Strategy, Policy & Diplomacy
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Battle for Belarus
Recorded on location at the Aspen Security Forum, this discussion centers on the geopolitical status and democratic movement of Belarus. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya details her transformation from a political outsider into the leader of the country's democratic…
On War and Politics
The articles in this issue highlight enduring questions around how states use military force to achieve (or fail to achieve) their strategic and political objectives.
China’s Bid for Space Supremacy in the Middle East
Lawrence Rubin, Lincoln Hines, and Dayana Alagirova examine China's space diplomacy across the Middle East and North Africa by analyzing how regional states—specifically Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran—utilize space partnerships with Beijing to…
Choosing Orbits: China’s Space Diplomacy in the Middle East
China’s engagement with Africa, Asia, and the Middle East has drawn significant attention from the international community and American policymakers. One understudied dimension of this engagement is China’s expanding space diplomacy in the Middle East.…
25 Years of the US-China Commission: Taiwan, Tech Competition, and Over-the-Horizon Risks
Twenty-five years after its creation, how does the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission evaluate the evolving threat landscape? TNSR Editor-in-Chief Sheena Chestnut Greitens hosts Randall Schriver (Chairman of the Board, Institute for Indo-Pacific…
The Meaning of Place
Geopolitics has shifted from contests over physical territory to competition in other domains like space, cyber, information, and nuclear security, even as traditional geography and a deep sense of place still profoundly shape international conflict. Francis…
The Balance of Control and Vulnerability: Cyber and Nuclear Risks
Dr. Jackie Schneider moves beyond Hollywood analogies and pop-culture fears, and argues that common understandings of how cyber operations impact nuclear stability are often misguided. She unpacks three specific pathways to escalation—deliberate,…
Challenges and Opportunities for AI in Military Systems
Michael Horowitz discusses his recent TNSR article tackling misconceptions about AI, how militaries have long used algorithms, and why use cases and data matter—especially when nuclear applications rely on simulated data. He examines human-machine teaming,…
Psychological Biases in the Era of Nuclear Weapons and AI
Rose McDermott explains how common judgment biases can undermine nuclear deterrence and strategic stability, especially under time pressure and with emerging technologies like AI, using Kahneman’s Type 1 (fast, intuitive) and Type 2 (slow, analytic) thinking…
Understanding Schelling’s Nuclear Paradigms with Francis J. Gavin
Francis J. Gavin explains why Thomas Schelling remains foundational to nuclear strategy despite being an economist, and argues that “strategic stability” is often invoked without clear definition. He highlights tensions between mutual vulnerability and US…
Strategic Stability in a Rapidly Changing World
Harold Trinkunas previews our special issue on strategic stability by explaining how Cold War deterrence assumptions rooted in a bilateral US–Soviet relationship no longer hold amid more nuclear-armed actors, wider access to AI, cyber, hypersonics, and the…
The (Elusive) Search for Strategic Stability
The combination of technological and geopolitical change puts pressure on the search for strategic stability in the contemporary international environment.