Diplomacy

Just Security’s expert authors offer analysis of diplomacy and its role in addressing global challenges, from armed conflicts to international crises and more. Our coverage includes U.S. foreign policy, international organizations, and multilateral diplomacy related to critical global issues.

Highlights:

Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Kirill Dmitriev during a meeting with Steve Witkoff (left foreground)

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Has Options in Response to Latest U.S.-Russian ‘Peace Plan’

The plan is a mess, but Ukrainians are right to try to work with the draft rather than reject it out of hand.
The US Navy warship USS Sampson (DDG 102) docks at the Amador International Cruise Terminal in Panama City on September 02, 2025. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on September 1, 2025, that eight US military vessels with 1,200 missiles were targeting his country, which he declared to be in a state of "maximum readiness to defend" itself. (Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images)

Timeline of Vessel Strikes and Related Actions

A timeline that chronicles major events in the Trump administration’s campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Delegates pose for photos at the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime

The Promise and Peril of the U.N. Convention Against Cybercrime

It is up to democracies to ensure that repressive regimes do not abuse the new U.N. Cybercrime Convention to undermine fundamental freedoms.
Screenshot of the mock legal review by Daniel Maurer.

Hypothetical Legal Review of Narcotrafficking Strikes

A mock “operational legal review” depicting what a staff judge advocate’s advice should have been prior to the first reported strike on an alleged drug trafficking vessel.
An injured boy lays on his back in a van as two others attend to his wounds.

The Political Theater Behind Trump’s “Guns-a-Blazing” Nigeria Threat

Trump’s threat of military intervention in Nigeria may be intended more for domestic audiences and wouldn't address the drivers of the country's conflict.
U.S. President Clinton, Russian President Yeltsin, and Ukrainian President Kravchuk engage in a three-way handshake against a backdrop of a richly decorated room with fringed drapes and a chandelier-like wall sconce in the background.

Ukraine’s Ironclad Security Is Inseparable from Peace

After abandoning nuclear arms for the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine faces existential war -- proof that security “assurances” alone won't be enough now.
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Gavel and scales with a US flag in the background as symbols of a jurisdiction.

Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

A public resource tracking all the legal challenges to the Trump administration's executive orders and actions.
A Croatian national flag with its three bands of red, white and blue and a crest in the center, is seen weaving above fans at a concert, amid a smoke-filled, rose-colored backdrop and what look like small fireworks going off.

Normalizing Far-Right Ideologies in the Western Balkans: Croatia’s Role at Home and Abroad

The Croatian government appears to be embracing far-right actions at home and abroad as it undermines neighboring Bosnia's sovereignty and democracy.
Members of the Delegation of Nicaragua, at the opening of the hearings of Nicaragua v. Germany at the International Court of Justice on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Frank Van Beek, via UN Photo, Courtesy of the ICJ).

Nicaragua v. Germany: Why Israel is Not an Indispensable Third Party

Analysis of Germany's argument before the International Court of Justice in Gaza case.
Workers wearing hard hats stand in a desert landscape under and around a long tube-like structure suspended from cables overhead. The tube appears to have differently sized and shaped compartments and equipment inside, and extending from the near end in the direction of the right side of the photo are numerous sets of cables in different colors, possibly connected to something offscreen.

Trump’s Nuclear Testing Remark Was a Signal — Not a Strategy

The science is sound, the stockpile is strong, and the call to test a nuclear bomb has no technical foundation. Resuming testing would not make America safer.
A member of the Philippine Navy looks out at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's destroyer Takanami during a joint maritime exercise in the South China Sea on June 14, 2025. (Photo by STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images)

Much Work to Do and No Time to Waste: Mitigating Civilian Harm in an Asia-Pacific Conflict

Civilian harm is not entirely avoidable during armed conflict, but it can be anticipated and its severity limited. In Asia-Pacific, this depends entirely on steps taken now.
Two Afghan women wearing, from left to right, a light blue and a darker blue burqa sit on the ground with baskets in front of them and what appears to be a more formal market stall behind them, in Mazar-i-Sharif on October 2, 2025. At the left of the photo next to the women is a wheelbarrow turned against a wall. (Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Walls of Silence, Crumbling Futures: Why the World Must Act on Afghanistan

The credibility of the U.N.'s human rights framework depends on whether it can confront a systematic experiment in gender oppression with more than statements of alarm.
IMAGES (left to right): Natural disaster and its consequences (via Getty Images); In this picture taken on September 28, 2022, an internally displaced flood-affected family sits outside their tent at a makeshift tent camp in Jamshoro district of Sindh province (Photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP via Getty Images; Trees smolder and burn during the Dixie fire near Greenville, California on August 3, 2021. – Numerous fires are raging through the state’s northern forests, as climate change makes wildfire season longer, hotter and more devastating. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Just Security’s Climate Archive

A catalog of articles analyzing the diplomatic, political, legal, security, and humanitarian consequences of the international climate crisis.
Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shara (R) and Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani (L) bid farewell to participants at the Syrian National Dialogue Conference on February 25, 2025 in Damascus, Syria. A national dialogue conference intended to help chart Syria's political future after the fall of former President Bashar Assad began at the Presidential Palace in Damascus on Monday. (Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)

Sectarian Violence and the Price of Ignoring Transitional Justice in Syria

Sharaa must pursue accountability for both perpetrators of violence against Syrian minorities since Assad's fall, and against former Assad officials complicit in war crimes.
The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question" at UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. Draft Security Council Resolution on Gaza: Initial Concerns

The draft resolution has fundamental legal problems and ambiguities that, if not resolved, will harm both peace in Gaza and prospects of a more sustainable future.
The Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2795 (2025) on the European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR ALTHEA).

U.N. Extension of EU Troops in Bosnia Obscures Fissures Reflected in Debate

The EU should firm up its policy to help Bosnia advance toward EU membership with democratic governance. Only in this way can long-term stability be assured.
The Just Security Podcast Cover Image

The Just Security Podcast: Reflections on International Law Weekend 2025

Chiara Giorgetti, Milena Sterio, and Rebecca Hamilton join Just Security’s Managing Editor, Megan Corrarino, to discuss takeaways from ABILA's International Law Weekend. 
Binders of executive orders stacked on a desk.

Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of Trump Administration Executive Actions

Coverage of key developments, including in concise “What Just Happened” expert explainers, legal and policy analysis, and more. Check back frequently for updates.
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