China’s security policy has become a central theme in contemporary debates on International Relations and regional order in East Asia. Despite the extensive literature on China’s foreign policy, a significant research gap remains in explaining its security behavior through the lens of offensive realism. This study analyzes China’s evolving security policy in East Asia from 2013 to 2025, drawing on the theoretical foundations of offensive realism. Using a descriptive–analytical approach and relying on documentary sources, the research examines key components of China’s strategic transformation — including the Comprehensive National Security Doctrine (2014), the reform and modernization of the People’s Liberation Army, the centralization of political authority under Xi Jinping, and the growing link between security and geo-economics through the Belt and Road Initiative. The findings indicate that China has shifted from a defensive posture to a proactive, power-oriented strategy, seeking regional hegemony and redefining East Asia’s security order in its own favor. Moreover, China’s growing power has intensified regional security dilemmas and strategic competition with neighboring states and the United States. The study concludes that China’s contemporary security strategy represents a structural transition from defensive deterrence to offensive structural deterrence, signaling a long-term move toward a competitive and fragmented regional order in East Asia.

ABSTRACT Both Sri Lanka and Israel entered the Westphalian epoch in 1948, but the relationship between the two states remained fragile from the beginning. The father of the nation and the first premier of Ceylon, D. S. Senanayake, was among the first world leaders to recognise the independent State of Israel, but the subsequent political upheavals that took place in Sri Lanka weakened the budding stage of Israeli–Sri Lanka relations. In particular, Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s relations with the Arab world and promoting the non-aligned movement deteriorated Israeli–Sri Lankan relations. Anti-colonial and anti-capitalist slogans were gleefully welcomed in the non-aligned platform with a special emphasis on the national liberation movements in which the Palestinian cause was highlighted. This paper examines the many ups and downs that shaped Sri Lanka–Israel relations while assessing how Sri Lanka’s internal politics and security dilemmas hampered Israel–Sri Lanka relations. This paper also evaluates the security partnership between the two states.

ABSTRACT Drawing on over a decade of research into the proliferation of border walls worldwide, this paper addresses the dynamics of global wallification as borders become once again rearticulated. The analysis engages with the methodological and conceptual challenges inherent in researching border wall research and investigates diffusion theory as a lens to understand both the dissolution of the “wall taboo” and the persistence of a self-fulfilling prophecy: border walls generate both localized and globalized forms of entropy, entrenching borders and borderlands in a perpetual security dilemma.

ABSTRACT This article examines Türkiye’s bilateral relations with Israel and Syria through an integrated neorealist and game-theoretic framework, offering a comparative analysis of divergent outcomes under shared systemic constraints. Neorealism highlights anarchy-driven security dilemmas and great-power penetration in the multipolar Middle East, while game theory models micro-strategic interactions via the repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma (iterated cooperation/defection cycles in Türkiye–Israel relations) and the Stag Hunt (trust-dependent coordination collapse in Türkiye–Syria ties). Period-specific ordinal payoff matrices illustrate how structural pressures and domestic political shifts revalue incentives, yielding resilient but cyclical equilibria with Israel and fragile, irreversible breakdowns with Syria – from 2000s rapprochement to post-Arab Spring conflict and the 2025 Suwayda crisis. Engaging structural-realist and identity-centric literatures, the study advances a structural-strategic synthesis: anarchy endogenously shapes payoff structures, with ideological mediation explaining variation. This contributes testable heuristics for understanding cooperation fragility in penetrated regional subsystems.

ABSTRACT This article examines the evolving dynamics of minilateralism and trilateral cooperation in Northeast Asia, and assesses their implications for regional security and order-building. It traces the development of minilateral frameworks in the region since the end of the Cold War, focusing in particular on two key trilateral cases: security cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and functional cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea through the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS). It is argued that US–Japan–South Korea trilateralism, which was initially shaped by the need to address the North Korean nuclear challenge, has become a core element of the US-led security architecture aimed at balancing China’s growing influence in the Indo–Pacific. By contrast, the TCS reflects a pragmatic form of minilateralism centred on economic and technical cooperation. Yet its effectiveness has been constrained by deep-seated geopolitical tensions and institutional limitations, particularly amid intensifying US–China rivalry. The article concludes that while trilateral minilateralism offers new avenues for coordination, it also risks exacerbating security dilemmas. Strengthening institutional mechanisms for strategic communication, confidence-building, and risk reduction will be essential to supporting regional stability and order-building.

