Regions
GIS reports provide insight into the geopolitical trends that are critical for decision-makers to understand. Typically, these are written by experts based in the region concerned who are able to provide the latest on the ground intelligence. Focusing on politics, defense, energy and economics, they are published daily in English.
Europe
Geographically, Europe is not a continent. However, the area is bonded by common historical and religious heritage. Through a combination of its Roman-law legacy and Christianity, Europe developed a culture of individualism and self-responsibility that allowed the area’s staggering economic and scientific development over the last 300 years. As a result, the European system spread across the globe.
The Western Balkans: Overlooked but not unimportant
The implications of a ceasefire in Ukraine for European security
The race for critical raw material self-sufficiency
Europe’s innovation problem: Failure to develop growth-enhancing breakthroughs
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Russia/Central Asia
This area covers most of the north Eurasian landmass, excluding territories commonly regarded as belonging to Europe. The core of this region is Russia, which has exerted a strong influence for centuries. The Soviet Union’s collapse allowed several new states to emerge. Other parts of this region are the Caspian basin, Central Asia and Mongolia.
Russia clears the path for China in the Arctic
Russia’s digital assets challenge Western sanctions
Trouble brewing in Tajikistan
Sino-Mongolian relations shrouded in resentment
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North America
The three countries that cover almost 90 percent of North America – the United States, Canada and Mexico – are economically very closely intertwined. The U.S. has the dominant position. It is the world’s largest economy and strongest military power. Shielded by oceans to the east and west, it projects influence globally. The continent is so rich in natural resources that it is practically self-sufficient.
U.S. elections and institutional resilience
The bleak future of public debt
The Washington Post and the role of journalism
The American factor in EU reform
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South/Central America
Like North America and Africa, the region is blessed with ample natural resources, water and farmland. It features climatic variety and easy access to the oceans. Its countries have avoided participation in major wars. The region is plagued, however, by inefficient governance and a lack of fiscal discipline, which has led to political instability, corruption and abrupt regime changes.
Implications of an EU-Mercosur trade deal
Venezuela: Maduro’s totalitarian turn
Latin America’s role in Taiwan’s existential struggle
U.S. influence challenged in the Southern Cone
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Middle East/North Africa
The contrast between richly endowed oil-and-gas economies and resource-poor countries is an important marker in the region. Its strategic location between the East and West, along with its energy wealth, make it vulnerable to the clashing policies and interests of local and global powers, including the United States, Europe and Russia. Foreign interventions tend to exacerbate local conflicts.
China’s military and private security inroads in Africa
Africa’s continental free trade ambition
A plan to end the Israel-Hezbollah war
Israel-Gaza war widens rifts in Africa’s Maghreb
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Sub-Saharan Africa
This area stretches from the Cape Verde islands on the Atlantic to the Horn of Africa on the Indian Ocean, and north to south from the Upper Nile and the Sahara Desert to the Cape of Good Hope, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. The continent’s main assets are abundant natural resources and a young population.
Africa’s continental free trade ambition
Mauritania becomes a launchpad for irregular migration to the EU
South Africa faces new dynamics at BRICS summit
Senegal as a strategic player in the Sahel
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East Asia
The leading power here is China, with the world’s biggest population and second-largest economy, which is now striving to establish its hegemony throughout the Pacific Rim. Taiwan, South and North Korea, and Japan are all groping for ways to resist Chinese expansion while maintaining strong economic ties with the region’s colossus.
Russia clears the path for China in the Arctic
The race for critical raw material self-sufficiency
Inside China’s cognitive warfare strategy
China and Russia: Calculated relations
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South Asia
South Asia refers to the Indian subcontinent, which stretches from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean. India, the second-largest country in the world by population, is the dominant state here, with Pakistan in the west, Bangladesh in the east, Nepal and Bhutan in the Himalaya mountains and Sri Lanka to the south. Due to higher fertility rates, India’s population will soon surpass China’s.
India’s evolving role in the Quad
Sri Lanka’s new president looking for parliamentary backing
India eyeing the maritime domain
ASEAN still torn over security challenges
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Southeast Asia/Australia
The region stretches from the Indochinese Peninsula through the Indonesian archipelago all the way to Australia, forming the dividing line between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. This area is very diverse – geographically, culturally and historically. What the region’s countries have in common is their largest trading partner: China. Beijing’s assertive policymaking is the most important strategic issue in the region.
Vietnam’s new leader faces a delicate political balance
Philippine statecraft navigates Chinese aggression and the U.S. alliance
Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal fuels Mekong fears
South China Sea: Chinese encroachment unites neighbors
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Global Matters
The 20th century’s international order, which installed the United States, Europe and Japan in dominant positions, is ending. New powers are emerging to challenge a system arranged within the framework of U.S. and European multilateralism. Transitional processes necessarily breed chaos and uncertainty. This is the global situation to which our economies and political systems must adapt.
The Western Balkans: Overlooked but not unimportant
The implications of a ceasefire in Ukraine for European security
EU enlargement: Illusion or reality?
The global tax juggernaut
View all reports for this region.