Essays Archive

Aerial view of shipping container port terminal.

essays

The world in 2024

Experts look ahead to 2024 and outline what they believe will be the most important geopolitical developments of the coming year.

Engelsberg Ideas December 22, 2023

A US soldier uses binoculars at an observation post during Vigilant Fox, a joint exercise including Finnish soldiers, US soldiers, and British soldiers.

essays

The West needs to wake up

The West’s hegemonic position faces a growing challenge from an emerging coalition in the East which seeks to revise the international order in its own interests. To preserve its p..

Timothy Less December 20, 2023

Henry Kissinger caricatured as 'Super K' on the cover of 'Newsweek' magazine, 10 June 1974.

essays

Kissinger: the ultimate realist

Henry Kissinger understood the imperative of international order over all other considerations. We would be wise to engage with his legacy.

T.G. Otte December 12, 2023

Ethnic Armenians flee from Nagorny Karabakh.

essays

Armenia’s existential moment

Armenia is facing its most precarious moment in three decades. The loss of Karabakh, a region with a centuries-old history of Armenian habitation and heritage, will reverberate for..

Thomas de Waal December 5, 2023

essays

Lifting Italy’s classical music curse

The country that was instrumental in developing liturgical music, invented opera and whose language remains classical music’s lingua franca has become a musical backwater.

Elisabeth Braw December 1, 2023

A United Nations vehicle passing Israeli troops near Quantara on the east bank of the Suez Canal. A U.N. observer was posted on either side of the canal to supervise the cease-fire between Israel and Egypt.

essays

Palestine, pragmatism and the lessons of 1956

None of the 1956 initiatives for a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict were successful. Recalling those efforts is not intended as a counsel of despair, but as a reminde..

Gill Bennett November 28, 2023

A young boy stands by a poster of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

essays

‘We need to see these terrorist groups through their own mindsets’ — in conversation with John Sawers

EI’s Angus Reilly talks to Sir John Sawers, former head of MI6, about understanding the nature and aims of Hamas, Israel's lack of a political strategy, Iran's Axis of Resistance, ..

Angus Reilly November 23, 2023

1930s poster for the London Underground.

essays

The strange death of private life

In the early 1970s, the idea that private life meant a right to be left alone – an idea forged over centuries – began to disappear. We should mourn its absence.

Tiffany Jenkins November 21, 2023

Senator John F. Kennedy at Hyannis Port.

essays

JFK’s abiding legacy

Through his visionary leadership, inspired rhetoric, and willingness to compromise, John F. Kennedy summoned the narrative of American hope, his most powerful and enduring legacy.

Fredrik Logevall November 20, 2023