It is January 2025, and Ukraine is facing a military threat to its survival from Russia. While a stalemate has fallen on the battlefield, the political landscape is shifting. A new US administration has entered office with a dramatically different policy towards Ukraine, potentially forcing Ukraine to reconsider what peace might mean. In this new geopolitical world, how could Ukraine best ensure security in the short- and long-term? 

A recent large oil discovery had the potential to make Guyana one of the world's richest countries on a GDP per-capital basis. However, the low-lying nation was particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels. This mini case study puts participants in the shoes of President Mohamed Irfaan Ali in 2024 as he navigates the political, economic, and environmental issues raised by the oil discovery.

In 2018, Minister of Education Matthew Prempeh was reconsidering the language of instruction (LOI) policy for primary schools in Ghana, a country with more than 80 local languages and English as the national language. Prempeh saw many challenges to implementing the current LOI policy, where Grades 1 through 3 were taught in one of 11 select Ghanaian languages, and Grade 4 onwards taught in English. He considered the options: what LOI policy would best prepare students for a global society?

Coming soon

In the 2020s, Japan was making major investments in its semiconductor industry as tensions grew between the US, its major security ally, and China, its largest economic partner. Washington pressured Tokyo to align with US export controls intended to prevent China from accessing advanced chips and the equipment needed to make them. Tokyo, worried about losing access to the Chinese market and potential economic retaliation, had to weigh up the risks of tightening its export controls or resisting US pressure. 

Coming soon

In autumn 2022, in the midst of economic turmoil, the UK government had to decide whether to follow through with a long-planned major reform of the crisis-shaken English adult social care sector or delay its implementation, hoping the government’s financial situation would stabilise. With budgets in dire straits, local councils called for a delay, while advocacy groups like Age UK urged immediate action, warning not to kick the decision into the long grass, like successive governments had before them.

Coming soon

For decades, Sierra Leone’s women’s movement had advocated for a quota for women in decision-making positions. But despite promises from successive governments to heed these calls, no quota had been implemented. By 2021, only 12% of parliamentarians were women. Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs Manty Tarawalli was now attempting to pass a quota for women to boost representation. The bill had been part of her party's election manifesto yet faced resistance in parliament. How could Tarawalli find a majority?

Coming soon

Misba Khan, a 48-year-old, Pakistani-British woman, had to overcome several challenges to join the Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition. Khan described herself as ‘an ordinary person who does a nine-to-five job and a mum’ with limited hiking – and no skiing –experience. She found the expedition training extremely daunting. When faced with a teammate returning home and the task of navigating the group across arctic ice, Khan had to decide: would she forge ahead or turn around?