Essays

essays

What drives Vladimir Putin?

Putin’s justifications for invading Ukraine uncannily reflect the motivations of one of Russian literature’s most famous antiheroes, Dostoevsky's Rodion Raskolnikov. Both believe t..

Sergey Radchenko August 9, 2022

essays

How to fix the future, Estonian style

Rather than protecting individual data privacy, the fate of democracy in our networked age might depend on establishing a new, radically transparent contract of trust between gover..

Andrew Keen August 8, 2022

essays

Globalisation: why it went into retreat

Thanks to cold war, hot war, and the revived quest of many nations for a degree of industrial self-sufficiency, free market globalisation has peaked for the foreseeable future.

Michael Lind August 4, 2022

essays

The war against printing

For many, the advent of printing was nothing short of miraculous but for others it symbolised a scandalous cheapening of knowledge.

Alexander Lee August 1, 2022

essays

The eighteenth-century technological awakening of artist adventurers

The spirit of innovation embodied by the first Industrial Revolution spread to all aspects of British life — art was no exception.

Andrew Wilton July 28, 2022

essays

Binding order and liberty: Tocqueville the politician

Tocqueville may not have been an effective foreign minister but his commitment to order and liberty is uncontested.

Samuel Gregg July 27, 2022

essays

From Saartjie Baartman to Dolly the Sheep: what does genetic integrity mean?

The notion of integrity evolves with each generation. When it comes to how the idea is applied to genetics, it is worth starting to consider the moral implications of future medica..

Lynn Åkesson July 22, 2022

essays

Ukraine and Russia: how closeness turned into war

How did the relatively amicable relations of Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s dissolve into today's brutal conflict?

David R. Marples July 19, 2022

essays

Ancient creations: from the Antikythera Mechanism to Western music

The ancient Greeks are often perceived to have been hostile to technological innovation. But from the remarkable Antikythera Mechanism to the foundations of Western music, ancient ..

Armand D'Angour July 14, 2022