2020

Lack of communication over surplus doses has prompted suspicion and anger.

Pundits behave as if only North Korea matters in Seoul’s politics.

Essential reads from a Chinese wind farm in Del Rio, Texas, to U.N. headquarters.

From the pandemic to Black Lives Matter and the U.S. election, five articles from the year that changed everything.

From human rights abuses in Xinjiang to the coronavirus crisis in the United States, here are the stories that most captivated our readers this year.

A country that once seemed to hold great promise for peaceful democratization has descended into conflict. Here’s what could happen next.

Britain’s prime minister promised to take back control. When it comes to the coronavirus, he has lost it.

Can France’s president redeem a language of colonialism to project global power today?

Europe’s year-end investment deal with Beijing is a clear window into the German chancellor’s foreign-policy worldview.

Washington’s new rivalry with Beijing isn’t a reprise of the Cold War. It’s much more complicated.

Almost one year in, an ambitious set of norms has had mixed results.

Citizens hungry for information turned to the media during the pandemic, but governments around the world used the crisis to restrict journalists.

Old narratives about the city fell apart this year, but new ones can still be born.

Want to cut costs and contain China? Allow friendly nuclear proliferation.

From the tragedy of whistleblowers to imperiled nuclear talks to the State Department's struggle with diversity, here are some of our articles that had an outsized impact this year.

Despite heated language, the U.S. goals haven’t changed.

Americans are aware that Democrats and Republicans have become polarized—but they’ve misunderstood how.

Here are five of our best pieces on how East Asia handled the pandemic.

A look back at our best essays on the onset of the coronavirus.

We don't yet know whether new variants of the coronavirus may impede vaccines’ efficacy. But they shouldn’t change anything about our approach to public health.

Respecting drug companies’ intellectual property rights during a pandemic doesn’t make medical, or economic, sense.

The world in 2021 will be haunted by the legacies of 2020: an ongoing pandemic, an economic crisis, Donald Trump’s divisive presidency—and new threats emanating from wars and climate change.

After decades of uneasy ties, China can no longer deny that India is a real threat.

With much of the world in lockdown again, here are some of this year’s highlights to help you pass the time.

The United States was already fighting with China for influence at global organizations, but the pandemic made everything worse.

From Afghanistan to Mexico, and from Belarus to Cambodia, here’s the best photojournalism from a year that felt like a decade.

The coziness between Washington and Big Tech is over.

The British novelist didn’t just write about the world of intelligence. He changed it forever.

The continent thought it had the coronavirus beat—and had its guard down when it mattered most.

Turkey took its expansionist vision to new heights in 2020—but with a battered economy, growing opposition, and now U.S. sanctions, it’s not clear how long that can continue.

In the Christmas movie universe, Europeans are royals, the military is a burden, and home is where the heart is.

From a showdown with Iran to Trump’s loyalty tests, some of 2020’s major stories will have ripple effects for the Biden administration.

A decade after Arabs started a regional revolution, it’s the neighboring continent that will never be the same.

Russia started the year with political uncertainty, then cemented Putin’s future, and ended the year by poisoning the main opposition figure—and future relations with the Biden administration.

Biden’s nuclear weapons policies will likely maintain a bipartisan status quo.

With violence on the rise and the U.S. military drawing down, international donors are pulling back some assistance to Afghanistan. Women in refugee camps stand to suffer.

The outgoing U.S. secretary of state orders a review to determine if China’s repression of Uighurs constitutes genocide.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another Israeli election and a rebellion in the ruling Likud party spell trouble for Netanyahu.

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

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.

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

The new administration should not simply undo Trump’s toxic legacy and return to the dead-end Oslo peace process. It must pressure Israel to accept the Arab Peace Initiative.

Wargames can provide essential cybersecurity training for soldiers. But they won’t succeed unless the players confront real, independent hackers.

As Xi consolidated power, U.S. officials struggled to read China’s new ruler.

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.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden swiftly named his cabinet despite continued resistance from the defeated Donald Trump. Where he’ll go from here is another question.

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

Rust Belts exist around the world, and integrating them into the larger trans-Atlantic community is key to political stability.

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

The shifting ground in the Middle East is creating new options for breaking the stalemate.

Though Israel remains opposed to Palestinian independence, 2020 marked the year of its acceptance in the region.

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

It could make 2021 the year Americans rediscover science.

The discovery of U.S. spy networks in China fueled a decadelong global war over data between Beijing and Washington.

Swedes can’t figure out their government’s coronavirus approach, a progressive push on U.S. foreign policy, and an honest assessment of the Arab Spring’s fallout.

And why Morocco’s apparent victory there will change regional politics.

Agriculture’s importance for the labor market cannot be underestimated—especially amid a historic pandemic.

Will 2021 be full of foreign-policy crises and domestic drama or dull compared to 2020?

The Treasury’s decision to label both Switzerland and Vietnam currency manipulators was unusual—and leaves the Biden administration with some tough choices to make.

The country’s contrarian approach to the COVID-19 pandemic was meant to prove that trust in authorities could avert lockdowns. Instead, mixed messaging and political squabbles have led to an exploding epidemic.

