2021

Increased cooperation could spur policy shifts from migration to medical manufacturing.

A lot happened in 2021. Test your foreign-policy knowledge with our year-end news quiz.

Tehran’s march toward the bomb has been enabled by the administration’s refusal to impose consequences.

The book “Haifa Republic” is a noble effort to salvage a worldview that no longer has anything to offer.

Biden wants a new normal, but Trump’s shadow looms large.

The military authorities need to be pushed to protect their own citizens from a staggering rise in violence.

Antonov: “No one should doubt our determination to defend our security.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on a recent spate of hate speech and violence is deafening.

Next year’s contests are set to bring populist reckonings, parliamentary headaches, and a possible democratic crisis or two.

From the White House to Turtle Bay, sanctions have never been more popular. But why are they so hard to make work?

The United States is demanding that Russia roll back more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border.

Instead of pushing Beirut to the economic brink, Saudi Arabia should address its own amphetamine addiction.

Extraditing the outgoing president won’t be easy, but it’s what many citizens want.

The United States has committed to combatting corruption—but is hesitating to take on Russia.

Relations between the world’s two largest economic powers are at historic lows.

Republicans are looking to capitalize on the White House’s perceived missteps in Afghanistan and Ukraine.

Battle deaths may be down, but regional wars continue to rage as great-power confrontations loom, from Ukraine to Taiwan, amid declining U.S. influence.

Ethiopia’s war and other conflicts in the Horn of Africa region will shape the coming year.

The eighth round of nuclear talks kicks off this week in Vienna, with U.S. officials saying Iran has only weeks to play ball.

The biggest country to maintain “zero COVID” faces its greatest challenge yet.

The U.S. Justice Department’s China Initiative has become dangerously broad.

From the AUKUS fracas to China’s bullying tactics in Europe, here are some of the top diplomatic spats from the past year that could haunt us in the next.

China’s government wants the country to have one story, and Xi Jinping is at the center of it.

Time to avoid climate change’s worse impacts is running out. What did 2021 change?

Biden pledged to restore the United States’ alliances. It’s been a bigger headache than he anticipated.

A one-sided U.S. approach provided political cover to the TPLF insurgency. Washington now has an opportunity to create the conditions for peace.

A preview of the challenges the U.S. president should prepare for in the year ahead.

Past attacks suggest Moscow probably won’t move on Ukraine.

The country could still achieve genuine racial justice after its moral giants have left the stage—but don’t count on the ANC government to lead the way. 

After more than a year of fighting, is peace on the horizon—or does wider war loom?

Start the new year on a bright note: Here are five things to be excited about.

Athletes rebuked competitive norms as COVID-19 became the most normal part of the Tokyo Games.

Skyrocketing inflation, government corruption, and international apathy defined a country in economic free fall.

Sometimes the slights are… slight.

If regulation of space weapons is coming, Putin wants to be ahead of the pack.

Israel’s leaders have always shown contempt for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip because their past—and ongoing presence—pose a direct challenge to Israel’s founding myth.

From a semi-fictionalized account of the Netanyahus to a meditation on ancient Rome’s stabbiness, here are the best book and film reviews Foreign Policy published this year.

Germany said goodbye to a generational leader—and hello to an entirely new era.

A stunning military coup in early 2021 kicked off a year of unprecedented change.

The trial to liquidate Russia’s best-known human rights organization is about much more.

This year, voters from Chile to Honduras to Peru elected leftist leaders who promised to ease endemic inequality.

China has taken an increasing interest in the fast-growing market. That’s bad news for gamers.

India’s farmers’ protests and COVID-19 catastrophe may have slowed the prime minister’s rise.

Here are some of Foreign Policy’s best deep dives from the past year.

2021 saw a change in Iran’s government and on-again, off-again nuclear talks.

In 1973, a presidential flight stunt baffled everyone.

Russia’s year-end telethon ends with the usual bombast about Ukraine, NATO, and Father Frost.

But so have Russia’s armed forces—making any conflict more of a toss-up than a walkover.

If democratic survival is the great issue of our time, Biden’s team has to be more demanding and more ambitious.

2021 was a year of crackdowns, COVID-19, and saber-rattling.

China’s rise, the post-Trump world, and the fall of Kabul were of particular interest to FP readers.

Joint U.S.-EU carbon border fees could be much more damaging to Russia than sanctions.

Too much classification undermines the rule of law. Here’s how to fix a broken system.

A new deal can be worked out that keeps peace and trade intact.

Famine and destitution loom, yet more aid could strengthen the Taliban.

