U.S. President Donald Trump

Iran: Maximum Pressure, Minimum Gain

In 2020, the Trump administration sought to bury the Iran nuclear deal for good. Biden is poised to breathe new life into the pact. 

A sign instructing people to wash their hands—featuring a portrait of chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, the face of the Sweden’s response to the pandemic—hangs at an entrance to a restaurant in Stockholm on May 10. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images

The Inside Story of How Sweden Botched Its Coronavirus Response

Stockholm denies pursuing herd immunity. But internal emails show Swedish officials were resigned to mass infections all along.

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Tech Giants Are Giving China a Vital Edge in Espionage

U.S. officials say private Chinese firms have been enlisted to process stolen data for their country’s spy agencies.

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The Biden Transition

All the new hires and plans in one place. Click to read FP’s coverage on a fraught transfer of power.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden at the Queen theater in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 19.

Why Biden Needs to Confront Corruption

If the U.S. president-elect is serious about restoring the rule of law and democracy, he needs to first tackle the global menace of graft.

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Army's official website on Sept. 11, 2020, shows an Iranian Ghader missile being fired during a military exercise near the strategic strait of Hormuz in southern Iran.

How Biden Can Stop Iran’s Conservatives From Undermining the Nuclear Deal

Insisting that Iran must abandon its missile program could fall into the hardliners’ trap and make a new agreement impossible.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia meet at the Al-Yamamah Royal Palace in Riyadh on Oct. 14, 2019.

The New Geopolitics of Energy

Foreign Policy’s five best reads on the dramatic shift in energy policy in 2020.

A photograph of German-American philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt printed on a silk screen is on display during a press preview of the exhibition "Hannah Arendt and the Twentieth Century" at the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum - DHM) in Berlin on May 6, 2020.

What Hannah Arendt Would Do About Trump’s Former Bureaucrats

Why civil servants and other officials deserve to be held responsible for the outgoing administration’s misdeeds.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II speaks at the formal opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Buckingham Palace in London on April 19, 2018.

A Cure for the Brexit Trade Blues

After it leaves the European Union for good, the U.K. will need a new trade bloc. The Commonwealth can help.

A pharmacy technician holds a dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado, on Dec. 15.

The Vaccine Has a Serious Side Effect—A Positive One

It could make 2021 the year Americans rediscover science.

A member of the U.S. Air Force keeps watch over the runway at Kandahar Air Field in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Sept. 9, 2017.

Forever’s Gonna Stop Tonight

Trump pledged to end America’s “forever wars.” He almost managed to—but left carnage behind.

President Donald Trump and then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden

Post-Trump America Needs the Courts, Not Truth and Reconciliation

The conditions that demanded healing elsewhere don’t apply in the United States.

A fighter in Yemen walks past a burning oil tanker.

In Yemen, No End in Sight to the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis

Five articles from the past year that explain how the quagmire in Yemen sparked fierce political battles in Washington as millions teeter on the brink of starvation.

A computer monitor displaying a map available on the fitness application Strava

Your Digital Footprint Is Worryingly Easy to Match to Reality

Here’s how to stop bleeding information about yourself online.

BRITAIN-CHRISTMAS-BORIS

Boris Johnson’s Christmas Coronavirus Nightmare

The British government squandered the chance to contain the virus in hopes of economic recovery.

In the Magazine

In the Magazine

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The Most Important Election. Ever.

Why the fate of the American republic—and the world—could depend on what happens Nov. 3.

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A Perilous Presidential Handoff

The presidential transition of power has long been a weakness of the U.S. political system. But never more so than now.

The Real Hacking Threat

It doesn’t matter if Russia actually sways the vote. What matters is whether Americans think it did.

Emerging Stronger From the Great Lockdown

The managing director and the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund lay out a strategy for sustained recovery.

Protesters carry a huge former flag of Belarus during a rally to demand the resignation of President Aleksandr Lukashenko and a new election in Minsk, Belarus, on Oct. 19.

The Global News Stories You Missed in 2020

From Ethiopia to Nagorno-Karabakh, here are the events that may have flown under the radar in the year of the coronavirus pandemic.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on June 14, 2019.

China Won’t Rescue Iran

Despite reports of a major Chinese-Iranian trade deal, Beijing won’t jeopardize the possibility of better relations with Washington in order to cozy up to Tehran.

An admirer of Colombian crime boss Pablo Escobar places flowers on his grave on the anniversary of his death, at the Montesacro cemetery in Itagüí, near Medellín,  Colombia on Dec. 2.

Drug Cartels Are All Over Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

Latin American criminal gangs have embraced social media to spread narco culture and sell drugs.

Voices

A woman fills out a Mega Millions lottery ticket on October 19, 2018 in New York City.

America’s History of Luck Is Running Out

The country’s rise was fueled by fortunate circumstances that seem unlikely to last much longer.

A woman cries in Tahrir Square after it is announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was giving up power Feb. 11, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt.

Arab Dignity Is Real. So Is Arab Failure.

Ten years after the start of the Arab Spring, it’s time to accept that the revolution may never return.

Workers producing LED chips at a factory in Huaian, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, on June 16.

China’s Drive to Make Semiconductor Chips Is Failing

The stunning success of U.S. efforts to hobble Huawei shows the fragility of Beijing’s highly centralized tech sector.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after Brexit talks at EU headquarters in Brussels on Dec. 9.

Why the World Should Root for the EU in Brexit Talks

If Brussels folds, it will mark the end of the last, best hope for stopping a race to the bottom.

A FOCUS ON RACE AND FOREIGN POLICY

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Why Is Mainstream International Relations Blind to Racism?

Ignoring the central role of race and colonialism in world affairs precludes an accurate understanding of the modern state system.

Black Lives Matter Protest London

When Did Racism Become Solely a Domestic Issue?

International relations theorists once explored racism. What has the field lost by giving that up?

Then-Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi (R) speaks with presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa (L) and Denis Sassou Nguesso of Republic of Congo (C) in Tripoli on April 10, 2011 during a meeting with a high-ranking African Union delegation trying to negotiate a truce between Qaddafi's forces and rebels seeking to oust him.

By Ignoring African Leaders, the West Paved the Way for Chaos in Libya

A race-based colonial mindset that views the continent as Europe’s playground and dismisses the concerns of Africans continues to fuel death and destruction.

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Why Race Matters in International Relations

Western dominance and white privilege permeate the field. It’s time to change that.

Special insights on the post-pandemic world

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Culture Shock

Eight voices on the future of entertainment, culture, and sports.

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The Future of Travel

Seven predictions for how tourism will change.

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Will Schools and Universities Ever Return to Normal?

Nine experts on the future of education after the pandemic.

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The Future of the State

Ten leading global thinkers on government after the pandemic.

visual stories

A nurse adjusts his goggles in an intensive care unit treating coronavirus patients at a hospital in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 26.. STR/AFP via Getty Images

The Global Pandemic: A Year in Photos

The coronavirus pandemic—the defining event of 2020—left no corner of the world untouched as it closed down countries, upset economies, and took the lives of nearly 2 million people. A look at some of the powerful images from this historic year.

Ethnic Armenian soldiers man a tank by the highway connecting Stepanakert and Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh on Nov. 13.

Russian Troops in Nagorno-Karabakh ‘Clearly a Win for Moscow’

The Russian-brokered cease-fire that ended six weeks of fighting means soldiers on the ground—either as peacekeepers or as a vanguard of Putin’s latest garrison state.