Analysis & Opinions

A future where A.I.s interpret, apply, and enforce most laws at societal scale like this will exponentially magnify problems around fairness, transparency, and freedom, warn Jonathon W. Penney and Bruce Schneier.

Stephen Walt analyzes why the United States will regret putting effort into its latest Middle East policy: Pushing for the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Dara Kay Cohen explains why prosecutions are important, but not as the main policy lever for deterrence. A concerted, long-term, and multi-pronged effort is needed to address the root causes of conflict-related sexual violence.

Meghan Garrity details the history of mass expulsions since the centennial of the signing of the Lausanne Convention—a treaty codifying the compulsory “population exchange” between Greece and Turkey. An estimated 1.5 million people were forcibly expelled from their homes: over one million Greek Orthodox Christians from the Ottoman Empire and 500,000 Muslims from Greece.

Stephen Walt analyzes why China's foreign-policy reset will—or won't—work out.

Ivan Arreguin-Toft analyzes the West's information technology asymmetry of capability, which has given way to asymmetry of vulnerability. While democracies worldwide remain threatened, they also contain the means to restore themselves.

Stephen Walt explains why a Saudi-sponsored golf tournament shows why China and other rising powers will struggle to replace established global institutions with their own.

Stephen Walt critiques Biden's foreign policy record and argues for creative solutions to the problems of a new era.

Charli Carpenter comments on  U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order, issued in February 2022, releasing $7 billion in frozen, U.S.-held Afghan central bank reserves. It has been proposed to use half of the funds to pay reparations to the families of 9/11 victims.

Stephen Walt posits that realists recognize that evil acts occur and that some states behave worse than others, but they also understand that all states compete for security in an imperfect world and that no country's conduct is beyond reproach.