Jordan is the second-most water scarce country in the world, with the country’s per capita water supply only 10 percent of the level that the United Nations defines as the boundary for water poverty. As agriculture consumes over 60 percent of water resources, Jordan will have to encourage farmers to shift to higher value, water-efficient crops, or alternative employment and revenue generation such as wind and solar farms to make environmentally sustainable water planning effective. 

SOURCE: "Sustainable States: Environment, Governance, and the Future of the Middle East" by CSIS' Jon Alterman, Natasha Hall, and Will Todman. 

While many developed economies are restricting Huawei from their 5G networks, developing economies are still welcoming the Chinese tech champion into the center of their government operations. A study identifying 70 deals in 41 countries between Huawei and foreign governments or state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for cloud infrastructure and e-government services found that the majority of deals (57 percent) are in countries that are middle-income and partly-free or not free.

SOURCE: "Huawei's Global Cloud Strategy" by CSIS' Jonathan Hillman and Maesea McCalpin. 

While the United States has relied on technology to provide a qualitative advantage over opponents since the 1940s, the last twenty-five years have been marked by a steady decline in investment to national security innovation. For example, the Department of Defense spent $64.5 billion on all R&D in FY 2020, but only $29 million for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

SOURCE: "Mapping the National Security Industrial Base: Policy Shaping Issues" by CSIS' James Lewis. 

Oil exporting states, anticipating a significant uptick in road and air travel, are feeling more confident about the market outlook for the second half of 2021 and beyond. However, lower oil prices over the past seven years have taken a significant toll, including a much larger debt overhang. Angola experienced the largest increase, with gross debt expanding from 40 percent of GDP in 2014 to an estimated 127 percent of GDP last year.

SOURCE: "Stronger Oil Prices Boost OPEC Economies" by CSIS' Ben Cahill.