The Best of 2018

The Best of 2018 January/February 2018 Comment

America’s Original Sin

Slavery’s legacy in the United States stems not only from the institution itself, but also from the system of white supremacy it established. The country is only now...

Annette Gordon-Reed

White supremacists gather under a statue of Robert E. Lee during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 2017.

The Best of 2018 March/April 2018 Comment

The Rise of Illiberal Hegemony

Worries that Trump is an isolationist are out of place against the backdrop of the administration’s actions. In fact, Trump has ushered in an entirely new U.S. grand...

Barry R. Posen

No retreat: U.S. marines in Afghanistan, July 2017

The Best of 2018 March/April 2018 Essay

The China Reckoning

Washington should focus more on its own power and behavior, and the power and behavior of its allies and partners. Basing policy on a more realistic set of assumptions...

Kurt M. Campbell and Ely Ratner

The era of good feelings: Xi and Obama in China, September 2016.

The Best of 2018 May/June 2018 Comment

Autocracy With Chinese Characteristics

Since opening its markets in 1978, China has reformed its vast bureaucracy to realize many of the benefits of democratization without giving up single-party control....

Yuen Yuen Ang

Work in progress: repainting in Jiaxing, China, May 2014

The Best of 2018 May/June 2018 Comment

The End of the Democratic Century

Autocracy’s Global Ascendance

Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa

The dictator’s dividend: a monument in Astana, Kazakhstan, September 2016.

The Best of 2018 May/June 2018 Essay

Perception and Misperception on the Korean Peninsula

To have any chance of success, U.S. strategy toward North Korea must be guided by an accurate sense of how Kim’s regime thinks and what it knows about Washington....

Robert Jervis and Mira Rapp-Hooper

Seeing like a state: Kim watching a military drill, Pyongyang, November 2014

The Best of 2018 July/August 2018 Essay

The Myth of the Liberal Order

Rather than seeking to return to an imagined past in which the United States molded the world in its image, Washington should limit its efforts to ensuring sufficient...

Graham Allison

Sailors aboard the USS George Washington in Hong Kong, January 2012.

The Best of 2018 September/October 2018 Comment

When China Rules the Web

China is set to remake cyberspace in its own image. That will make the Internet less open and allow Beijing to reap vast economic, diplomatic, and security benefits...

Adam Segal

Customers at an Internet cafe in Shanxi province, March 2010.

The Best of 2018 September/October 2018 Essay

The New Arab Order

The 2011 Arab uprisings may not have created new democracies across the Middle East as many hoped they would, but they did fundamentally reshape regional relations. In...

Marc Lynch

The Best of 2018 November/December 2018 Essay

Venezuela’s Suicide

Socialism and declining oil prices are often blamed for Venezuela’s catastrophe. In reality, it was decades of destructive leadership under Hugo Chávez and his...

Moisés Naím and Francisco Toro

A protester holds a burning flag at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, June 2017

The Best of 2018 Mar 27, 2018 Snapshot

Has a New Cold War Really Begun?

Contemporary politics is full of false analogies, and the return of the Cold War seems to be one of them.

Odd Arne Westad

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 2013.

The Best of 2018 Aug 20, 2018 Snapshot

The United States’ Perpetual War in Afghanistan

Public anger at home pulled the United States out of Vietnam, but the public's indifference about the intervention in Afghanistan has allowed the United States'...

Tanisha M. Fazal and Sarah Kreps

The Best of 2018 Jun 20, 2018 Snapshot

Reeducation Returns to China

It is possible to see how Xinjiang’s reeducation drive could end up influencing the nation’s future social credit system: those who end up falling below a certain...

Adrian Zenz

A police patrol walk in front of the Id Kah Mosque in the old city of Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, March 2017.

Artificial Intelligence Jul 10, 2018 Snapshot

How Artificial Intelligence Will Reshape the Global Order

Technological advances today will create a new competition between democracies and authoritarian governments.

Nicholas Wright

A police officer checks the identity card of a man as security forces keep watch in a street in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, March 2017.

The Best of 2018 Jan 29, 2018 Snapshot

The Remarkable Scale of Turkey’s “Global Purge”

Turkey’s “global purge,” which mirrors the effort after the coup attempt to rid Turkey’s domestic institutions of anyone associated with Gulen, is remarkable in its...

Nate Schenkkan

The Best of 2018 May 2, 2018 Snapshot

The Pentagon’s Transparency Problem

Trump’s commitment to secrecy, once a punchline among policy elites, has been widely embraced throughout the national security establishment.

Loren DeJonge Schulman and Alice Friend

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Arlington, Virginia, April 2018.

The Best of 2018 Sep 21, 2018 Snapshot

Stop Obsessing About China

China is not the hegemon-in-waiting that many consider it to be.

Michael Beckley

The Best of 2018 Jan 18, 2018 Snapshot

Is Trump a Normal Foreign-Policy President?

Donald Trump’s surprise victory in 2016 has offered quite the test: What does it mean for the United States to elect a leader with no experience in government, little...

Elizabeth N. Saunders

President Trump on Capitol HIll, January 2018.

The Best of 2018 Jan 24, 2018 Snapshot

How Sharp Power Threatens Soft Power

Democratic governments should not overreact to sharp power in ways that undercut their true advantage, which comes from soft power.

Joseph S. Nye Jr.

Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds Chinese President Xi Jinping, who delivers a speech at the BRICS Business Council and Signing ceremony at 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China September 2017.

The Best of 2018 Oct 17, 2018 Snapshot

Is Going It Alone the Best Way Forward for Europe?

With U.S. untethering a continuing trend, a Europe whole, free, and at peace means a Europe able to fend for itself on the world stage

Benjamin Haddad and Alina Polyakova

Trending

Foreign Affairs Anthology Series

The Best of 2018

The best articles we published in 2018.

Table of Contents

Best of Print

Best of Web

Must-Read Anthologies