Essays

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

A painting of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the Old Friday Mosque in Isfahan, Iran.
essays

The price of Iran’s nuclear prestige

Iran's pursuit of prestige through nuclear capabilities has raised geopolitical tensions without delivering economic relief. Many now question the wisdom of the Islamic Republic’s ..

Ali Ansari June 10, 2025
Bruce Springsteen in 1985.
essays

Bruce Springsteen’s Spanish love affair

The Boss may have been born in the USA, but it’s Spain that worships Springsteen as rock royalty.

Duncan Wheeler June 5, 2025
Fiona Hill, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, before the Senate Armed Services Committee, February 15, 2023.
essays

In conversation with Fiona Hill on Donald Trump’s nuclear nightmares

Fiona Hill, distinguished adviser to several US presidents on foreign affairs, spoke to EI’s Jack Dickens about Donald Trump’s fear of nuclear Armageddon, how this fear has shaped ..

Engelsberg Ideas June 3, 2025
Second World War-era British propaganda.
essays

Why liberal democracies win total wars

In both total wars of the 20th century, liberal, capitalist economies showed themselves to be far more adaptable to its demands than their authoritarian enemies.

Duncan Weldon May 29, 2025
The poet Sundar Das before the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
essays

India’s new iconoclasts

Calls for the destruction of India’s Mughal heritage have little to do with religion and a great deal to do with politics.

Pratinav Anil May 27, 2025
The American and Japanese flags fly side by side in Yokosuka, Japan.
essays

The US-Japan alliance – its past, present and unclear future

As Trump’s aggressive trade agenda collides with Japan’s strategic anxieties, the future of East Asia’s most vital relationship hangs in the balance.

John Nilsson-Wright May 23, 2025
A poster celebrating Stalin at the Russian State Library, Moscow.
essays

The Slavic War according to Stalin

For Czechs, Poles, and Russians, the Second World War was a war for Slavic survival — one that Stalin would hijack to forge an empire of his own.

Luka Ivan Jukic May 21, 2025
Painting of a woman in prayer.
essays

The Church of the Almost Believers

Caught between scepticism and spiritual hunger, the ‘crypto-religious’ are seeking something to believe in outside the parameters of organised religion.

Guy Stagg May 15, 2025
Lafcadio Hearn photographed with his wife, Setsuko Koizumi, and their son.
essays

The double agent who introduced Japan to the West

While some later critics accused the correspondent Lafcadio Hearn of exoticising the land of the rising sun, his writings and translations remain historically valuable for their in..

Bill Emmott May 14, 2025

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