Ukraine’s complex history does not neatly fit into modern ideas of nationhood. But Putin’s twisted attempts to use history to justify his invasion have generated a remarkable spirit of Ukrainian patriotism.
Over the past century, religion throughout Europe has been rapidly on the wane. The recent growth of Europe’s Muslim population, however, has slowed this trend.
The Holy Alliance, a significant aspect of this post-1815 world, might offer a useful model to shape a legitimate and workable international order of the future.
When the Human Genome Initiative published its first findings in 2002, the world was shocked. Genetic biologists, however, had long ago come to realise that DNA sequences are only part of the story of how organisms develop.
Civilisation and development has improved the quality of human life in human societies, but not in a linear way.
Nuclear arsenals constrain us, within limits. They enable dictators, within limits. Those limits matter, whether they are the limits of what we would do to dictators if we could, or what dictators could do to us if they could.
For more than thirty years, the US has sought to avoid deploying ground forces into protracted conflict. It has nevertheless done so in almost every single one of those years. Perhaps it is time to accept reality.
The West’s preoccupation with transparency, debate and consensus has rendered it slow and predictable. In this age of strategic competition, it is imperative that it regains the ability to surprise.
Iran and Russia’s leaderships are bound by ties far deeper than geopolitical coincidences of interest: they share a state of mutual paranoia of the West.
The condemnation of the annexation of the Crimea was unified and strong, but the sanctions that followed lacked any real bite.
The current refugee crisis is the latest chapter in a history of displacement in the region that embraces two world wars and their aftermath.
Romantic, radical and with an eye to the past, George Orwell’s idea of civilisation was multifaceted and at times paradoxical.
Immigration, asylum and naturalisation policies have always been at the heart of great power competition. It is time for American policymakers to begin thinking about how a more enlightened approach to immigration can help the United States preserve its primacy.
With each new peace treaty, the idea of the nation state slowly materialised. Now, in its parliamentarian form, it reigns supreme but in a post-9/11 world it faces increased competition.
The lack of transparency over NATO expansion can be linked to the Russian leader’s mythologising over his country’s epic struggle.
For the past sixty years, the use of nuclear weapons has become unthinkable. But with every conflict there comes a point where the unthinkable becomes possible.
A generation of former East Germans, hand-picked to go to the then Soviet Union to study and work, could have used their insights to guide current foreign policy and help avert the government’s embarrassing gaffes. Why were they never consulted?
With Nazism, it was proven, if proof was ever needed, that barbarism does not necessarily stand in contradiction to culture and that even the most noble artistic expressions can inspire the most barbaric acts.
Helping India remove itself from its structural dependency on Russia is a delicate task. Decoupling must ultimately progress along two paths: providing an alternative to the deep technical cooperation India has developed with Moscow and assuring the breadth of supply necessary to meet the demands of India’s defence plan.
Scholars of esotericism are often asked to justify their field of research and its place in modern society. However, esotericism provides fertile ground for radical thinking and is a useful means of considering the limitations of standard western thought.
The current reaction against free trade is a result of a blind faith in the market, but retreat into economic isolation is not a solution either. The policies of George Canning, a nineteenth century British Foreign Secretary, can offer a useful lesson in the values of following the middle way.
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