RESEARCH
July 06, 2023
TSC Insights: France’s Missed Moments In Mali
Why did France fail in Mali? French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to withdraw his country’s remaining troops from Mali in August 2022 followed a nearly decade-long military mission to combat jihadist insurgents, particularly in the country’s north. France’s failure reflected an inability to define clear and achievable counterterrorism objectives during Operation Barkhane, misaligned public opinion and relations within France and Mali, and indecision among senior policymakers regarding the political status of Sahelian…...
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June 25, 2023
Wagner Group: The Evolution Of A Private Army
In an astonishing turn of events starting 23 June 2023, the Wagner Group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared all-out war on the Russian state, leading a convoy of mercenaries to march straight toward Moscow. The mutiny, which embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin and caught the Russian military and security services completely off guard, developed at lightning speed and ended just as quickly, leading to widespread confusion and chaos. After storming through towns and…...
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May 08, 2023
TSC Insights: Will Elections Set Turkiye on a New Course?
Among foreign policy watchers, Türkiye’s upcoming vote for president and parliament could be the most consequential election of 2023. Türkiye’s current leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been president since 2014 and, before that, served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014. In many ways, he has fundamentally reshaped Türkiye’s foreign policy, elevating Ankara on the world stage and cultivating a neo-Ottoman approach to world affairs. If Erdogan wins, foreign policy is…...
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February 16, 2023
Form Over Function? Reviewing the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy
In 2006, UN Member States did something unusual. Despite being unable to agree on a universal definition of terrorism, and having fought over whether terrorism truly had “root causes” or if that rhetoric was a perceived justification for terrorism, they managed to agree upon an overarching “global counterterrorism strategy” (GCTS). The Strategy is based on four pillars outlining measures to prevent and combat terrorism for states and for the wider UN system,…...
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December 19, 2022
How Far-Right Terrorists Choose Their Enemies
The decision to attack two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2019 was an odd targeting choice. As part of a manifesto released shortly before the violence erupted, the gunman claimed that he “only really took true inspiration from Knight Justiciar Breivik,” the Norwegian white supremacist who killed 77 people – mostly children and youths – in twin attacks targeting the government and the Norwegian Labour Party eight years earlier.…...
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