Amidst an unprecedented global crisis, a British naval squadron sets out for the Indo-Pacific. Facing a rising Asian power, the force is designed to demonstrate Britain’s commitment to deter aggression and uphold regional order. But British policymakers are unsure whether they will receive support from the world’s most powerful nation, the United States, if the status quo is challenged. A resurgence of American isolationism is fuelling concerns that it cannot be relied on in a crisis. If war erupts in…

Xi Jinping has cleared away the constitutional obstacles to becoming China’s leader-for-life, but does he face strong internal opposition to his ambitions? Has he over-reached domestically and internationally? Is the regime he leads outwardly strong, but inwardly weak?  Are the negative consequences of economic reform without political liberalisation coming home to roost? Are America and its allies awakening to a real China threat? Can they use their economic power to help those Chinese who want a free China to achieve it? Our speakers will…

Over the 8 years that have passed since the appointment of the new head of the Central Bank of Russia, the Russian banking system has undergone many changes, including the role of the Central Bank. Russian economists and activists from Aleksey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation Vladimir Ashurkov and Nikita Kulachenkov have conducted a study that combines and evaluates all the reasons, processes and factors that have influenced the country’s banking system. From the creation of the ‘Megaregulator’ and governmentalisation of the…

What do China’s mask diplomacy, America’s sanctions on Iran, Russia’s election interference, Belarus’s migration policy, struggles over Huawei, Covid-19 and Climate change have in common? Although seemingly separate events, they are all examples of globalisation being turned into a weapon. They are all connectivity conflicts with the potential to create economic hardship and pose costs to human life. In today’s world, many of the forces that were supposed to bring the world together have ended up driving us apart. Trade,…

Since 1945, the West has undergone a cultural shift comparable to the rise of Christianity or the Protestant Reformation. To a casual observer, the British Conservative party holding office for 32 of the last 50 years does not look like an organisation in crisis. At the same time, author and journalist Ed West believes they’ve lost almost every single political argument they’ve engaged in, watching as society drifts further and further to the left. Despite these nominal electoral successes, West…

With Russia, a faded superpower, invading its neighbour, Ukraine, the world is confronting afresh the perils of global bullies.  In the Indo-Pacific China has exploited its economic might in order to coerce its near-neighbours (and those beyond) to acquiesce to its ever-expansionist endeavours. Few countries have faced more of China's coercion than Australia. Following Australia's calls for a WHO investigation into the origins of COVID, China imposed punitive trade tariffs on symbolic Australian exports. Meanwhile, a series of cyber-attacks have…

In the last 10-15 years we have seen an increasingly brazen and widespread Russian campaign of hybrid warfare against the West. The UK has shown extraordinary restraint in the face of incidents such as the Skripal attack, and others have faced online barrages. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is now the time to ensure that the West has a suitable system of domestic defences against the “tripod” of Russian political warfare instruments: disinformation and cyber, financial, and human, whose aim…