Initially limited to the financial domain, the term BRICS is gradually becoming established in global economic governance.
China
Since November 27, 2022, protest movements have punctuated China, from Beijing to Canton, from Shanghai to Urumqi. An unprecedented phenomenon for three decades, the demonstrators are protesting against the strict “zero-Covid” policy implemented by the authorities and which has imposed successive confinements for three years. The potential for challenging the absolute authority of the Party and the Chinese social contract is significant.
Ifri closely follows the developments of this movement.
The UN climate conference in Dubai faces a moment of troubled geopolitical agenda lowering the focus on the climate emergency, but natural ecosystems will not wait for human decisions. A challenging test for the survival of diplomacy.
2024 could be a pivotal year for space exploration. New launchers are set to make their first flight, satellite constellations and other trends promise to redefine the way space is explored and exploited.
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community.
The technical and operational capabilities of naval nuclear propulsion - discretion, power, autonomy and manoeuvrability - make this technology a strategic asset for nuclear deterrence.
Export restrictions, economic and financial sanctions, politicization of monetary and financial choices, screening of inward and outward foreign direct investments, exceptional customs duties, and state interventions in sectors deemed strategic: the political vise is tightening around...
A new Cold War-style race to the moon seems to be in the making. The People’s Republic of China and the United States are both investing in moon exploration with manned lunar scientific stations as the ultimate goal.
While matters related to research security and international partnerships in critical domains are certainly not new, they have become increasingly central to governments, research institutions and industry since the turn of the 2020s.
As one of the most successful trading blocs, the European Union (EU) sees itself confronted with the erosion of the global rules-based trading system and trade becoming increasingly weaponized.
In a previous note published in 2018, we noted that global coal demand had flattened. Several governments had announced coal phase-out plans, global coal power investment had contracted, and investment in greenfield coal mines was also at a standstill. The freezing of financial resources...