Essays

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

TOPSHOT - A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) raises the victory gesture
essays

Can warfare ever be considered modern?

Even with all its data and technology, contemporary conflict fits uneasily with our definitions of modernity.

Rob Johnson August 27, 2020
British Prime Minister Tony Blair greets an ethnic Albanian by holding up his hand in central Pristina, Yugoslavia during a one-day visit Saturday July 31, 1999. It was Blair's first visit to Kosovo since NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. (Photo by David Brauchli)
essays

The restless search for fun wars

The West, more specifically the United States, with its major allies alongside it, has been chasing the 'fun wars' for 40 years and serially coming up empty.

David J Betz August 26, 2020
Stone relief from the palace of Ashurbanipal
essays

The ancient roots of the modern holy war

The crusades, jihad, and wars in defence of intangible ideals all have their origins in a short-lived conflict in the 6th century BC.

Tom Holland August 25, 2020
Adobe Stock; Adam Smith
essays

Adam Smith: the first anti-capitalist?

Many of the tensions in modern capitalism can be traced back to difficulties found within Adam Smith's writings.

Emma Rothschild August 24, 2020
Mount Bromo (Gunung Bromo) seen at dawn on 11th June 2018, East Java, Indonesia. The active volcano is park of the Bromo Tengger National Park, sitting on a plain called the sea of sand, it is possible to look into the crater of the volcano to see the smoke and steam emerging from it, lava is not visible. (photo by Phil Clarke Hill/In Pictures via Getty Images)
essays

Spirit-lands and tyrant-kings: differing tales of statehood

Land is the silent, steady, partner in the messy realm of politics and national divides.

Jessica Frazier August 21, 2020
A terre, une jeune femme lors de la manifestation étudiante contre la guerre au Vietnam, à Stockholm, Suède le 1 avril 1968.
essays

Sweden’s swinging sixties

1968 was a radical moment in Sweden's post-war history; to deride it as a failed revolution is to miss much of its influence.

Kim Salomon August 19, 2020
U.S. Marines with machine guns ready, watch for enemy snipers on a street in Hue on February 7th. Allied dive bombers and U.S. warships bombarded a Communist suicide battalion in Hue's walled fortress on February 15th, and American Marines and south Vietnam black panther troops charged into the flaming ruins to wipe out the Viet Cong.Getty Images
essays

The human need for war

Like literature, history, and religion, war is a 'cultural enhancer' - and its modern manifestation in video games continues to shape society.

Christopher Coker August 18, 2020
Recent burned and deforested area within Jamanxim National Forest. Amazon Rainforest - Pará / Brazil
essays

Untold knowledge: the price of deforestation

The destruction of rainforests threatens valuable cultures and reams of possible medical innovations.

Mark Plotkin August 17, 2020
Carving Up The World A satrirical cartoon by James Gillray, showing British Prime Minister William Pitt and the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, carving up the world between them. Entitled 'The Plumb Pudding in Danger' - pub. 26th February 1805
essays

Why the nation beat the empire in the battle of 19th century ideas

A history of the 19th century tells not just of newly-formed nations, but of newly-developing nationalism.

Jeremy Jennings August 14, 2020

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