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

After a drawdown of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier this year, the Trump administration ordered another cut in response to threats from Iran.

Modi’s party is expected to further polarize state electorates along religious lines in 2021.

When they enter office, Biden and Harris must make up for lost ground.

The Communist Party is putting ideological battles first.

A gaggle of progressive groups are trying to line up candidates for top foreign-policy roles in the incoming administration.

Moving quickly to resurrect the JCPOA, as Biden seems set to do, would start his presidency with a hugely divisive controversy.

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.

The current conflict is the latest battle in a long-running war over the country’s identity as a unitary or federal state. The United States can restore its credibility as an honest broker by helping resolve it.

The Arab world is trapped in a state of permanent revolution.

Open-source investigations enable officials and lawmakers to discuss Russian skullduggery without exposing sources and methods of U.S. intelligence

Ten years after the Arab Spring, Tunisians are discovering that political reform alone isn’t enough.

As U.S. troops leave Afghanistan, Taliban attacks are on the rise—and peace negotiations are at risk of collapsing.

I was a teenage protester, then a prisoner, now a refugee. We won’t go back to silence.

Governments and aid organizations think of displaced populations as temporary. But it is time to face reality.

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

In his memoirs, the former U.S. president seems uninterested in a critical appraisal of his drone policies. Considering the human suffering caused by America’s drone wars, Joe Biden should not make the same mistake.

It’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to become a more ardent defender of Indigenous interests.

Years of chaos at the top have left governance a mess.

But as the Russian hack of the U.S. government shows, they are getting worse.

The “silent general” has never been very quiet on policy. That’s exactly why Biden picked him as defense secretary—and why Washington’s foreign-policy establishment is wary.

FP Analytics’ two-part Arctic Competition Power Map provides Insiders with an in-depth breakdown of how melting sea ice is enabling increased commercial activity and geopolitical competition over resources, shipping routes, and territory in the Arctic.

The so-called gender critical movement is illogical, anti-feminist, and cruel.

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

Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty dangerously undermines decades of carefully crafted U.S. policy.

It might be the best way to repair ties in the long run.

What it takes to make a truly great secretary of state—and why the United States may not need one now.

If the Iraqi government fails to pay state workers’ salaries in January, it could lead to widespread instability and violence. The United States and the international community must shore up Baghdad’s finances before it’s too late.

Signs that the Belarusian dictator’s days in power might be numbered have emerged in his security apparatus.

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

Fleeing a civil war shaped by the West, Cameroonians have been met on American shores with hostility, high-risk conditions, and now unconscionable deportation.

Why Biden could lose the left, the peril of persuasion in the Big Tech age, and old rivals join forces in Kashmir.

Threats, violence, and clampdowns have failed. Can decriminalization work?

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

Picking the right statistics has been critical to handling—or botching—the coronavirus pandemic.

How business interests prevent Lebanon from rebuilding its infrastructure, government, and economy.

The spy agencies will still get money, but Trump’s House allies are trying to hobble much-needed reforms.

Persuasion is essential to society and democracy, but we need new rules governing how companies can harness it.

The incoming U.S. president’s team doesn’t point in any clear direction, and progressives are worried.

As the Trump administration winds down, Riyadh is trying—and failing—to cut its losses on a failed regional policy.

The Democratic coalition is already fracturing. But losing his erstwhile allies could actually make it easier to govern—and boost his standing.

There’s plenty of reason to be skeptical of the president-elect’s national-security choices—but here’s hoping he proves history wrong.

India’s attack on Kashmiri autonomy has united two parties that were once sworn enemies. The newly formed Gupkar Alliance could reshape the disputed region’s politics and cause problems for the BJP.

Trump has long refused to penalize Ankara for acquiring advanced Russian air defense systems, but Congress is forcing his hand.

The Free Trade Area of the Americas has spent years on the back burner, but Biden could revive it when he takes office.

China’s threats against Australia cannot go unanswered by the United States.

Aid organizations fear that Israel is about to deport thousands of asylum-seekers to Sudan now that the two countries have made peace.

Who the U.S. president-elect picks to fill lower-level posts in the State Department, the Pentagon, and other agencies will say a lot about his foreign policy.

Strategic economic reserves can allow Washington to bolster smaller countries like Australia.

The European Union’s foreign minister explains his vision for a new U.S.-Europe partnership for the next four years.

But the vote laid down a marker for the incoming Biden administration on Democrats’ opposition to Middle Eastern arms sales and U.S. involvement in the conflict in Yemen.

Some lawmakers and many national security experts are wary of another general atop the Pentagon, but Lloyd Austin has the president-elect’s ear—and backing.

Once an asset, the clan has become an electoral liability.

The government is walking on a tightrope as the coronavirus crisis grinds on.

Western Sahara’s fate lies in the hands of the U.N. Security Council.

“America first” doesn’t work against a global opponent.

Eastern Europeans are returning home in droves. Here’s what that means for Eastern Europe’s economies—and the European Union.

