ISDP Voices

Niklas Swanström comments on whether Washington and Seoul’s decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system is determining China’s “reengagement” with North Korea after a period of frosty relations. After a period of relatively frosty ties following China’s condemnation of North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, Beijing appears to want to patch up relations. The month […]

Barriers of poverty and a revival of conservative social norms in Tajikistan mean that girls are increasingly losing out in access to education, explain Zarinam Turdieva and Maria Hellborg. The quality of education in Tajikistan has been in decline since independence and the country’s ensuing civil war (1992-1997), which saw an estimated one-fifth of schools […]

Lars Vargö puts into context Japan’s succession issue after Emperor Akihito’s “abdication speech” last week. On August 9, in only his second ever televised address, the Japanese Emperor Akihito expressed his wish to abdicate. He did so in a very Japanese way: while not explicitly stating such, his mentioning of old age – he is […]

A recent murder in Belfast highlights the continuing reach of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Alec Forss discusses attempts to break the cycle of violence. On April 15, Michael McGibbon had a reluctant appointment to keep. Scheduled for 10pm in a North Belfast alleyway, he arrived to receive his punishment: three bullets fired into his […]