The existing literature focus primarily on the role of Vladimir Putin or expansionist Western policies to explain deteriorating U.S.-Russia relations and the present Ukraine crisis. To give a different perspective on the current problems between Washington and Moscow, this article will analyze the interactions of two geopolitical cultures, namely American Exceptionalism and Russian Eurasianism, and how this interaction creates an ontological security dilemma exacerbated by offense-defense ambiguity, information failures and a commitment problem in the ideological domain. The article will also show that both Exceptionalism and Eurasianism are not monolithic geopolitical cultures as Exceptionalism can be divided between exemplary and missionary forms while Classical Eurasianism has some liberal characteristics that the contemporary Neo-Eurasianism lacks. Therefore, the conflict-prone effects of the ontological security dilemma can be diminished by the adoption of the alternative forms of these geopolitical cultures. Nevertheless, this solution is easier said than done because of the strength of traditional foreign policy habits in the United States and the domestic power struggle in Russia.

Abstract This article critically examines the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into nuclear decision-making processes and its implications for deterrence strategies in the Third Nuclear Age. While realist deterrence logic assumes that the threat of mutual destruction compels rational actors to act cautiously, AI disrupts this by adding speed, opacity and algorithmic biases to decision-making processes. The article focuses on the case of Russia to explore how different understandings of deterrence among nuclear powers could increase the risk of misperceptions and inadvertent escalation in an AI-influenced strategic environment. I argue that AI does not operate in a conceptual vacuum: the effects of its integration depend on the strategic assumptions guiding its use. As such, divergent interpretations of deterrence may render AI-supported decision making more unpredictable, particularly in high-stakes nuclear contexts. I also consider how these risks intersect with broader arms race dynamics. Specifically, the pursuit of AI-enabled capabilities by global powers is not only accelerating military modernisation but also intensifying the security dilemma, as each side fears falling behind. In light of these challenges, this article calls for greater attention to conceptual divergence in deterrence thinking, alongside transparency protocols and confidence-building measures aimed at mitigating misunderstandings and promoting stability in an increasingly automated military landscape.

Within the spiral model of security dilemma, this research takes the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) theory to assess warfighting strategies, development and use of new weapon systems and countermeasures being employed in the Ukraine War. While this war does not indicate any chances of concluding and has not yet escalated to possible deployment of nuclear weapons, it does present sufficient prospects of development of a new kind of warfighting. This research aims to identify how NATO including the US, Russia and Ukraine are searching for prospects to continue this war through carefully adding new strategies, weapon systems and technologies that do not trigger a nuclear response. Between modern warfare and the nuclear overhang, all parties to this conflict have challenged longstanding arms control and risk reduction mechanisms. The research also compares Cold War paradigms of warfighting with modern warfighting strategies to assess changes or repetition of military doctrines and use of military technology. It argues that a hybridisation of Cold War style of warfighting is being reintroduced with precision-intensive, sophisticated weapons while redefining concepts such as collective security and multi-domain warfare. This research also identifies the impact this war has on Europe’s already fragile security outlook and possible fractures it has on NATO’s collective security/collective defence paradigm ever since its inception. It also takes stock of possible scenarios where nuclear risk could be at its maximum and new forms of warfighting that can impact conventional warfighting strategies to unprecedented levels.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly seen as a transformative enabler in military affairs, with significant implications for Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3). Its integration into early warning and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems raises critical questions about deterrence and strategic stability. AI can improve speed, accuracy, and decision support by reducing human error, information overload, and compressed timelines. Yet, it also introduces vulnerabilities stemming from data quality, algorithmic brittleness, automation bias, and adversarial manipulation. The opacity of AI, the black box problem, further complicates verification, trust, and crisis management. This study analyses the evolving approaches of the United States, Russia, and China toward AI in NC3 modernisation. Their divergent trajectories reflect an emerging AI security dilemma and arms-race dynamics. The paper pays particular attention to South Asia, where nuclear dyads face fragile crisis-management mechanisms and compressed decision timelines. Here, AI-enabled ISR may create pre-emption incentives and erode second-strike stability. The study argues that AI can both stabilize and destabilize deterrence, enhancing efficiency while undermining mutual vulnerability, human judgment, and signalling clarity.

