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Robotics and autonomous systems are reshaping the world, changing healthcare, food production and biodiversity management. While they will play a fundamental role in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals, associated opportunities and threats are yet to be considered systematically. We report on a horizon scan evaluating robotics and autonomous systems impact on all Sustainable Development Goals, involving 102 experts from around the world. Robotics and autonomous systems are likely to transform how the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved, through replacing and supporting human activities, fostering innovation, enhancing remote access and improving monitoring. Emerging threats relate to reinforcing inequalities, exacerbating environmental change, diverting resources from tried-and-tested solutions and reducing freedom and privacy through inadequate governance. Although predicting future impacts of robotics and autonomous systems on the Sustainable Development Goals is difficult, thoroughly examining technological developments early is essential to prevent unintended detrimental consequences. Additionally, robotics and autonomous systems should be considered explicitly when developing future iterations of the Sustainable Development Goals to avoid reversing progress or exacerbating inequalities.

How can we best describe the operation of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), and how can we improve policy-making in CSDP? The Open Method of Coordination (OMC) is predicated on the conviction that there are clear limits to the extent that European Union (EU) foreign and security policy can be strengthened through the restricting tendencies of intergovernmental cooperation between EU member states. Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) - agreed by the European Council and 25 EU member states in 2017 - offers practical instruments towards delivering value-added capacity to the process of crisis management beyond intergovernmentalism. As a process, PESCO is analogous to the logic of OMC, including more appropriate levels of coordination at the national organisational level in order to effectively facilitate the EU's comprehensive approach to conflict prevention and crisis management. The requirement for new and 'open' types of EU foreign and security policy coordination is underlined by the immense differences between EU member states in external policy, both concerning national crisis management structures and the resulting inefficient segmentation of policy at the EU level. .

With China and Russia acting more assertively vis-à-vis Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have gradually moved to the core of contemporary Eurasian geopolitics – albeit to varying degrees. The European Union (EU) has purposefully sought to promote its norms and values in the region for quite some time in the past. However, considering the ongoing Western "polycrisis" exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic most recently, our paper investigates how the EU has been recalibrating its relationship towards Central Asia – within the timespan of its two EU Central Asia Strategies, dating from 2007 and 2019, respectively. We argue that the reformulation of EU policy towards Central Asia is pragmatically taking its lead from the growing constraints of EU foreign policy as well as Chinese and Russian intervention in the region; it is, in the end, geographical proximity that continues to shape geopolitics in Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanisation presents multiple opportunities, but also poses challenges for equitable distribution of gains from socio-economic developments. This systematic review explored the role of social inclusion within the urban sustainability agenda. Sustainable urban developments were conceptualised as comprising environmental, spatial, social and economic perspectives; and social inclusion as entailing access to core services (healthcare) and resources (food). A search of five databases and grey literature returned 1,015 articles; 26 papers were included following screening using pre-determined criteria. Data was analysed thematically. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations were followed. Most included studies were from North America and few were from Africa and Asia. More empirical than conceptual studies were found, and more focused on food than healthcare. Social inclusion was generally included within the urban sustainability but was often an autonomous component, rather than mainstreamed, within urban sustainability. Social inclusion was mostly related to multiple elements of sustainability, with the greatest focus on combinations of environmental, social and economic opportunities for under privileged groups. However, less consideration was given to gender, ethnicity and other aspects of intersectionality. Multiple theories contributed to transferability of lessons. Key policy implications include prioritising the most vulnerable socially excluded populations, ensuring equal representation in urban planning, designing people-centred systems, building partnerships with communities, considering socio-cultural-political-economic contexts, and recognising both intended and unintended effects. More research is needed in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) on the role of social inclusion in achieving sustainable development, using cross-disciplinary approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the connections between identity politics and European Union (EU) aid effectiveness in peacebuilding education in Somalia. It engages with a severe educational challenge, which is that a lack of capacity in rigorous educational design and/or implementation across Somali Ministries in the South Central Zone, Somaliland and Puntland has led to the importation of multiple foreign curricula into the country simultaneously that do not address Somali history and contemporary conflict drivers and that frequently clash with local values as well as with each other. We critique this from a 'new barbarism' perspective, arguing that Somali voices and educational priorities have not been provided a sufficient space for expression in the EU debate on the global and therefore also the national development agenda. In order to promote genuine societal transformation, we need to be moving away from peace education delivery that aims to make people less violent or less Barbarian, towards peacebuilding education that aims to question the critical role of education in society in order to overcome social injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]