The National Rifle Association had historically dominated US political debates around firearm regulation, with their defence of the right to bear arms particularly influential among Republicans. After several mass shootings in the 2010s, new gun safety groups and mobilisation strategies emerged, enabling Democrat Senator Chris Murphy to enter bipartisan negotiations on gun safety in 2022. But the deal was in jeopardy when Republican senators threatened to walk over a policy championed by gun safety advocates. Should Murphy compromise?

In autumn 2012, following the Egyptian revolution, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei was concerned about the makeup of the constituent assembly. It was dominated by Islamists who also supported the newly elected president, Mohamed Morsi. With the assembly on the brink of collapse, Morsi sought dialogue with ElBaradei to reach a consensus on the draft constitution. Should ElBaradei accept Morsi’s invitation or join a boycott by other liberal and secular leaders?

Amidst the school closures of the Covid-19 pandemic, India saw exponential growth in the use of DIKSHA, its free-to-use education technology platform. According to the education ministry, the platform could address some of India’s challenges in basic education. However, the platform did not seem to improve learning outcomes among the most disadvantaged students. In 2021, with schools reopening and budgets tightening, Secretary of Education Anita Karwal had to decide: should she continue to bet scarce resources on DIKSHA?

In 2015, undernutrition in Ethiopia was well above the African median but the different ministries involved in tackling the crisis were failing to collaborate, sometimes even working at cross purposes. To address this issue, six ministries agreed to implement the Seqota Declaration – a high-level political commitment to tackling undernutrition. Just a year on, however, one senior minister stopped attending the meetings. What could Health Minister Kesete Admasu do to ensure the Seqota Declaration’s promise of multisectoral collaboration did not fail?

Marcelo Feres, municipal education secretary in Campos dos Goytacazes in 2022, knew that his city’s education system badly needed reform. Turning to other Brazilian cities for inspiration, Feres learned of Sobral’s series of education reforms which were being heralded in education policy circles as an exemplar of success. But could Feres take the model – which had included some effective but politically contentious decisions – and apply it in the Campos context?

Over previous decades, Chile had built a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, but a dual challenge in spring 2020 put pressure on Finance Minister Ignacio Briones to relax spending rules. One, his country was among the most affected by Covid-19 and, two, civil unrest rooted in inequality and political dissatisfaction was coming to a head over food and job scarcity. How could Briones finance a new relief package while ensuring fiscal responsibility and the ability to respond to future crises?

In late 2002, General Counsel of the US Navy Alberto Mora learned that detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre were being subject to abuse. Morally outraged and concerned for the impact on US policy aims, Mora also believed that the abuses violated international law. He had a duty to act, but with the techniques approved at the highest levels, how could Mora ensure he made the strongest legal, ethical, and political case possible to end the mistreatment?

Maria Helena Guimarães de Castro, the executive secretary at the Ministry of Education in Brazil, was finalising the new national framework for education in the spring of 2017. Drafting the much-needed reform had been long and challenging, but despite opposition, the supporters of the framework had managed to shepherd the drafting process through years of extreme political upheaval. But now, at the 11th hour, members of the influential evangelical caucus were demanding changes – should Castro comply?