From Belarus’s leader-in-exile to Japan’s newest prime minister, these articles show how personality and policymaking intertwine.

High power prices. Rolling blackouts. Dwindling supplies. And a cascade of economic and political turmoil felt around the world.

FP’s five best podcast episodes of 2021.

In 2021, the biggest vaccination drive in global history affected everything from public health to diplomacy.

Expanding security cooperation and friendly rhetoric are strengthening Ankara’s influence on the continent.

Is Biden stonewalling Congress? It depends whom you ask.

The North Korean dictator is just as brutal as his predecessors—but has instrumentalized that brutality to new ends.

Progressive thinkers tried to explain ever more of the world—and found themselves explaining nothing at all.

There should be little doubt in Tehran about the urgent necessity of restoring the nuclear agreement.

A stunning Taliban takeover left Afghanistan—and the world—transformed.

Other countries are taking the lead in cracking down on U.S.-based groups.

Despite draconian laws, the region’s biggest economy is hooked on amphetamines.

Memorial is the latest victim of Russia’s history wars.

What looked like the first and best chance to unseat Orban is bogged down by infighting and inertia.

Progressive Democrats lambasted Trump over the practice.

War in Gaza, intercommunal violence, and a new government have not led to any breakthroughs when it comes to peace.

From the U.N.’s diversity problem to the pipeline that turned into a lightning rod, here are our most impactful reads.

Americans need the government to level with them about the need to stand up to rivals like Russia and China—and the costs of failure.

In December 1939, a small country with a small military held off the vastly superior Soviet Red Army and avoided occupation by its larger neighbor.

Adam McKay’s allegory of climate change revels in a misguided understanding of science.

Anti-vaccination beliefs are highly dependent on cultural and social context. Here’s what worked in two United States-based studies.

Civilian killings by the Indian Army in Nagaland state have revived debate about the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

It’s time for the Indo-Pacific democracies to address the crisis.

Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast threatens to politicize the country’s constitutional rewrite.

The country’s democratization and ongoing efforts to fight entrenched graft and cronyism are a threat to Putin’s model of governance.

They have slowly but steadily attained political power. What will they do with it?

2021 has been a lesson in the limits of U.S. foreign policy.

The administration is paying for vain hopes with dangerous concessions.

After a year of attacks on Israel, Iran’s hackers have another target.

Key Takeaways from the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees’ Cryptocurrency Hearings

“He thought there [was] no government in Afghanistan for him to represent at the U.N.,” one Afghan diplomat said.

So why are most of them not paid enough—and some not paid at all?

Despite a welcome flurry of diplomacy, Washington still has no clear strategy for the region.

A new deal between Israel and Jordan represents a big step forward from the Abraham Accords.

Regional governments that once shunned Damascus are mending fences with a murderous regime—showing human rights abusers everywhere how to commit atrocities with impunity.

China’s new airports and highways near the border have put officials on edge.

China’s state-linked influence operations get very little engagement on Twitter.

The EU’s border and coast guard agency is expanding fast—but member states find it too soft to rely on.

Burkina Faso’s government resigns amid protests and the military’s failure to counter Islamists.

The United States is finally taking big steps to close the loopholes that make America a money laundering haven.

In Asia, the door is wide open to new partnerships bolstering democratic norms.

Protests at the port city should be a wake-up call for Islamabad.

The British prime minister’s shining political star seems to be dimming—and with it, perhaps, Conservative prospects.

The government’s plan to relocate thousands of refugees to a congested camp could have catastrophic consequences.

The ambiguous feminist legacy of the world’s most powerful woman.

Did Erdogan break Turkish politics by empowering the presidency—or was it broken already?

Putin hasn’t set his sights on just Ukraine. Further destabilization of Georgia is next on his agenda.

Beijing’s focus on economic ties will outlast Washington’s on military alliances.

When at least 27 migrants, mostly Kurds, drowned last month, it was the culmination of a century-long Anglo-French tragedy.

The 21st century doesn’t belong to China, the United States, or Silicon Valley. It belongs to the internet.

When tackling big, global problems, expect pushback—but keep going.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner’s cause is about more than just press freedom.

Brussels likes to ostracize the Polish government, but Warsaw has just done the entire continent a favor.

Beijing’s overreaction to the virtual summit is telling.

But additional economic sanctions under study could be more devastating to Moscow than the last ones were.

The existing sanctions regime on Taliban leaders makes it hard for the world to help the Afghan people.

If incoming President Xiomara Castro lives up to her promises, there’s a chance to address the root causes of forced migration.

U.S. ambassador Daniel Smith is tapped to lead a review to understand the lessons of U.S. involvement.

