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The report examines the landscape of transitional justice in Cyprus, focusing on the tension between hegemonic national narratives and the need for a bicommunal reckoning with the past. It analyzes the role of the Committee on Missing Persons (cMp), the lack of domestic criminal prosecutions, and the emergence of civil society-led documentation and memorialisation projects. The authors argue that while political leaders fear that truth-seeking may destabilise peace negotiations, there is significant public support for such processes. The document recommends that political leadership and civil society collaborate on strategies to address the legacy of violence, regardless of the outcome of peace settlements.

The report examines the impact of natural gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean on the geopolitics of Cyprus. It details the conflicting maritime claims between the Republic of Cyprus (RoC), Turkey, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), while analyzing the economic viability of various export options including LNG and pipelines. The authors conclude that the most likely future is a continuation of the status quo, where the RoC's ability to exploit gas remains heavily dependent on Israeli export decisions and the absence of a political settlement with Turkey.

The report argues that current indicators for SDG 16 do not fully capture the goal's ambition and recommends integrating survey-based perception data alongside administrative data. For target 16.1 (violence), it suggests adding conflict-related deaths and a safety indicator. For 16.3 (justice), it proposes a broader dispute resolution indicator. For 16.7 (inclusion), it recommends measuring perceived inclusivity of decision-making and electoral turnout. For 16.10 (freedoms), it suggests indicators for the freedom to express political opinion and the implementation of access to information guarantees.

The study analyzes 142 self-determination movements across 77 countries to determine the preventive effects of UNSC actions. It finds that direct diplomatic engagement significantly reduces the probability of armed conflict onset. Additionally, while direct force and sanctions show limited or positive correlations with conflict, indirect authorizations of force and sanctions—those applied in a broader regional or state-wide context—act as powerful deterrents, reducing the likelihood of civil war for related self-determination groups.

The paper examines the two functions of the doctrine of double effect (DDE): the permissive, which exculpates agents from negative consequences, and the restrictive, which assigns responsibility for foreseeable damages. The author contends that the common view of Thomas Aquinas as an advocate for the permissive version stems from a misreading of Summa theologiae (ST) II-II, q. 64, a. 7 (DH.7). By analyzing DH.7, the author suggests it is not about DDE but about distinguishing between instrumental harm for self-preservation and harm as a primary goal (such as punishment). The author further argues that other passages in the ST support a restrictive DDE, specifically through the concept of "closeness," where a side effect is evaluated as intended if its connection to the action is sufficiently close. This restrictive view implies that definite foresight of a negative consequence may disqualify the moral soundness of an action, contrasting with modern permissive interpretations.

The document examines the shift in Russian foreign policy under President Dmitry Medvedev, analyzing the tension between his proposed 'modernization' and the 'hard power' approach demonstrated during the 2008 conflict in Georgia. It explores Russia's strategic interests in the 'near abroad' (CIS), its pursuit of a multipolar world order to counter US unilateralism, and its complex relationships with the EU, China, and the US. Key themes include the use of energy as a political tool, the militarization of the Arctic, and the role of international law and institutions like the OSCE and Council of Europe.

The document argues that rebel groups provide a unique 'laboratory' for understanding governance because they operate outside the Westphalian state system. It examines how rebels implement rule-making, enforcement, and service provision, and how these activities relate to their legitimacy and capacity. The authors propose a multi-dimensional framework for rebel capacity—military, economic, personnel, administrative, and social—and argue that territorial control is not always a prerequisite for governance. By comparing rebel and state behaviors, the paper suggests that governance is often multi-layered and that the relationship between territorial control and legitimacy is complex and non-linear.

The authors argue that Proportional Representation (PR) is often adopted not due to electoral competition, but as a response to systemic threats of revolution. Using Norway's 1919 reform as a case study, they demonstrate that incumbents viewed PR as a de-radicalization tool to strengthen parliamentary legitimacy and isolate revolutionary radicals. Quantitative analysis of roll-call votes shows that MPs facing local industrial conflicts and soldiers' councils were significantly more likely to support PR, regardless of the actual electoral strength of socialist parties in their districts.

The paper finds that while low Human Development Index (HDI) levels predict aid for excluded group-majority provinces, overall aid distribution is significantly biased in favour of the politically dominant Christian lowlanders. Previous exposure to armed conflict increases the likelihood of new projects only in Christian-majority provinces, and previous disaster exposure is a weak, sometimes negative, predictor of aid across all provinces.

The research analyzes the geographical evolution of African civil wars using the UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (GED). It argues that rebel groups with strong ethnic ties or significant military strength tend to maintain stable, localized conflict zones, whereas groups lacking these attributes—or those receiving external military support—are more likely to be 'roving.' The study finds that the greatest mobility occurs when rebels have neither strong local ties nor the strength to compete conventionally with government forces.

