Analysis

India’s Demographic Gamble: Can 1.5 Billion People Become an Economic Advantage?

Expert Comment — Asia Programme 20 March 2026 Key Findings India has the world’s youngest large population with a median age of 28, but job creation lags far behind workforce growth. Youth unemployment stands at nearly 20 per cent, with significant underemployment even among university graduates. Female labour force participation has declined to around 20 […]

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European Defence Spending After Ukraine: The Gap Between Promises and Capabilities

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Expert Comment — Europe Programme 15 March 2026 Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered what many described as a “revolution” in European defence spending. Germany announced a €100 billion special fund (the Zeitenwende). Denmark abandoned its opt-out from EU defence cooperation. Poland announced plans to more than double the size of its

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The Fab-Labour Paradox: Why India Produces 1.5 Million Engineering Graduates a Year but Only 2,000 Are Qualified to Work in a Semiconductor Factory

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Expert Comment — South Asia Programme 2026-03-10 TWhen the Indian government announced the India Semiconductor Mission in 2022 with a $10 billion incentive package, the response from global chip companies was initially enthusiastic. Micron committed $2.75 billion for an assembly and test facility in Gujarat. The Tata Group partnered with Taiwan’s PSMC for a $3

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The Unfinished Unwinding: Why China’s Property Crisis Will Define Its Economic Trajectory for the Rest of the Decade

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Expert Comment — East Asia Programme 9 March 2026 China’s property crisis is not a financial event. It is a structural transformation that is reshaping the economic model that has driven Chinese growth for two decades. The collapse of Evergrande in late 2021 was not the beginning of the crisis but a symptom of a

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Afghanistan’s Enduring Crisis: Social Fragmentation and Humanitarian Collapse in 2026

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Expert Comment — Asia Programme 8 March 2026 Key Findings More than 24 million Afghans require humanitarian assistance in 2026, with 17 million facing acute food insecurity. The systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life has created a deepening social crisis unseen anywhere else in the world. International sanctions have crippled the Taliban

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Europe’s Energy Transition: Progress, Costs and the Coming Political Test

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Expert Comment — Europe Programme 3 March 2026 The European Union’s energy transition has entered a new and more difficult phase. The early stages — building wind and solar capacity, setting targets, passing legislation — were relatively straightforward. The current phase — integrating variable renewables into the grid, managing the social costs of transition, maintaining

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The China Plus One Mirage: Why India’s Manufacturing Ambitions Face an Uphill Climb

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Expert Comment — South Asia Programme 23 February 2026 The narrative is seductive in its simplicity. As Western companies seek to reduce their dependence on Chinese manufacturing supply chains, India — with its large workforce, democratic institutions, and improving infrastructure — is perfectly positioned to capture the “China plus one” opportunity. Prime Minister Modi’s Production-Linked

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The Madrasa Pipeline: Why 3.5 Million Pakistani Children Learn Only the Quran While the Country Loses $50 Billion a Year in GDP Growth

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Expert Comment — South Asia Programme 2026-02-20 IIn the rural districts of southern Punjab and northern Sindh, a parallel education system operates largely invisible to the Pakistani state and the international community. An estimated 3.5 million children attend madrasas, religious seminaries where the curriculum is dominated by Islamic studies. While some madrasas provide a rigorous

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EU Enlargement in 2026: Ukraine, the Balkans and the Future of European Integration

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Expert Comment — Europe Programme 18 February 2026 The European Union’s decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in December 2024 marked a historic turning point in the history of European integration. For the first time since the Eastern enlargement of 2004-2007, the EU has made a credible commitment to expanding eastward. But

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Beyond the Uranium Centrifuge: Iran’s Nuclear Calculus and the Coming Diplomatic Endgame

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Expert Comment — Middle East Programme 9 February 2026 Iran’s nuclear programme has reached a threshold that the international community has spent two decades trying to prevent. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s most recent quarterly report, Iran now possesses enriched uranium sufficient, if further enriched to 90 per cent, for multiple nuclear devices.

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India’s Demographic Gamble: Can 1.5 Billion People Become an Economic Advantage?

European Defence Spending After Ukraine: The Gap Between Promises and Capabilities

The Fab-Labour Paradox: Why India Produces 1.5 Million Engineering Graduates a Year but Only 2,000 Are Qualified to Work in a Semiconductor Factory

The Unfinished Unwinding: Why China’s Property Crisis Will Define Its Economic Trajectory for the Rest of the Decade

Afghanistan’s Enduring Crisis: Social Fragmentation and Humanitarian Collapse in 2026

Europe’s Energy Transition: Progress, Costs and the Coming Political Test

The China Plus One Mirage: Why India’s Manufacturing Ambitions Face an Uphill Climb

The Madrasa Pipeline: Why 3.5 Million Pakistani Children Learn Only the Quran While the Country Loses $50 Billion a Year in GDP Growth

EU Enlargement in 2026: Ukraine, the Balkans and the Future of European Integration

Beyond the Uranium Centrifuge: Iran’s Nuclear Calculus and the Coming Diplomatic Endgame

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