Open questions
Each page gathers what several institutions have published on one open question, so the disagreement is visible rather than buried in a result count. A question only appears here once at least six institutions have written on it.
Are tariffs a legitimate instrument of industrial policy?
Tariffs returned to mainstream economic policy faster than the literature defending them. The argument is whether they build domestic capacity or simply tax the people they are meant to protect.
23 institutions · 40 publications · Trade policy and agreements
Security and defenceCan Europe defend itself without the United States?
European defence has rested on American capability for seventy years. The argument now is about how much of it Europe could replace, how quickly, and at what cost. Institutions differ on whether the gap is money, industrial capacity, or command and control.
20 institutions · 40 publications · Security and defence
Nuclear energyDoes the energy transition need new nuclear power?
Firm low-carbon power is the part of a decarbonised grid nobody has cheaply solved. Some institutions treat new nuclear as unavoidable, others as the most expensive way to buy capacity that storage will provide sooner.
12 institutions · 18 publications · Nuclear energy
Alliances and deterrenceIs NATO's deterrent still credible against Russia?
Deterrence works only if it is believed. The disagreement runs from force posture on the eastern flank to whether Article 5 would be invoked at all, and institutions reach different conclusions from much the same evidence.
26 institutions · 40 publications · Alliances and deterrence
Carbon pricing and bordersIs a carbon border tax climate policy or protectionism?
Border carbon adjustment is defended as the only way to price emissions without exporting them, and attacked as a tariff with a green label. The trade institutions and the climate institutions do not read it the same way.
14 institutions · 26 publications · Carbon pricing and borders
Industrial policy and supply chainsIs economic decoupling from China achievable?
De-risking, friendshoring and decoupling describe different ambitions and get used interchangeably. Institutions disagree on which parts of the relationship can actually be unwound, and what it would cost to try.
26 institutions · 40 publications · Industrial policy and supply chains
Cyber and emerging military technologyWhat role should AI play in military decisions?
Autonomy in targeting and command is moving faster than the doctrine governing it. The split is between those treating it as a capability race and those treating it as an arms-control problem.
13 institutions · 22 publications · Cyber and emerging military technology
Energy security and resourcesWhat should replace Russian gas in Europe?
Europe replaced Russian pipeline gas faster than almost anyone forecast. What it should build instead is still open: LNG terminals, renewables and storage, demand reduction, or nuclear, each with a different lock-in.
18 institutions · 35 publications · Energy security and resources