The study finds that rural-urban migration itself does not cause urban violence. Instead, lethal urban political violence is associated with the socioeconomic marginalization of rural-urban migrants—specifically relative deprivation in terms of household assets and access to public services—as well as unequal access to education within the city population.

The text outlines the methodological evolution of human geography, moving from early regional descriptive studies to the quantitative revolution of the 1960s and 70s, and subsequently to humanist, Marxist, and postmodernist traditions. It details qualitative tools such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and discourse analysis, while explaining quantitative techniques including descriptive statistics, regression models, and the challenge of geographic dependency. Additionally, it describes GIS as a tool for spatial analysis, distinguishing between vector and raster data and addressing the 'spatial scale' problem.

The authors examine the rise of Security Force Assistance (SFA)—the training and equipping of foreign armed forces—as a preferred alternative to large-scale combat deployments and expensive security sector reform. They argue that in fragile states, SFA often fails because providers misread local political dynamics, where ruling elites may manipulate security fragmentation for their own survival. The paper critiques the standard principal-agent theory of SFA, suggesting it lacks the nuance to account for the heterogeneity of programs and the lack of cohesiveness among multiple providers and recipients. Through various case studies, the authors highlight unintended consequences, such as the creation of elite units that serve as instruments for regime protection rather than national security.

The study introduces the SEAP dataset, covering missions by the UN, NATO, ECOWAS, and the African Union from 1999 to 2010. Through multivariate logit regression, the authors identify that larger mission sizes and a history of extensive sexual violence in the host country's preceding conflict are the most robust predictors of reported SEA. Other significant factors include lower economic development in host countries and a general increase in reporting after 2005, likely due to heightened international focus following the 2005 Zeid report.

The MAPS project evaluates citizen trust and satisfaction with the Colombian peace process and state presence in PDET zones. Preliminary findings indicate that while some satisfaction exists, interpersonal and institutional trust remains low, and security perceptions vary, with two-thirds of respondents fearing a return of conflict to their communities.

The document analyzes Israel's systematic effort to delegitimize and dismantle UNRWA through a 'shadow war' involving physical attacks, legal prohibitions, and an information campaign. It argues that Israel uses accusations of terrorism and antisemitism—specifically targeting school textbooks—as a proxy to undermine the agency's existence and, by extension, the Palestinian right of return. The authors detail the severe humanitarian impact of these actions in Gaza and the West Bank, noting that the culmination of this process was the passage of laws in October 2024 to ban UNRWA's operations in Israel and the occupied territories.

The document argues that the Palestinian self-rule scheme launched by Menachem Begin in December 1977 was a strategic mechanism of 'preventive diplomacy' designed to facilitate the Egyptian-Israeli peace process without conceding any sovereignty or territory to Palestinians. While President Jimmy Carter initially sought a comprehensive peace including Palestinian representation and Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, he eventually accepted self-rule as a temporary starting point. The author contends that Begin never intended to implement the scheme, using it instead to sideline the PLO and maintain Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza. The process culminated in the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, after which Begin further watered down the autonomy plan and eventually torpedoed the negotiations entirely with the July 1980 Jerusalem Basic Law, which declared Jerusalem the indivisible capital of Israel.

The study finds that regions in Sub-Saharan Africa with high levels of both vertical and horizontal socioeconomic inequality are significantly more prone to violent communal conflicts. Specifically, the marginalization of the largest ethnic group in a region is a key driver of violence. The authors argue that the exclusionary nature of the African state and elite incentives to mobilize communal identities transform economic grievances into violent clashes over resources and political power.

The author replicates and extends the civil war model of Collier & Hoeffler (2002), finding that while natural resources correlate with conflict, the drivers differ by region. In the Middle East, the 'greed' explanation—where rebels fight to seize resources—is less plausible than a 'rentier-state' model, where oil-funded authoritarianism, corruption, and slow growth generate grievances. The study also finds that democracy is significantly and negatively related to civil conflict, a finding absent in the original Collier & Hoeffler analysis.

The document argues that the India-Pakistan conflict is the core security dynamic of the South Asia Regional Security Complex (RSC), with Afghanistan serving as an 'insulator' or buffer zone. While India possesses greater aggregate power, the rivalry remains durable due to 'truncated power asymmetry'—where local parity in nuclear capabilities and territorial disputes in Kashmir offsets India's global superiority. The author contends that both nations project their internal insecurities and mutual mistrust onto Afghanistan, using it as a zone for proxy competition rather than a core security priority. Pakistan's engagement is driven by a need for 'strategic depth' and fears of Pashtun nationalism, while India uses economic aid to project regional leadership and counter Pakistani influence. The paper concludes that stabilization in Afghanistan is unlikely as long as the core insecurities within the South Asia RSC remain unresolved.