Ethics and Political Philosophy
India and Pakistan Are Preparing for the Possibility of Conflict. The Most Dangerous Part Is That Both Governments May Believe the Other Side Will Back Down First.
Nearly two weeks after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the India-Pakistan crisis has not subsided. It has instead moved into the much more dangerous period between an attack and an expected response, when neither side knows…
Twenty-Six People Were Killed in Kashmir. India and Pakistan Are Escalating Again. The Hardest Question Is How a State Punishes Terrorism Without Giving Terrorists Control Over What States Do Next.
The killing of 26 people near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April has produced the most serious India-Pakistan crisis in years. Gunmen attacked tourists in the Baisaran meadow, turning a place associated with Kashmir’s…
Germany Is Preparing to Borrow Hundreds of Billions for Defence and Infrastructure. The Bigger Change Is That Europe’s Largest Economy Has Decided Fiscal Restraint Can Become a Security Risk.
Germany has approved one of the largest changes to its fiscal architecture since reunification. On 21 March, the Bundesrat approved constitutional changes previously passed by the Bundestag that will loosen Germany’s famous debt brake for…
Assad Is Gone. Now Syria Faces the Test That Determines Whether a Revolution Becomes a State: Can the Winners Protect the People Associated With the Losers?
Syria’s transition has entered its most dangerous moment since Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus in December. Over the past several days, fighting and sectarian violence have erupted across the country’s Mediterranean coastal region after gunmen associated…
Trump and Zelenskyy’s Oval Office Meeting Collapsed Into an Argument. The Bigger Issue Is What Happens When an Alliance Becomes a Negotiation Between Unequal Partners.
The meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on 28 February was supposed to demonstrate a new economic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. Instead, it ended in an extraordinary…
Trump Says the Ukraine War Must End. The Hard Question Is Whether Ending a War Quickly Can Create the Conditions for the Next One.
The diplomatic structure surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war changed dramatically this week. On 12 February, Donald Trump spoke directly with Vladimir Putin and announced that negotiations to end the war should begin, before speaking separately with…
Georgia’s Government Has Suspended Its EU Bid. The Protests Show That Foreign Policy Can Become a Question of National Identity.
Georgia has returned to the centre of the struggle over Europe’s political boundaries. On 28 November, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that his government would suspend efforts to begin European Union accession negotiations until 2028,…
Rich Countries Have Agreed to Provide $300 Billion a Year for Developing Countries. The Argument Is Whether That Number Is Large or Almost Meaningless.
The COP29 climate summit in Baku ended this weekend with developed countries agreeing to take the lead in mobilising at least $300 billion per year for developing countries by 2035, replacing the old $100 billion…
Ukraine Has Invaded Russia. The Immediate Military Gain Matters Less Than What It Reveals About Risk, Surprise and Bargaining Power.
Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk region has now become the largest incursion into Russian territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, and one of the most politically significant battlefield developments of the…
Sheikh Hasina Looked Politically Unassailable. Then a Student Protest Became a Crisis of the State.
Bangladesh is entering one of the most dangerous moments in its recent political history. What began in July as a student movement against the country’s government-job quota system has expanded into a much broader confrontation…
France’s Election Has Become a Test of Whether Blocking the Far Right Is Enough to Keep the Political Centre Alive.
France voted today in the first round of a snap parliamentary election that President Emmanuel Macron called after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) decisively defeated his coalition in the European Parliament elections earlier this…
The ANC Liberated South Africa. Thirty Years Later, Voters Have Told It That History Is Not a Permanent Mandate.
South Africa has just crossed one of the most important political thresholds since the end of apartheid. In the 29 May general election, the African National Congress fell to roughly 40% of the national vote,…
