Plus, overhauling public school funding and transforming Africa’s trade and economic landscape.
Expect to see more North Korean weapons reach nonstate armed actors in 2024 Recent accounts of North Korean weapons in the hands of nonstate armed actors—such as Hamas and the Wagner Group—have drawn renewed attention to North Korea’s long-standing involvement in the global illicit arms trade. Escalating conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s prolonged war in Ukraine will only increase demand from both state and nonstate actors for low-cost weapons from North Korea, warns Andrew Yeo. Yeo argues that the United States and the international community must push harder to monitor and disrupt North Korea’s illicit arms trade and financial networks and enforce sanctions that are already in place. | More research and commentary Equitable and efficient public school funding systems. One of the most significant efforts to overhaul public school funding has taken place in California. Paul Bruno and Haeryun Kim discuss the Local Control Funding Formula and what other states may be able to learn from it. The future of African trade. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) establishes one of the largest free trade areas in the world with a market of 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. Hippolyte Fofack explains how AfCFTA could transform the continent’s trade and economic landscape. | The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. | |