The country has the most polluted cities in the world—but so far is doing very little in response.

“Active nonalignment” is on display in a busy week of summits with both Beijing and Washington.

Although current headlines are focused on South Africa, this is very much a challenge facing the global north.

Russia’s threat on the Ukrainian border is not a bluff, but forceful U.S. financial sanctions could stop Putin from another land grab.

But Biden’s talk of accommodating Russia has Congress worried.

If Imran Khan cares about foreign investment and economic growth, he must abolish the country’s blasphemy law.

To show the world the United States is back as a democratic leader, Biden should hold the U.S. military and its allies accountable in warfare.

Serious domestic efforts at justice in Colombia have led the court to suspend its longest-running examination to date.

In a long overdue step, the U.N. Security Council may finally address climate security.

Professional provocateur Éric Zemmour makes Marine Le Pen look like a moderate.

There are dangers to hosting diplomatic meetings without a clear purpose.

Beijing is scaling back its investments across the continent, but it still has greater economic influence than the United States.

Biden’s Summit for Democracy requires a humbler approach to succeed.

The United States has a chance to become a standard-bearer as digital currencies expand.

After trying to ban cryptocurrencies, the country’s Central Bank has launched its own digital currency—but it won’t end the country’s foreign exchange volatility or shore up its reserves.

Playing to the anti-vaccine base hasn’t led to electoral gains—yet.

Modi’s twin diplomatic meetings this week underscore how Russia remains a source of discord between the United States and India.

Food is power in a country where only a small portion of people are allowed to enter supermarkets.

To protect democracy, we have to first figure out why it’s worth saving.

Biden’s Summit for Democracy must go on the offensive.

The group is normalizing death and despair in the Islamic Emirate.

Dole’s Bosnia advocacy throughout the 1992-1995 war made him the most consequential Bosnia hawk in Congress.

The money is unprecedented, but Indigenous communities are bracing for disappointment.

After 40 years of stasis, some new faces sense a glimmer of hope to change Lebanon’s poisoned politics.

The U.S. president is reneging on his campaign promises in an effort to appease Riyadh. A bipartisan team of lawmakers can stop him.

Bonded laborers, many of whom belong to the Dalit community, are owned by their landlords and work for little or no pay.

The State Department’s Africa chief addresses concerns that special envoys shut out other diplomats from policymaking.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is spinning new projects as fast as he can.

Kyiv’s pleas for more U.S. guns to hold off Moscow have prompted a political knife fight in Washington.

Diplomacy post-Biden-Xi summit is a test of intentions.

As the 1948 Genocide Convention makes clear, killing isn’t the only crime.

In Colombia, armed groups have treated the pandemic as a recruitment opportunity.

Once again, the rich world sees Africans as a threat to the planet.

Stolen Nepali art is a key test for Western institutions.

The killing of the Herero has disturbing parallels with the treatment of Uyghurs.

Standing up for U.S. values doesn't mean abandoning caution.

Its ascent to a leadership role in international diamond accreditation is an opportunity for the industry to clean up its act.

If any outside power could help Sudan chart a path to democracy, it should have been the United States.

China is trying to free itself from dependence on imported technology.

Silicon Valley executives should recognize Palestinian statehood in line with U.N. norms.

This week in FP’s international news quiz: A new COVID-19 variant spreads, women take power, and farmers notch a big win.

The country lacks both the wherewithal and resources to recalibrate its standing in Asia.

From omicron restrictions to the Iran deal and the democracy summit, Washington is making questionable calls that don’t inspire confidence in U.S. leadership.

The U.N.’s obsession with process is making conflict and instability more likely.

From Rihanna to climate finance, the small island nation has big foreign-policy goals.

How U.S. polluters might drag the country’s economy down with them.

Infighting among Anglophone separatists and denial by the Cameroonian government are escalating the ongoing conflict.

The West is wasting time Afghans do not have.

Negotiations are far off, but they are the only way out of a catastrophic conflict.

Sticking up for smaller powers and Westphalian principles is worth it.

Delusions about Moscow’s “little brother” are common and dangerous.

It’s a matter of time until an even more dangerous coronavirus variant emerges if we fail to vaccinate the world’s most vulnerable populations.

By reconciling with an estranged uncle, Syria’s dictator may have definitively reestablished his power.

Diplomatic spats could undermine U.N. position ahead of key national elections.

Warsaw is challenging Brussels on the rule of law but using an immigration crisis to soften any pushback.

Bangladesh has major geopolitical value on its own merits, separate from India or any other country.

A unified democratic alliance finally has the chance to beat Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party in elections early next year.