This report from UK think tank RUSI examines critical minerals crime and the lessons to be learnt from gold mining. The report investigates how to prevent organised crime from infiltrating critical mineral supply chains by applying lessons learned from the "cautionary example" of illegal gold mining

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform looks at aligning productivity and security for resilient growth. Europe’s economic model is under increasing strain as productivity growth stalls and geopolitical competition intensifies. A new CER policy brief, ‘Resilient growth: Aligning productivity and security’, by Aslak Berg and Zach Meyers, argues that the...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform examines a reform agenda for the single market. For the last two decades, European economic growth has been lower than in peer countries. More than a year has passed since the landmark Draghi Report that helped establish a consensus that reform is needed. Yet...

This report from UK think tank Civitas aims to help the Government develop a clear policy for both its industrial and trade strategies. In this report, Phil Radford questions why the UK’s approach to trade has such little focus on our fastest growing exports and why debate is not better informed on the sectors and...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform focuses on trade, technology and geopolitics. The UK and the EU both recognise that China is a rival and that it is promoting its authoritarian model of governance globally. Neither has drawn the policy consequences from their analysis. They need to co-operate in showing...

This report from UK think tank Civitas examines the focus on ESG’s impact on businesses, workers and consumers. Many businesses nowadays engage in what has been coined ‘ethical’, or ‘woke’, capitalism. While ethical capitalism has a long history, over recent decades it has largely fallen under the remit of ‘Environmental, Social and Governance’ (ESG) –...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines the importance of trade ‘rebalancing’ for Beijing’s strategic ambitions. If China hopes to cultivate closer economic and political links in the Global South by capitalizing, perhaps, on a backlash against US protectionism and foreign aid cuts, the task may be harder than it seems. In theory,...

This report from UK think tank IIED unpacks what the advisory opinion means for international investment law. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its advisory opinion on the ‘Obligations of states in respect of climate change’. The opinion confirms that states have legally binding obligations to protect the climate system and...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at why the current sanctions regime is failing and how to fix it. Russia is the world’s most sanctioned country, but the current regime of sanctions has largely failed to achieve its aim of constraining Russia’s ability to wage war. Following the Alaska meeting between US...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House argues in favour of using Britain’s alliances and networks for greater impact. Although UK foreign policy has for some time acknowledged the Indo-Pacific’s importance to Britain’s long-term interests, the government has yet to articulate and instrumentalize a sufficiently coherent approach to the region. Worries over European security,...

This report from UK think tank the British Foreign Policy Group explores the British public’s opinion on foreign policy and global affairs. BFPG’s 2025 Annual Survey, the seventh iteration of the survey which began in 2019, finds that public support for the ‘special relationship’ has collapsed, with President Trump seen to be undermining the UK’s...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores why and how many sanctions fail, and what to do about it. Sanctions are a key instrument of foreign policy and economic statecraft, applied with increasing frequency by the US, the UK and the EU. Given the growing prevalence of these tools, there are mounting concerns...

This report from UK think tank RUSI provides an initial scoping review of VCM features that expose them to corruption risk. The Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs), designed to channel finance towards environmental preservation and help countries meet net-zero targets through the trading of carbon offsets, are facing significant challenges due to widespread allegations of weak...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at creating an easier trade environment for SME e-commerce exporters. The new government has put increasing economic growth at the heart of its agenda. One way of boosting the UK’s economic performance is by increasing exports. This report presents the best ways to deliver...

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at evidence from conflict economies in the Middle East and Africa. As the world becomes geopolitically more fragmented, conflicts are increasing in complexity and number – up by almost three-quarters since the 2000s. In this shifting order, conflict is being internationalized in new ways as states,...

The growth and extent of world trade is staggering. In 1950, trade accounted for just 8.6% of world output (GDP). By 2008 it accounted for an astonishing 60% of world GDP, involving $20 trillion in goods and over $5 trillion in services. Despite setbacks — financial crises, wars (including Trump-style trade wars) and even pandemics...