Missiles remotely fired with the assistance of a U.S. base on German soil killed my family in Yemen, but neither German nor U.S. courts are willing to hold anyone accountable.

Biden’s landing teams are steering clear of an administration that has often served as a COVID-19 superspreader event.

The EU vows to seize the opportunity posed by the new U.S. administration—but muddled strategy still stands in the way.

The U.S.-China conflict may be the defining 21st-century challenge, but the recommendations stand out by what they fail to address.

Lloyd Austin would be the first Black person to serve in the job.

There’s a right man for the job of a careful review.

A dozen wealthy donor states press the United Nations Development Program to investigate allegations that funds were misappropriated from a Russia climate program it managed.

“The China Nightmare” lays out the risks of a surprisingly fragile state.

The Faroe Islands have a history of trading with everyone who will buy their fish. With growing tensions in the Arctic region, the islands are now receiving more attention from superpowers.

The United States—from a combination of arrogance and ignorance—is preparing to tie its own hands on China policy.

Jake Sullivan spent several years working on a less ambitious approach to U.S. global interests that could disappoint both internationalists and progressives.

Branding Saudi Arabia a pariah state would be counterproductive to regional stability.

A scientific study that was long kept under wraps by the State Department finally provides some—though not all—of the answers to mysterious health problems of American officials.

The country can no longer afford a State Department that is “pale, male, and Yale.”

EU member states find commonality in crisis, Afghans accuse donor countries of hypocrisy on corruption, and how Biden’s climate plans could shape energy markets.

G. John Ikenberry’s new book traces what went wrong. And Biden is listening.

A new book offers riveting and memorable reporting, though it falls back on outdated narratives of a country that has moved on.

The Biden team needs to step up and push new initiatives

The new administration will use foreign policy tools to promote climate goals, boost clean energy, and punish carbon-intensive production.

The New York congressman fended off a progressive challenge in an unusually public race.

The president-elect’s picks have deep experience in the Washington establishment. It’s unclear whether the party’s left can make its voice heard in the new administration.

It may be possible to find a framework for stable coexistence.

Economic devastation and tightened censorship have made for a bleak 2020.

The social media company’s search for consistent rules has been long, winding, and entirely self-defeating.

The pandemic has the continent increasingly discussing its common boundaries—and common identity.

The U.S. secretary of state plans massive holiday gatherings, while department catering and event staff mostly lack employer health insurance.

The Biden administration must prepare to stand up for protesters.

A bipartisan crackdown on Chinese forced labor has put Western corporations on notice—and could pave the way for Washington to finally support the International Criminal Court.

The lesson of the past four years is clear: Don’t let policy toward the island dominate the U.S. agenda on Latin America.

Chinese acquisitions of Western firms are only part of the problem. Secret venture capital is handing power to Beijing under the radar.

Left-wing groups want to ensure Biden doesn’t pick Michael Morrell, seen as linked to post-9/11 counterterrorism policies, as CIA director.

Nancy McEldowney is one of several former senior foreign service officers expected to join the senior ranks of the new U.S. administration.

In 1987, Biden’s pick for secretary of state offered a warning. He should heed it today.

Beijing’s COVID-19 response has been a success story, and the Communist Party wants to keep it that way.

The U.S. president-elect and his top advisors have made the fight against dirty money one of their early priorities.

The U.K.’s quick approval of the Pfizer vaccine means some Britons will get shots starting next week—but in the rest of the world, it’s going to take a while for regular people to get inoculated.

The former leader’s blend of anti-corruption rhetoric and strongman rule still holds great appeal for a generation disappointed by contemporary politicians.

As East Africa faces a triple crisis from COVID-19, floods, and locusts, cutting U.S. aid to the Ethiopian government is not the solution. Neutral mediation to resolve the GERD dispute can result in a win-win situation.

Moderates will lose the June 2021 presidential election in Iran unless there is a new agreement and sanctions relief—and the United States can forget diplomacy if hardliners win.

The president is pushing against a law that digital rights groups say protect social media firms.

Much of the donor money to Afghanistan is lost to fraud and abuse, in part by Western companies.

A move to dissolve parliament could mean a fourth ballot in less than two years.

If Biden gets the response right, he could put the region on better footing for years to come.

How sanctions against the Syrian regime are forcing the country into famine.

A State Department assessment warned the Syrian regime is worsening Lebanon’s economic collapse.

The battle between centrists and progressives over U.S. foreign policy that is dogging Biden’s transition is also playing out in a crucial committee.

The suppression of protests against police brutality wouldn’t have been possible without arms and training from abroad.

Politicians and warlords have benefited from decades of violence. The victims of the country’s endless wars could provide the key to a lasting peace.

Greeks and Greek Cypriots are hoping for stronger U.S. support in their disputes with Turkey. But that may not be the president-elect’s greatest priority.

The RCEP truly is a China-style trade agreement: platitudinous and ineffective.

The killing of a top nuclear scientist has unsettled Tehran, but it’s still talking about a new deal with the United States.

The country went through three presidents in a week in November—and it might soon have another if it doesn’t pursue a constitutional referendum like neighboring Chile.