Thailand and Cambodia shocked observers by going to war last month. The destructive border conflict doesn’t stem from an upsurge of popular nationalism: the political elites in both countries needed a distraction to shore up their flagging legitimacy.
Canada’s new declarations of independence disguise continued economic and cultural reliance on its threatening neighbor. From Mark Carney’s trade diplomacy to the literati’s self-congratulation, Canada can’t imagine a freedom that isn’t defined by the US.
Not everyone is excited about the resurgence of brutalism. But the rise of neobrutalist projects shows how the polarizing architectural style can also be a pragmatic use of scarce resources.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, will be paying homage to Donald Trump on St Patrick’s Day. Irish public opinion is strongly opposed to the US war on Iran and the Gaza genocide, but Martin and his allies are anxious to stay on Trump’s good side.
Email us letters — we’ll print the fawning ones.
Donald Trump’s federal budget includes massive increases in military spending, including funding for a Star Wars–esque missile defense system known as the “Golden Dome.” Both Trump and the media are likely underestimating the cost of this boondoggle.
The relevance of declining birth rates to left-wing concerns, like welfare-state sustainability, is more complex than generally acknowledged. The real reason for the Left to support pro-family policies is to make families possible for those who want them.
We've been covering the October Revolution and its aftermath with uncharacteristic nuance.
Europe’s steel firms are increasingly unprofitable, and rising energy prices are making things even worse. Public ownership is vital to ensure conversion to green production while maintaining jobs.
Donald Trump is doubling down on his plan to buy Greenland. A US takeover could weaken the country’s mining laws and ban on private property, aiding Trump tech donors’ plans to profit from the island’s mineral deposits and build a libertarian techno-city.
Silicon Valley oligarchs like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen have much to gain from Donald Trump’s seizure of Greenland, both as a source of rare earth minerals to feed the AI boom and as a site for a libertarian “crypto state.”
Inquiry into the origin of COVID-19 has been as political as it has been scientific.
John Sweeney, who won the AFL-CIO presidency in 1995 as part of a progressive reform leadership slate called New Voice, died earlier this month at the age of eighty-six. He failed in his quest to revive the US labor movement — but he succeeded in pushing the main body of trade unionism firmly to the left.
Liberalism is often presented as a loose set of principles like reason, freedom, and the rule of law. But over almost two centuries, the Economist has provided a window into the dominant strand of liberalism in action — with imperial conquest and undemocratic regimes defended in the name of upholding “free trade.”
Left governments in Latin America have successfully nationalized much of the mining sector, reclaiming foreign profits for social spending. The next step is to get beyond extraction altogether, taking cues from indigenous movements that have long been fighting for a green future.
As the world’s premier Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm’s intellectual range was unrivaled. Never one to pander to conventional politics, he was often a brave voice of dissent. Today more than ever, Hobsbawm’s work deserves serious examination.
Big business has long held an outsize role in US politics. In a plague year, and as politicians prematurely push to reopen the economy, political scientist Thomas Ferguson argues that its place at the center of American life is more grotesque than ever.
Historian Mike Davis wrote a book fifteen years ago warning of the coming global pandemic. The “monster at our door” has finally stepped through that door in COVID-19, and unfortunately, Davis was proven correct.
Movie theaters are set to reopen soon, but neither the safety of viewers, nor support for the film industry itself, can be guaranteed.
Richard Neal's career is the story of a low-profile lawmaker keeping his head down, doing the work, and serving the interests of the corporate donors who give him money.