Written by Athena Charanne Presto and Maria Tanyag
The Philippines has had real regional influence on gender equality, supported by a long lineage of female diplomats, policymakers, and civil society leaders who have helped shape ASEAN’s gender equality architecture since its early years.
Read MoreMay highlights a defining trend across the Indo-Pacific: economic pressure and strategic competition are increasingly intertwined, as heatwaves, energy shocks, and supply-chain strain drive states to hedge more actively in a fragmented global order. This month’s feature examines Europe’s growing “strategic self-containment” in its China policy, reflecting a wider pattern of anticipatory restraint as states recalibrate under geopolitical pressure.
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Read MoreWritten by Anuttama Banerji and Dr. Sahar Khan
A central weakness in the partnership is the absence of shared operational experience. Unlike US treaty allies, India has not participated in high-intensity contingencies alongside US forces. This limits trust, slows decision-making, and increases the risk of misalignment.
Read MoreThis month’s brief examines a system under increased strain: as conflict in the Middle East drives energy shocks and exposes fragile supply chains, Indo-Pacific states are navigating growing constraints — hedging across partners, absorbing economic pressure, and exploring alternative routes such as the Arctic’s emerging “Polar Silk Road” to preserve access, resilience, and strategic flexibility.
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Read MoreWritten by Thijs Stegeman
Europe must communicate clear thresholds and move forward with its own integrated drone defence, or risk allowing Russia’s grey-zone drone activity to become the new normal.
Read MoreThis month we examine a world under pressure: as conflict in the Middle East disrupts energy flows, Indo-Pacific states confront constrained choices, balancing neutrality, domestic stability, and external dependencies. From political resets in Nepal and Bangladesh to energy rationing in Sri Lanka and heightened strategic signalling across East and Southeast Asia, March highlights how governments are adapting in real time to a more interconnected and volatile global order.
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Read MoreWritten by Pheng Thean
If the Philippines seeks a realistic pathway towards a functional COC — and to preserve ASEAN’s credibility as a neutral convening platform — it must complement its instruments of statecraft with more targeted diplomatic adjustments.
Read MoreWritten by Omar Rasya Joenoes
The challenge, therefore, is to transform ambiguity from a reactive posture into a deliberate and integrated strategy — one that manages asymmetry without allowing incremental pressure to redefine the strategic status quo.
Read MoreThis month’s brief examines a hardening strategic landscape: as grey-zone drone incursions test Europe’s resolve, Indo-Pacific states grapple with contested political transitions and mounting internal pressures that complicate deterrence, resilience, and regional stability.
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Read MoreThis month’s briefs examine an international order in rupture: across the Indo-Pacific, middle powers are hedging through overlapping, issue-based partnerships, even as Myanmar’s sham election exposes the limits of values-based realism in an increasingly pragmatic global landscape.
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Read MoreWritten by Jonathan Berkshire Miller
For the first time in years, Ottawa is treating the Indo-Pacific not as a region of opportunities to sample but as a theatre in which it must choose where to invest.
Read MoreThis month’s briefs examine an Indo-Pacific shaped by hybrid insecurity: as the United States retreats from development leadership, middle powers step in to fill the void, while escalating climate disasters are redefining resilience, influence, and regional power.
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Read MoreWritten by Emanuele Ballestracci
Italy cannot rival the hard-power presence of France or the UK, nor does it aspire to. Instead, it has constructed a pathway based on economic cooperation, private-sector activism, and steady institutional ties, which over time create the trust needed to expand into political and security spheres.
Read MoreWritten by Chhay Lim and Chandarith Neak
Without institutional mechanisms that both parties accept as legitimate and binding, border disputes remain vulnerable to escalation and external intervention whenever domestic political pressures or regional tensions rise.
Read MoreThis month’s features explore twin fragmentations reshaping the Indo-Pacific: the quiet construction of a north–south undersea security arc as South Korea joins Australia on the path to nuclear-powered submarines, and the near-collapse of COP30, which exposed a deepening crisis of trust at the heart of global climate governance.
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Read MoreThis month, we explore how Australia and Papua New Guinea’s Pukpuk Treaty is redefining defence cooperation through identity-based integration, while the IMF–World Bank meetings in Washington reveal how financial governance continues to constrain Global South autonomy.
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Read MoreWritten by Dr Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat
Indonesia’s foreign service, though respected in ASEAN, has not fully kept pace with the demands of a world where China is central to trade, technology, and security. Without a cadre of China specialists embedded across government and academia, Jakarta risks responding to events rather than shaping them.
Read MoreWritten by Jemima Holborow
Without CBRs, Pacific Islands face reduced financial inclusion and slower development. For the US, it risks pushing the region toward central bank digital currencies and de-dollarisation; a trend that could weaken US financial influence.
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