Following the formation of a coalition government in Austria in March 2025, the new Aus trian Foreign Minister, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, stated that it might be possible to consider maintain ning Austria’s non-aligned status, enshrined in the country’s constitution as «voluntary perpetual neutrality». These statements were perceived by Moscow as provocative and contradictory to inter national law. This issue became particularly sensitive in light of renouncement by Finland and Sweden of their non-aligned status in favor of joining NATO, thus raising the security dilemma for Austria as a neutral state within the NATO-centric Euro-Atlantic community. This article examines the public debate surrounding Austrian neutrality, possible socio-political motivations and consequ ences. It is concluded that Vienna is objectively not interested in abandoning its neutrality policy in favor of NATO membership; however, such a hypothetical scenario is not excluded in the context of the growing confrontational dynamics of the European West’s politics and activities toward Russia.

Using the security dilemma as a theoretical framework, this article examines the relationship between China and the United States of America (US) in the Xi Jinping era. In accordance with the security dilemma, policies made by a state in order to protect its own security may be viewed as threatening by other states which could result in increased tensions and the potential for a military conflict. In the light of these, not only China but also the US has seen each other as a potential threat in recent years and it caused the security dilemma between two countries. Therefore, this study looks at the factors that contributed to this ongoing tension between two countries that included China’s military build-up, the US’s strategic orientation towards Asia, and the two countries’ economic relations. Understanding the concept of security dilemma by focusing on Booth and Wheeler’s constructivist approach is important for addressing the problems in China-US relations in the Xi Jinping era. In this context this research offers a framework for analysing future shifts in China-US relations.

Arguably, since the emergence of the Fourth Republic in 1999, Nigeria’s economic recessions - 2009, 2016, and since 2020 - are comparably different in nature and run counter to theoretical postulation. In this context, this paper seeks to interrogate and juxtapose their causes, with a view to limit their futures, and hence de-fang their consequences on the country’s growing potentials in the 21st Century. This Paper adapts the library research methodology, which gives consideration to the kind of data to be collected. Drawing therefore from this paper’s empirical analysis, three main arguments are presented: first, I argue that the crosscutting cause of the recession scenarios in Nigeria is wholly and implicitly structural; second, I contend that Nigeria’s recessions are underpinned by complexly related nexuses that range from the effect of the country’s oil-centric economy and infrastructure deficit, and both exacerbated poor governance and security dilemmas; and third and no less important, negative consequences of the recessions explicitly increased poverty rates, reduced living standards, and the quality of life of the majority of citizens. This paper’s recommendations and conclusions focus analyses on harnessing “homeland economics” and post-COVID-19 remedies that signpost effective government intervention and reforms, and beyond John Maynard Keynes’ increase of aggregate demand, increasing investment in the inclusive employment generating opportunities, associated with Industries-without-Smokestacks (IWOSS), and thereby re-balance the economy and walk the country out of present recession and spare it of futures. Finally, findings talk to a number of disciplines and interests – academics and policymakers, alike.

This article investigates the process of mine clearance in Lithuania between 1944 and 1946, conducted through the Soviet paramilitary organization OSOAVIACHIM. Based on documents preserved in the Lithuanian Central State Archives and the Lithuanian Special Archives, the study reconstructs the extent of explosive contamination and the implementation of the Soviet demining policy in the Lithuanian SSR. For the first time, a systematic reconstruction is provided of how mine clearance operations were organized and executed, the challenges encountered, and their underlying causes, including insufficient training of specialists, shortages of equipment, limited engagement by local authorities, a high number of accidents and civilian casualties, and the efforts of the Lithuanian SSR authorities to align with Moscow’s expectations. The specific conditions of the Lithuanian SSR, including an uncollectivized countryside, limited industrialization, weak peripheral administrative structures, and widespread public distrust of occupation institutions, complicated the application of standardized Soviet practices. Although official reports declared Lithuania ‘cleared of mines’ by the end of 1945, a significant number of explosives remained. The study contributes to the historiography by elucidating the interaction of wartime legacies, militarization, and security dilemmas in postwar Lithuanian society, and by highlighting security challenges that continue to hold contemporary relevance.

