Recasting the OIC: Türkiye’s Strategic Bid to Turn a Symbolic Forum into an Instrument of Collective Agency
Türkiye’s stewardship of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is used to shift the body from declaratory diplomacy toward trade integration, structured advocacy against Islamophobia, and technical capacity building. The piece examines how Ankara leverages its institutional footprint, economic weight, and diaspora politics to reposition the OIC as a functional actor in a more fractured global order, and where structural limits to this project are already visible.
Qatar’s Emerging Geo-economic Strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Qatar is shifting from cautious engagement in Africa to an ambitious geo-economic strategy built on large investment pledges in central and southern Africa, closely tied to its mediation diplomacy in conflicts such as eastern Congo. The analysis examines how these headline commitments intersect with competition from the UAE and Saudi Arabia in critical minerals, infrastructure and energy, and how African governments leverage Gulf rivalries to expand their own room for manoeuvre.
Contested Sanctions and Captured Institutions: Iraq’s Hezbollah–Houthi Designation Crisis Between Washington and Tehran
An obscure terror-finance decision in Baghdad briefly placed Hezbollah and the Houthis on Iraq’s terrorism list, exposing fragile legal institutions, intensifying rivalries within the Shiite Coordination Framework, and underscoring how US and Iranian pressures collide inside Iraq’s financial and security governance.
Tanzania After the October Massacre: Power, Protest and the Future of Its Democracy
Tanzania approaches its 64th Independence Day under the shadow of a disputed election, a brutal security crackdown and growing public anger. The piece traces how long standing one party dominance, shrinking political space and youth led protest have collided, and considers what real accountability and constitutional reform would need to look like.
Reclaiming Relevance: A Strategic Agenda for the EU in the Indo-Pacific
Dragged into great-power rivalry but still hungry for room to manoeuvre, Indo-Pacific states are quietly reshaping the regional order. The piece follows how Europe can plug into that shift: less preaching, more listening, smarter de-risking, and genuinely shared security.