2025

The impossible choice: tariffs, sanctions and fragmentation

The impossible choice: tariffs, sanctions and fragmentation

By Udaibir Das

In dynamic-system terms, the global economy has shifted from a high-integration equilibrium towards a more fragmented state, but the transition path is still in motion. For financial institutions, the challenge is calibrating marginal gain in resilience against the marginal erosion of competitive advantage.

'IBSA+Indonesia' can be a new Global South-led force in climate and energy leadership

'IBSA+Indonesia' can be a new Global South-led force in climate and energy leadership

By Piyush Verma

At a time when multilateralism is under significant stress and global climate finance remains skewed and inequitably distributed, IBSA+Indonesia offers a fresh model of geopolitical collaboration on energy and climate – anchored in shared values and driven by practical action.

A Strategic Wake-Up Call: Insights from South Asia for Taiwan’s Defence Posture

A Strategic Wake-Up Call: Insights from South Asia for Taiwan’s Defence Posture

By Hsiao-Chen Lin

The evolving scenario between India and Pakistan also serves as a timely analytical lens through which Taiwan can assess its own strategic vulnerabilities and prepare more robustly for future contingencies in the Indo-Pacific theatre. 

Bridging the AI Divide: A BRICS Strategy for Inclusive Innovation, Sovereignty, and Capacity Building

Bridging the AI Divide: A BRICS Strategy for Inclusive Innovation, Sovereignty, and Capacity Building

By Anit Mukherjee

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a key enabler of economic and social transformation, the BRICS grouping — comprising both emerging and influential economies — has a unique opportunity to shape the trajectory of AI development through a Global South lens.

The arc of ascent of China’s financial system

The arc of ascent of China’s financial system

By Udaibir Das

China must build on its institutional progress and the policy suggestions noted in the 2025 FSSA while adapting to a more fragmented global financial landscape. The shift from insulation, as pointed out by the IMF in 2010, as well as the shift to sensible integration, as outlined by the IMF in 2025, stays unfinished.

Capital crunch stifles entrepreneurs in low-income economies

Capital crunch stifles entrepreneurs in low-income economies

By Udaibir Das

As concessional finance declines, vulnerabilities mount and aid priorities shift, vulnerable low-income countries must increasingly rely on domestic sources of funding. Efficient capital markets are not a luxury – they are foundational infrastructure for economic growth.

Navigating the Entanglements in the U.S.-China Quantum Technology Race

Navigating the Entanglements in the U.S.-China Quantum Technology Race

By Linda Nhon and Andreas Kuehn

Trump 2.0’s overall policy directions in critical and emerging technologies will likely hew to common expectations. The details, however, of what technologies the new administration will prioritise and how actions, such as tariffs and export controls for example, will affect the United States’ (US) innovation and technology leadership remains underexplored.