ISDP Voices

Donald Trump’s return to the White House coincides with a critical juncture for US-Iran relations, presenting a compelling case for maintaining maximum pressure rather than seeking a new deal. Domestically, the Iranian regime faces mounting public discontent fuelled by spiraling inflation, internal repression, and systemic corruption. Without sanctions relief or meaningful diplomatic engagement, these pressures […]

Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of South Korea (ROK), and his administration are currently dealing with both domestic concerns pertaining to Yoon’s credibility among Koreans as well as international challenges brought on by the re-election of Donald Trump as the president of the United States of America (U.S.) and North Korea’s (DPRK) cooperation with Russia. With 2024 […]

In October 2024, reports emerged from Ukraine and South Korea suggesting that North Korean combat troops had been deployed in significant numbers to the Ukraine-Russian front. As of this writing, the North Korean military, or Korean People’s Army (KPA), has integrated troops into the Russian army. This development is alarming but, in one sense, a […]

In February 2021, the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government following an election that signaled a populace increasingly interested in civilian rule. The military installed the State Administration Council (SAC), expecting a compliant citizenry with trouble confined to the border regions. What it encountered was nation-wide resistance. Today, the SAC control less than 50 […]

Introduction As China ramps up its onslaught of pressure on Taiwan, Taipei has increasingly looked beyond its gargantuan oppressor and toward South Asia. India has emerged as an unlikely partner for Taiwan, which has rattled Beijing. So much so that China has labeled India’s support of Taipei as a violation of its ‘One China’ policy […]

BRICS, a coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, recently conducted its 16th Summit on October 22-23, in Kazan, Russia representing over 45 percent of the global population and 28 percent of the world economy. During the Kazan Summit, a significant possibility for South Asian collaboration emerged as India endorsed Pakistan’s prospective membership. […]

Pakistan hosted the twenty-third meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on October 15-16, 2024 in Islamabad. The meeting was held at a time when Pakistan was going through political instability and security threats. Despite these concerns, Islamabad held the SCO summit and hosted leaders from the SCO member-states–—–China, Russia, India, Belarus, Iran, […]

By 2050, Japan’s current population of 122 million is projected to decline to 100 million, while South Korea’s population is expected to decrease from 51.6 million to 46 million. The demographic shifts in both countries are characterized by declining birth rates, rapidly aging populations, and significant gender imbalances in the workforce. These trends have already […]

In the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, religious tensions boiled over this past September. In response to what Hindus claim was an attack on a local businessman by Muslims in the northern city of Shimla, protesters marched in the streets demanding the demolition of a mosque in the Sanjauli area of the city they […]

In looking at external state behavior, the trajectory of a given country’s domestic socio-economic status is a useful barometer in explaining outward vacillations in foreign policy shifts. A notable example in current memory is that of the U.S. and the 2016 election of Donald Trump. As Isabella Rudberg points out, Trump was not averse to […]