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In a time of uncertainty, rapid change, and disruption, who is best positioned to move society forward? Many are losing faith not only in government, but in the institutions of journalism, nonprofits, and higher education. What role should these organs of civil society play in today’s fractured world, and how can people of good will come together to best make a difference?...
World order is never in stasis for too long. And indeed, we seem to be witnessing a historic shift now. The relatively stable decades after World War II saw gains for global democracies, rapid economic growth fueled by globalization, and the birth of the Internet. But they also saw the speeding of global warming, widening inequality, and the scourge of transnational terror...
Russia is increasingly acting as an outlaw state across the international stage—undermining European democracies, harassing US diplomats, harboring sophisticated cybercriminals, and testing Western alliances. What’s behind these actions, and how should the United States, Europe, and the West as a whole respond to the rising belligerence of Putin’s Russia?
Hear first-hand from four extraordinary social entrepreneurs who are working in communities around the world to solve some of society’s most complex issues from education to healthcare and human rights.
Authoritarian populists are gaining power from Ankara to Athens, from Warsaw to Washington. Meanwhile, popular support for democratic values is sliding in many countries around the world. Is our political system in existential danger? And what can we do to save it?
President Trump says he does not want a major war in the Middle East. But many allies and observers worry that hardlinders in the US and Iran are on a collision course toward conflict. The US exit from the Iran deal and the “maximum pressure” campaign have escalated tensions between Washington and Tehran in recent months. Iran has called the announced deployment of US troo...
We live in a global era and what happens thousands of miles away can deeply affect our lives.
Angela Stent served as an adviser on Russia under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and maintains close ties with key policymakers in both Russia and the United States. Here, she argues that the same contentious issues — terrorism, missile defense, Iran, nuclear proliferation, Afghanistan, the former Soviet space, the greater Middle East — have been in every president's inb...
In the last decade, the people of democratic societies across the globe have elected autocratic leaders. These populist strongmen have undermined democratic institutions with a disregard for the rule of law, expertise, and the truth. Is their election the symptom of already advanced societal illnesses, or is it the disease itself? In countries where the damage to democracy...
Haris Tarin and Rabia Chaudry on being Muslim and American in 2017.
Why do some leap ahead while others fall behind in today’s chaotic, connected world? Two visionary thinkers take you on a whirlwind tour of the 21st century, revealing how "new power" — open, participatory, and peer-driven — is reshaping politics, business, and society. New power works like a current, not a currency — and it is most forceful when it surges — and understand...
Cybersecurity is increasingly a major concern of modern life, coloring everything from the way we vote to the way we drive to the way our health care records are stored. Yet online security is beset by threats from nation-states and terrorists and organized crime, and our favorite social media sites are drowning in conspiracy theories and disinformation. How do we reset th...
Britain's withdrawal from the European Union is a settled question, but the long-term impacts it will have on Britain and Europe remain unclear. Brexit left British society bitterly divided and British isolated from the rest of Europe after decades of congeniality and shared prosperity. Will other EU countries follow Britain's example? How will Britain's economy take this...
Recent years have seen rising political extremism in both Europe and the United States, from Neo-Nazi rallies in Charlottesville to ISIS jihadists in Brussels. One of the hardest challenges facing counterterrorism officials is what to do with the thousands of extremists who, for a variety of reasons, decide to step back from the battlefield. Hear former extremists discuss...
Every few months, it seems, we see more startling evidence — from the Catholic Church, to USA Gymnastics, to the Boy Scouts — of just how rampant sexual abuse of children is in our society. Add to the equation that abuse by family members is far more common than the institutional cases that make the news; the resulting picture is of a deeply destructive global phenomenon....
How does the dialogue on race continue?
The world seems to be moving and evolving faster than ever before, and democratic ideals are under threat in many countries around the globe. New York Times columnist and journalist Thomas Friedman has spent his career learning how to see things from many sides and identify the seams in the fabric of society. He believes we’re at a moment in time when it’s critical that we...
Cancer is on the rise in Africa, with the World Health Organization predicting that by 2020, it will take the lives of one million people a year across the continent. The most common forms of the disease in Africa -- breast, cervical and prostate cancers -- are also the most treatable, but drugs have been in scarce supply, and the price of treatment remains a huge obstacle...
The US government misjudged the rise of China over the last decade — as the country has grown in economic power, it's become more rambunctious internationally, not less. Its Belt and Road Initiative is winning over countries that used to be US allies. It’s expanding its military power and reach in the South China Sea, attacking US companies in cyberspace, and advancing in...
Kleptocracy presents a growing threat to US national security and international peace, as money laundering and other forms of public “grand corruption” increasingly undermine democracy, cripple development, weaken Western soft power, and accelerate state collapse.