Essays

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

An iconic photograph of Saint Paul's Cathedral during the Blitz.
essays

World order — improvised by design

The architects of the postwar world order did not follow a coherent design. Their settlement evolved, like the construction of a cathedral, through fits and starts, improvisations,..

Daniel J. Sargent April 23, 2025
A painting of Letchworth Garden City.
essays

The invention of suburbia

The possibilities of suburbia, one of the great legacies of the Edwardian fightback against the excesses of industrialisation, remain largely unexplored.

Tim Abrahams April 17, 2025
Protectionism vs free trade poster c1905-c1910.
essays

When free trade falters

The current protectionist turn in the United States, like that in Britain 120 years ago, is driven by a geopolitics of fear. An economic model that has worked for decades is no lon..

Duncan Weldon April 14, 2025
Uncle Sam and Jack Canuck at the Canada-US border.
essays

Canada cannot escape geopolitics

Canadian leaders' attempts to use Europe to counterbalance the United States have shown that imaginative statecraft can shape diplomatic relations, but cannot replace hard geopolit..

Michael Ledger-Lomas April 10, 2025
A satirical 18th-century Dutch engraving depicting John Law.
essays

John Law, the man who blew up the French economy

The rise and fall of the world's first millionaire, a swashbuckling Scottish financier who all but bankrupted 18th-century France, may offer lessons for the world's first trilliona..

Gerald Malone April 7, 2025
A Victorian illustration of the Knights Templars.
essays

The Knights Templars and the pursuit of Christendom

Why and how did the Templars acquire such enormous power and prominence during the Middle Ages? In a single word: marketing.

Nicholas Morton April 3, 2025
The European Union flag on a concrete wall.
essays

Must Europe always take every opportunity to miss an opportunity?

The Trump administration may finally force European leaders to achieve the elusive goal of political union. The tragedy may be that they have left it too late to act.

Brendan Simms and Lukas Schmelter April 1, 2025
A painting by Frank H. Mason illustrating some of the Royal Navy Fleet in 1940.
essays

Paul Kennedy in conversation on the rise of a new era of great power competition

What will geopolitics look like in 2050? Paul Lay and Charlie Laderman sat down with the distinguished British historian Paul Kennedy. Kennedy offers his reflections on the end of ..

Engelsberg Ideas March 27, 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office of the White House.
essays

Regime change and the breaking of alliances

Classical realists remind us that America's global power has depended on durable alliances and enlightened leadership. Responsible leaders do not use their strength to humiliate pa..

David Priess March 25, 2025

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