Essays

Long-form writing from leading scholars and commentators on history, statecraft, warfare, philosophy and culture.

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, circa 1918.
essays

Wonder and worry: dealing with uncertainty in contemporary history

If we live in a time of great worries, we also live in a time of great wonders, where the problems that plagued humanity from the beginning of recorded time have been improved beyo..

Francis J. Gavin October 30, 2025
A golden image of a Nobel Prize decorates the front of the Science Museum in Singapore
essays

How not to win the Nobel Peace Prize

President Trump's quest for the prestigious prize is unlikely to succeed for one simple reason: they are often awarded to unentitled ‘underdogs’ who express a selfless vision of a ..

Peter Caddick-Adams October 30, 2025
Wall Street bubbles; Always the same. A Puck magazine caricature from 1901 shows John Pierpont Morgan as a bull blowing bubbles labelled 'Inflated Values'.
essays

A crash is coming

A fatal combination of AI exuberance, reckless private credit, and skyrocketing levels of sovereign debt is generating economic bubbles. When they burst, the ensuing global crisis ..

David Roche October 29, 2025
Two surveillance cameras isolated on black background.
essays

The making of an intelligence failure

At a time when western intelligence agencies are confronted by mounting threats from hostile states and terrorists, averting disaster requires clear logical processes, strategic fo..

David Omand October 22, 2025
'India and the Campaigns of the Middle East'. Map by the Gresham Publishing Company Ltd, London, c. 1920.
essays

The imperial past of Indian geopolitics

From diplomacy in the Middle East to security ties with the Persian Gulf, the key to understanding India’s expanding role on the international stage lies in the strategic vision an..

Ved Shinde October 20, 2025
Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. An engraving after Ambrosius Francken, circa 1605.
essays

The Ancient Greeks’ world of wine

The origins of wine and viticulture are found in the distant Greek past, a world of drunken gods and bibulous heroes.

Paul Cartledge October 17, 2025
A political cartoon shows the Russian bear blowing soap bubbles labeled 'Promises' through a meerschaum pipe.
essays

How America can tame the Russian bear

Conditioned by the hot and cold wars of the 20th century, Americans tend to believe that competition should culminate in total victory. The US should instead embrace competitive co..

Thomas Graham October 16, 2025
An engine drawing coal in the Staffordshire mines.
essays

Joel Mokyr’s economy of ideas

His explanation of the origins of the Industrial Revolution makes Joel Mokyr a worthy recipient of the Nobel Prize for economics.

David Wootton October 15, 2025
Vintage propaganda poster depicting air strikes on the Axis during the Second World War.
essays

Drone warfare’s new old era

A new aerial war is being fought over Europe, just as it was fought during the Second World War. It, too, is reliant on cutting-edge technology, whose potential has yet to be fully..

Peter Caddick-Adams October 13, 2025

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