In June 2021, the Turkish government began construction of the Istanbul Canal, a new waterway just West of the Bosporus Strait. This Canal poses concerns for the Montreux Convention (1936), an international agreement which regulates the movement of commercial and military vessels into and out of the Black Sea.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a key area of industrial strategy and international cooperation and competition.

AI has made much progress over the past decade, which has been called the “AI Summer”. In particular, the launch of ChatGPT has rocketed AI up the agenda of many companies and governments. AI progress is likely to continue at a rapid pace over the coming decade.

Labour should urge the Government to step up emergency aid efforts to Turkey and Syria, including increasing the amount of emergency aid in line with the rising number of people impacted in the region.

The international-rules based system is being challenged by authoritarian states. On taking power, Labour should host a summit for democratic countries to launch a new global compact in the form of an informal agreement amongst countries that will commit countries to upholding and defending the international-rules based system.

The UK’s relationship with Africa has historically been one of exploitation, extraction, condescension, and inequity since the beginning of the colonial period. UK progressives should take the radical step of centring African relations in British foreign policy and develop a policy platform built on significant mutually-beneficial investment and genuine, equitable economic and geopolitical partnership, rather than purely aid.

The government’s disastrous ‘mini-budget’ has exposed the precarity of sterling’s position as an international currency, and its steady decline in recent months carries important implications for Britain’s role in the world. In this briefing, Joshua Bailey, a former civil servant with expertise in economic and national security policy, considers the short and longer-term consequences of sterling’s weakness for British foreign policy.

Seven months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, international politics has been radically transformed. This policy paper draws together four contributions from subject-matter experts on different aspects of the conflict and British policy. It looks beyond the day-to-day events to consider the world that will come after the conflict and how Britain can navigate that.

Recent flash flooding in Pakistan has left a third of the country underwater, resulting in more than 1,100 casualties and causing an estimated $10 billion worth of damage. The aftermath of the ‘monster monsoon’ has swept away lives, homes, crops and bridges, with 33 million people impacted, and vast areas cut off from supplies and power. Britain and the international community need to respond, and the Labour Party should hold the government accountable for the inadequacy of its response so far.

In the wake of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, and the retaliatory action taken by China, the consequences of trips by Western politicians to Taiwan are in focus. This briefing considers British policy on the question and how Members of Parliament should approach the matter.

Emerging and future space activities are rendering outer space increasingly important for long-term security and economic prosperity. As competition between the United States and China intensifies in that domain, Britain will need its own strategy.