Foreign Affairs

In too many places, governments are failing to invest in their populations. This is a problem because neglecting investments in human capital can dramatically weaken a country’s competitiveness in a rapidly changing world.

Marx’s theory remains one of the most perceptive critiques of capitalism ever offered. Far from being outdated, Marxism is crucial for making sense of the world today.

The Marshall Plan worked because its designers had clear objectives and were willing to accept tradeoffs, such as a Russian sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.

The world is at the dawn of a second Industrial Revolution, this time, a digital revolution. And its impact will be, if anything, even greater than that of the first.

Many observers of contemporary Russia focus on the state’s grip on society. What they miss is that society itself has a grip on the state.

The disruption to the earth’s climate will ultimately command more attention and resources and have a greater influence on the global economy and international relations than any other force.

The abil­ity of major countries and international organizations to convince separatists that good behavior leads to success may be eroding. And if secessionists conclude that abiding by the rules generates few rewards, the consequences could be ugly.

An excessive focus on counterterrorism disfigures American politics, distorts U.S. policies, and in the long run will undermine national security.

Today, as ever, great-power politics will drive world events. That means the course of the coming century will largely be determined by the relationship between China and the United States.

It appears that the new Spanish government’s intention is to erode Catalonia’s claims to independence by changing the discourse about nationhood in Spain.

No previous U.S. president considered it prudent to embark on summitry with so little preparation or on terms so favorable to the other side, let alone to promise to unilaterally discontinue defensive joint U.S.–South Korean military exercises on the Korean Peninsula.

The problem for Europe is not an American campaign to empower European populists; it is that the United States no longer sees the value in having a strategic vision for Europe at all.

Historic criminal justice reform legislation now finds itself atop Donald Trump’s policy agenda, and one floor vote away from his signature.

China is both the country most responsible for facilitating North Korea’s provocations and the one with the most to lose should the regime collapse.

Bernard Lewis, historian of the Middle East, was widely misunderstood. But no other person in our time has done as much to inform and influence the West’s view of the Islamic world and the Middle East.

Although American leaders should always put American interests first, that does not mean that we have to build walls, close off markets, or isolate the United States by acting in ways that alienate our allies.

For decades, North Korea has proliferated weapons, including conventional arms, ballistic missiles, and chemical agents, to states such as Iran and Syria.

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala faces baseless claims of Russian collusion, threatening the progress Gutemala has made in its war on corruption.

The United States must embed its approach to North Korea within a broader strategy that advances long-term U.S. interests in the region, including, but not limited to, North Korea’s complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization. 

a pair of juxtaposed photographs—one of the signing of the Boxer Protocol, the other of recent trade talks—have gone viral on Chinese social media platforms.