strategy for a “democracy first” strategy in the Middle East. These include the claim that (1) liberalism and democracy are diverging, (2) Arab dictatorships are brittle, and (3) there is a stark tradeoff between prioritizing Arab-Israeli peace and Arab democracy ..read more

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Frontier AI systems, including large-scale machine learning models and autonomous decision-making technologies, are deployed across critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, and national security. These present new cyber-risks, including adversarial exploitation, data integrity threats, and legal ambiguities in accountability. The absence of a unified regulatory framework has led to inconsistencies in oversight, creating vulnerabilities that can be exploited at scale. By integrating perspectives from cybersecurity, legal studies, and computational risk assessment, this research evaluates r ..read more

Developing capabilities in outer space has become crucial as the space segment becomes an increasingly important pillar of the economy and defence capabilities of states. Despite the growing global competition in and for outer space, in recent decades the EU and the ESA have focused their strategy on the civil aspects of space exploration. However, the crises emerging from Russia’s war on Ukraine has led the Member States to the conclusion that Europe must enhance its autonomous security and defence capabilities, especially in outer space. The main methods used in this study were the historica ..read more

IntroductionThis paper offers a study of branding strategies in the Spanish banking sector, focusing on corporate narratives of a social nature and their relationship with the ideas and trends proposed by Spanish think tanks specialising in the sector. Based on the evolution observed in brand communication strategies following the 2007 economic crisis, we aim to study the redefinition of a new commercial and social narrative for banks through formats and mechanisms that encourage interaction within digital communication ecosystems.MethodologyTo carry this out, we have outlined three phases: In ..read more

Political decision-making is often riddled with uncertainties, largely due to the complexities and fluid nature of contemporary societies, which make it difficult to predict the consequences of political decisions. Despite these challenges, political leaders cannot shy away from decision-making, even when faced with overwhelming uncertainties. Thankfully, there are tools that can help them manage these uncertainties and support their decisions. Among these tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has recently emerged. AI-systems promise to efficiently analyze complex situations, pinpoint critical f ..read more

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ObjectivesThis study analyzes the development of research on the “Global South” through bibliometric analysis with CiteSpace software, drawing on literature from both Chinese scholars using the CNKI database and international scholars from the Web of Science (WOS) database.MethodsThe study employs bibliometric analysis with CiteSpace software and content analysis to compare the research focuses, perspectives, and ideas on the “Global South” between Chinese and international scholars.ResultsThe study finds that both Chinese and international scholars view the “Global South” as a complex and evo ..read more

The proposed judicial reform of 2023 is often framed as a countermovement to the judicial revolution of the 1990s. In this narrative, Chief Justice Aharon Barak, along with other Supreme Court justices, led a top-down transformation that established the court as a dominant institution, driven by the ambition—and perhaps the ego—of those on the judicial bench. If this interpretation were accurate, the 2023 reform could be viewed as a legitimate and necessary step to restore popular sovereignty and counter what might be seen as an overreach of judicial power. We reject this account and argue tha ..read more