North Korea’s nuclear efforts pose a serious threat to the region and to international security. Yet efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear capabilities to date have failed. North Korea’s foreign policy objectives have evolved over the years, with a shift toward military control that encourages militarized solutions to political problems at home and abroad. The massive economic changes of the past 25 years mean that life chances for all North Koreans are frequently determined by how well they can make use of market opportunities. What impact does this have on North Korean foreign policy? Are the risks of war on the rise as the possibilities for a peaceful resolution to the North-South conflict decrease? What would a smart power-based foreign policy to North Korea look like?

In the Middle East, a parallel pattern can be seen in the history of the first Middle Eastern constitutional revolutions in the political movements of the 1870s. What does an examination of the role of constitutionalism in the Arab revolutions of 1923-2011 reveal about prospects for constitutional governments in the Middle East?

Building on her recent research into different forms of civic activism in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, Kateryna Pishchikova, Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy, analyzed a range of recent civic initiatives in those countries and put them in the broader context of more than two decades of uncertain political transformation.

"Weak states can be both policy takers and, occasionally, policy makers," argues Laszlo Borhi in a presentation examining weak states in East Central Europe in the 20th century. Focusing on several case studies, Borhi looks at three periods: the aftermath of World War I and World War II and the post-1989 era.