The Russia–Ukraine conflict is often explained through immediate geopolitical factors such as NATO expansion, security dilemmas, and power politics. While these explanations are significant, they do not fully account for the depth, persistence, and emotional intensity of the conflict. This article argues that the contemporary crisis between Russia and Ukraine must also be understood through the lens of memory politics, particularly the contested interpretation of the civilisational legacy of Kievan Rus. Drawing on theories of collective memory and securitisation, the study examines how historical narratives have been transformed from academic debates into instruments of political mobilisation and national security discourse between 1989 and 2025. The article analyses how Russia and Ukraine have constructed competing national memories around Kievan Rus to legitimise divergent identity projects and geopolitical orientations. While Russia invokes Kievan Rus to advance a narrative of historical unity among Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, Ukraine interprets the same legacy as evidence of a distinct and autonomous historical trajectory. These conflicting interpretations have contributed to what may be described as a “war of memories,” in which history is weaponised through state discourse, legislation, education, and symbolic politics. By engaging with historiographical debates on Kievan inheritance and examining the securitisation of memory in both states, the article demonstrates that unresolved historical legacies play an active role in shaping contemporary conflict dynamics. It argues that the transformation of memory into an existential security issue has intensified mistrust, narrowed the space for compromise, and reinforced antagonistic identities. The study concludes that without addressing the underlying politics of memory and the securitisation of historical narratives, diplomatic and military solutions alone are unlikely to produce durable peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Existing research on US-Syria relations has mostly focused on strategic control and the effectiveness of sanctions under the Assad regime, leaving a theoretical gap regarding diplomatic adjustments during sudden power transitions. This study attempts to examine the strategic factors behind the US decision to lift the Caesar Act sanctions, especially after the collapse of the regime at the end of 2024. Using scenario-based qualitative analysis of diplomatic communications and this study interprets policy shifts through the lens of Structural Realism. This study shows that the rapid relocation of relations was not only driven by the lifting of international sanctions on Syria, but also by the structural imperative to fill the regional power vacuum left by the retreat of Russia and Iran. A deeper examination identifies a unique path, as economic relaxation serves to integrate the transitional government into the framework of Western security architecture, thereby counterbalancing rival hegemonies. This article concludes that in a post-conflict anarchic system, major powers use the issue of sanctions relief as a flexible state tool rather than to maintain rigid legal mechanisms, and that the sustainability of reconciliation depends on the transitional authority's ability to maintain internal legitimacy in the face of new security dilemmas.

ABSTRACT This article reflects on the challenges of United Nations (UN) state-building efforts in Lebanon, highlighting the disconnect between international security frameworks and Lebanon’s geopolitical realities and security needs. The UN’s approach, rooted in a state-centric model that prioritizes centralized authority and a monopoly on the use of force, struggles to address Lebanon’s hybrid security governance, where groups like Hezbollah and the idea of resistance play a crucial role. By examining the implementation and follow-up process of the UN resolutions on Lebanon, particularly 1701 and 1559, this article seeks to reveal the material and ideational dilemmas between international and Lebanese approaches to state and security building. Using a qualitative methodology that combines critical discourse analysis, policy review, and interviews with Lebanese politicians, the study critiques the Western-centric paradigm of state-building, arguing that it overlooks local political realities and entrenched power dynamics. Instead, the article advocates for a more adaptive, context-driven approach that fosters national ownership of security reforms for long-term stability.

This study examines the historical and geographical dynamics of China-Malaysia relations through the theoretical lenses of Realism and Liberalism. Historically, interactions between China and the Malay world date back to early trade networks and diplomatic missions, reflecting deep cultural and economic exchanges. In the modern era, the relationship has evolved within the shifting geographical landscape of Southeast Asia, marked by colonial legacies, Cold War tensions, and contemporary strategic partnerships. While Malaysia holds a strategic position along critical maritime routes in the South China Sea, this underscores its significance in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while simultaneously exposing the relationship to challenges over territorial disputes and regional security concerns. This article adopts a qualitative methodological framework, integrating historical-analytical and comparative approaches to examine the evolution of China-Malaysia relations. Primary and secondary sources, including archival materials, government policy documents, treaties, and scholarly works, are systematically reviewed to trace the historical trajectories and geographical underpinnings of bilateral interaction. From the suggested perspective, this study highlights how national interest, security dilemmas, and power asymmetry continue to shape bilateral ties. Malaysia navigates between cooperation and cautious balancing, ensuring its sovereignty while accommodating China's rising influence. The perspective also underscores the role of interdependence, economic integration, and institutional cooperation, particularly through ASEAN in fostering stability and mutual benefits. By analysing both dimensions, this research argues that China-Malaysia relations cannot be understood solely through a single theoretical framework. Instead, the interplay of Realist competition and Liberalist cooperation provides a more comprehensive understanding of their historical continuity and contemporary relevance.

