When Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited India as a country offering ‘tremendous support’ to Israel on a global news platform in July 2026, New Delhi was not consulted. Instead, India had found itself publicly compelled into a narrative it had strategically avoided. A state that has simultaneously abstained on United Nations Gaza ceasefire votes,…
The Question That Stayed With Me Several years ago, I attended a dinner party, shrimp cocktail, chicken Kiev, and carrot cake, if memory serves. While chatting with the guests about this and that, I was asked by a particularly distinguished-looking man, “What would you really like to understand?” I found the question intriguing. After giving…
The international order is changing before our eyes. Great-power rivalry is once again dominating global politics. Strategic competition increasingly overshadows cooperation. International law is applied inconsistently, if at all. Trust in multilateral institutions is weakening. The temptation is to conclude that the age of effective multilateralism is drawing to a close. That would be a…
According to a report presented in 2024 by the former head of the European Central Bank and minister-of-all-trades in Italy, Mario Draghi, the EU Member States and the EU institutions need to raise their ambition, invest on a larger scale, implement reforms faster, and increase their coordination regarding cross-border cooperation. In the report, he noted,…
Introduction Wars do not only destroy cities and human lives. They also test the institutions that claim to protect humanity. When political mechanisms appear unable to prevent suffering, people often search for other sources of hope and moral guidance. During the 2026 war between Iran, the United States and Israel, an unusual form of communication…
In 2025–2026, Pakistan’s economic crisis has begun to take on characteristics far deeper than those of a conventional fiscal collapse. Behind the negotiations for new bailout packages from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a silent yet highly consequential institutional struggle is unfolding over the future direction of the country’s economic governance. State-owned enterprises, energy facilities,…
The idea of “compassionate AI” in warfare appears paradoxical at first glance, yet it becomes analytically meaningful when defined with precision. For the purpose of this article, “compassionate AI” refers not to emotional sensitivity or moral intuition, but to the technical capacity of an autonomous weapon to apply the central principles of international humanitarian law…
Earth Day 2026 carried the theme “Our Power, Our Planet.” Yet from a Global South feminist perspective, Earth Day cannot remain a symbolic exercise of tree planting, corporate sustainability campaigns, or institutional self-congratulation. It must become a day of reckoning. The climate crisis is not merely environmental. It is deeply connected to histories of colonial…
Book review by Kerstin Leitner We are currently experiencing a series of gruesome wars, and an increasing number of violent attacks on civilians both in war and in non-war situations. It seems a contagious toxin is spreading, and we don’t know how to contain and eliminate it. Now a book was published with the title…
At a time when criticism of the UN is constantly resurfacing, and a state that claims to rule the world is striving to dismantle it, I believe it is timely to defend the imperative of global governance. The contemporary international order is the result of a long process that took root in the 17th century…