Foreword - March 2015 Newsbrief

Full issue at: www.rusi.org/newsbrief

Welcome to the March issue of RUSI Newsbrief, bringing you expert analysis of recent events and trends, and highlighting their implications for the defence and security community.

The issue is dedicated, in the first instance, to an assessment of the challenges facing the UK in the run-up to general elections in May. Professor Malcolm Chalmers, RUSI’s director of research, examines the full gamut of defence issues that will face an incoming government. Even with further cuts looming, he argues, the country is likely to remain a major interventionist power.

The issue then looks more closely at the particular challenges an incoming British government will face in its foreign policy towards both Ukraine and the Middle East. With the situation in the former fundamentally shaking up European security, and the latter witnessing ever-deepening insecurity and sectarian division, both are likely to pose complex issues for British policy-makers far beyond the horizon of the general election.

The remainder of the issue covers a range of other topical issues.

Raffaello Pantucci explores the emerging role of China as a peace-broker in Afghanistan. The key question, he suggests, is the extent to which China’s actions in this respect are likely to coincide with Western priorities.

Four years on from the Arab Spring, H A Hellyer looks at Egypt’s stunted political development, while Jason Pack and Rhiannon Smith unpack the unfolding political and security crisis in Libya.

Finally, Justin Bronk explores the fifth-generation fighters under development by both Russia and China, and assesses the extent to which these are likely to challenge US global aerial dominance going forward.

Further contributions that may catch your eye include:
• The United States, Iran and the Sanctions Tug of War
• Political Polarisation and Terrorism in the run-up to Nigeria’s elections
• Deterring Russian aggression in the Baltic States

You can browse these and other articles from the March 2015 issue of RUSI Newsbrief online. We very much hope you enjoy this edition and the array of issues it covers.