The Sahel region, stretching from Senegal to Sudan, is caught in a spiral of chronic poverty, ethnic and religious tensions, and pervasive armed violence, despite its vast reserves of oil, gold, uranium, and other natural resources. The interests of Western states and multinational corporations in these resources intersect with local dynamics, helping to sustain conflict. This study aims to analyse, within a theoretical framework, how climate change, rapid population growth, rural–urban inequalities, failed state structures and governance crises generate instability in the Sahel. It employs a qualitative approach based on recent academic literature, reports of international organisations and policy documents. Findings indicate that oil, gold and uranium revenues in peripheral areas beyond effective state control finance jihadist organisations and local militias. Western actors’ exploitative interventions further entrench this chaotic environment. Violence and humanitarian crises in the Sahel undermine the stability of neighbouring countries, fuelling irregular migration and terrorism. In conclusion, it is argued that poverty and conflict in the region are driven less by internal dynamics than by the interest-driven manipulation of external actors, and that comprehensive, security-and-development-oriented support from the UN and AU is urgently needed.

Background The ambitions to gain national rejuvenation and global power in 2049 are evident in the national strategy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which was developed based on the vision of the Chinese dream and Chinese modernization. This approach combines economic growth, technological advancement, and military technology modernization in redefining the role of China in the international system. The dynamics are essential in assessing the emerging position of China in the global power systems and its effects on regional security, specifically in its association with the West and NATO. Methods The current research is a qualitative, theoretically-based study that relies on the power-transition theory, literature related to the security dilemma, and the notion of normative contestation. By tracing the process over four critical junctures (2008, 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2022) and comparatively systematizing information between current official PRC Defense White Papers and CCP policy documents, the role of NATO Strategic Concepts, and secondary academic literature, the study triangulates and analyzes information. Pattern matching and trend analysis are also supported by descriptive statistics of SIPRI (2023). Results The results indicate that the policy of China is a kind of selective revisionism that is aimed at attaining an influence on the world by integrating economically and institutionally, and confronting Western domination in governing rules. The combination of economic modernization, technological self-sufficiency, and military development in China changes the macro-level of power in the Indo-Pacific. The Taiwan issue comes out as the main security flash point, which increases the strategic competition between the West but also helps China to strengthen its deterrence posture. Empirical trends show that unequal interdependence remains at the moderating level of the risk of the direct clash between China and the states allied to NATO. Conclusions The multidimensional national strategy of China highlights the pragmatic strike between reform and revisionism. Its long-term prosperity requires that it can continue to be economically resilient, further its domestic reforms, and attain technological independence as it is able to cope with external threat perceptions. The changing politics surrounding the emergence of China also pose threats and opportunities to global stability, and cooperative mechanisms between China and the West can help alleviate security dilemmas and deliver a more inclusive global order.

The 21st-century pursuit of strategic advantage has shifted from megatonnage to milliseconds, with great powers investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to modernize their nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems. The prevailing logic assumes that AI-driven speed and autonomy will enhance deterrence and solidify superpower status. This paper argues that this assumption is a strategic fallacy. Rather than enhancing security, AI integration inverts the logic of nuclear deterrence by creating The Black Box Paradox. It replaces the slow, rational, and mostly stable logic of "Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)" with a fast, brittle, and opaque system prone to catastrophic failure. This paper deconstructs the fallacy, arguing that AI integration creates Mutual Assured Vulnerability (MAV) by introducing unmanageable risks from hacking, data-poisoning, and black box errors. This new security dilemma traps nations in a 21st-century prisoner's dilemma, where the rational pursuit of individual security leads to collective, assured ruin. The paper concludes that true 21st-century power is not defined by a zero-sum arms race but by positive-sum cooperation, geoeconomic resilience, and a collective exit from this self-defeating logic.