Essay
List of Essay articles
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An illustration shows a stylized globe with a crack through it. A hand with a wrench tightens the screw atop the globe. The Field of Geopolitics Offers Both Promise and Peril
The world’s most dismal science could make Eurasia safe for illiberalism and predation—or protect it from those forces.
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A resin model of a sculpture illustrating the World War I Christmas Truce soccer match is pictured inside the remains of St. Luke's Church in Liverpool, England. World War I’s ‘Silent Night’
The mythical appeal of the Christmas truce evokes the idea that ordinary people would get along if not for their governments.
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An illustration shows an inverted black and white image of the city skyline of Frankfurt split down the middle with a paper tear revealing a green background. Against the field of green, a cross section of a tree and a seedling are shown. The Relentless Growth of Degrowth Economics
Europe’s push to abandon capitalism is motivated by optimism about politics—and pessimism about everything else.
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A globe with blocks and chunks missing from it sits atop the shoulders of a person looking into a dystopian horizon. The Global Credibility Gap
No one power or group can uphold the international order anymore—and that means much more geopolitical uncertainty ahead.
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An illustration shows a data storage cloud over a semiconductor chip The Cloud Can Solve America’s AI Problems
Washington doesn’t have to restrict chip exports to control the technology’s future development.
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A Palestinian man carries his child to cross a roadblock in the West Bank city of Hebron in 2003. Rubble fills the land he walks across and barbed wire coils in front of him. A woman with a head covering follows behind them. All the Palestinians Got From Oslo Was KFC
Thirty years of the peace process has left us with less land and fewer rights.
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A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor. No, the World Is Not Multipolar
The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.
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The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022. America Can’t Stop China’s Rise
And it should stop trying.
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A crowd of people walk down Takeshita Street in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. Does Japan’s Economy Prove That Neoliberalism Lost?
Economists are rethinking East Asia’s “miracle” as the Washington Consensus falters.
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An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo. A New Multilateralism
How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.
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A macro image of dozens of tiny semiconductor chips on a circuitboard from inside a cell phone. Let There Be Microchips
The semiconductor and its near-divine creation story.
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An illustration shows overlapping cannons or missile barrels pointing in different directions coming out of a map of Taiwan. A U.S. flag is in a barrel on one side and a China flag in a barrel on the other. Deterrence in Taiwan Is Failing
The United States has committed to keeping the peace but isn’t doing enough to stop the war.
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A collage photo illustration shows examples of soft power around the world including a smoking NAFO shiba inu in a beret and fatigues, a dancing woman from the Bollywood movie "Monsoon Wedding," Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens, K-pop band BTS, and a panda. Soft Power Is Making a Hard Return
Leaders are reaching for fellas and films as much as bullets and blockades.
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Margot Robbie as Barbie and Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer stand in front of an apocalyptic pink and orange clouded desert landscape in a photo illustration for the two movies. Barbie wears her iconic black-and-white-striped swimsuit and sunglasses, and Oppenheimer a period hat and suit with cigarette in hand. ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ Have More in Common Than You Think
Both films attempt to atone for the complicated legacies of American icons. Only one succeeds.
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A black and white print overlaid with a red star shows Russian Tsar Peter the Great holding up a glass in a toast after beheading one of the Streltsy rebels in front of his nobles. A headless figure rests on the ground and other people surround the tsar with lifted glasses. Putin’s Fear of Strong Generals Is as Old as Russia Itself
Prigozhin’s rise and fall is the latest example of what happens when a ruler in Moscow fears the power of military underlings.
