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High technology, old hierarchies: contemporary power structures echo feudal forms beneath a digital surface
Unravelling the digital revolution: the growing challenges
Why analog governance fails in an age of digital, global flows
Libyan girl wearing a niqab during the demonstrations against the regime of Gaddafi in Bayda, Libya
Post-Gaddafi Libya: sovereignty and struggle for stability
From the Arab spring to civil war: the role of international actors and the crisis of statehood
A finite resource under growing pressure from climate change and demand
Water is more precious than gold
So why are we wasting it on climate-altering fossil fuels?
Man holding a banner reading “Every Day Is Future” during a protest
When words are not just words
Why the crisis depends on the definition
A woman using a wheelchair working in a brewery alongside her colleagues, reflecting disability inclusion in the workplace
Law, inclusion, and the architecture of accessibility
Accessibility as behavior, design, and governance intelligence
A symbolic artwork of resistance: a bruised woman pulls tape from her mouth as faceless crowds protest behind her, while a soldier looms in the shadows, reflecting oppression and the struggle to speak out
The weaponization of fear and media
How propaganda, disinformation, and cultural conditioning normalize violence and dehumanization in modern society
Friedrich Merz campaign poster vandalized in Rot an der Rot, Germany — 2025
Reinvigorating a neglected foreign policy
Friedrich Merz' election, the prospect of a renewed support for Ukraine
Men reading a newspaper labeled "Fake News," highlighting the impact of misinformation and social media
Fact-checking challenges in the age of misinformation
How journalists can combat rumors and ensure reliable reporting in a fast-paced news landscape
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peasant Dance (Nid. De dorpskermis), 1568. Oil on panel, 114 × 164 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
In the beginning is joy and hope
Reflections on struggle, imagination, and the unfinished future
A collection of human skulls. This is part of a museum exhibit in Rwanda about the country's genocide
Sovereignty and the dilemma of intervention
The Westphalian principle and its impact on global conflicts
Employees gathered around a table, working together with visible energy, highlighting the motivation that comes from having a stake in the outcome
Why employee-owned firms beat traditional businesses in 2025
How shared ownership is reshaping performance, loyalty, and growth
Asian woman in traditional Vietnamese attire at Ban Pa Bong Piang rice terraces in Chiang Mai, epitomizing cultural richness
EU's due diligence: threat to global smallholder farmers
Environmental policy's impact on global agriculture and inequality
Indian Artillery conducts a powerful firepower demonstration
The sleepwalkers of South Asia
How India’s military exercises blur the line between defense, provocation, and political theater
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in India aboard a Russian government aircraft, welcomed by Indian military personnel
India, Russia, and the politics of a grand welcome
Putin’s visit to New Delhi and what it reveals about India’s balancing act between Moscow and the West
A graffiti that captures the shock, anger, and resistance felt by sectors of Chilean society in the wake of José Antonio Kast’s decisive electoral victory, reflecting a country grappling with a profound political realignment
Chile, the paths of the left
Electoral defeat, internal tensions, and a redefinition of the progressive project
A low-angle photograph captures people carrying a garbage bag full of plastic bottles
The plastisphere: a world choked by plastic
Inside the microplastic emergency the petrochemical industry doesn’t want us to see
A young woman raising her hand in a call for change, representing how youth guide discussions where traditional politics often chooses to remain silent
Youth diplomacy: the silent force shaping global politics
How global youth are using Track II and digital platforms to influence politics
China’s great awakening: an account of economic boom, environmental cost, and a prophecy fulfilled © Illustration by Paola Bilancieri
Did Napoleon predict China’s development?
From sleeping giant to economic titan: the paradox of China’s unstoppable progress
Tamuna Museridze is a Georgian journalist and activist who became widely known after uncovering irregularities in her own birth documents
Tamuna Museridze: the woman who turned pain into purpose
Revealing Georgia’s buried histories through a journey that became a lifeline for thousands
A team collaborating around a futuristic digital interface in a modern office
The courage to innovate
Redefining progress through self-awareness, leadership, and collective purpose
A young African American fashion designer working late in her sewing workspace, a creative professional deep in thought
The price of my worth
A personal reckoning with inequality, silence, and the fight for financial justice
A journalist at a typewriter, staring at the camera as scattered newspapers fly behind him, symbolizing the chaos of the news cycle
Journalism’s struggle with power
Why journalists sometimes find themselves on the wrong side
Person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and holding a sign that reads “March Against Corruption”
Bulgaria’s endless transition
A raw reflection on protests, corruption, and the endless fight to keep hope alive in Bulgaria
Urban Christmas decorations and a bustling shopping crowd in Moscow, Russia
Is Christmas joy or collective pressure?
Ritual, emotional energy, and the consumerist production of solidarity
A person holding a sign stating homelessness, representing the failure of institutions to ensure safe and dignified housing
The International Zero Evictions Marathon
How a global alliance is resisting forced evictions and defending the right to housing
An elderly man walks along a gray concrete path beside a brown building in Berlin, Germany
How to stop the AfD
Why narratives, and not numbers win elections
If you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention: a warning from the streets as fear, inequality, and authoritarian politics tighten their grip on democracy
Authoritarianism, right-wing conservatism, and fascism
On the dangerous consequences of the new era
A woman holds a placard that reads “I have a voice”
Can Keir Starmer tackle Britain’s free speech problem?
Online safety laws clash with the right to freedom of expression
At the crossroads of uncertainty: entrepreneurship begins not with ideas, but with choosing the right need to serve
The roadmap to open a new business
Four steps to connect with consumers and turn need into opportunity
A wall of flames engulfs the forest—an urgent reminder of why Greece must rethink how it fights wildfires
A Greek summer in flames
Why Greece’s centralized fire response is failing—and how regional empowerment could stop small fires from becoming national disasters
Europe alone in the dark as the United States drifts away
The sad loneliness of Europe
Defense, sovereignty, and leadership in the reconfiguration of the world order
Batticaloa flood 2011 in Sri Lanka showing flooded streets caused by heavy rains during a severe disaster
Sri Lanka’s climate crisis isn’t a planning failure
Why floods keep destroying communities despite a decade of climate policies and adaptation frameworks
Two figures, one center of gravity: intimacy, image, and power converging behind closed glass
A machismo-free Latin American phenomenon
Strong men, boss babes, and power couples
Echoes of unresolved battles: the machinery of war rolling through Asia’s past and present geopolitical fault lines
World War II is not over
Sanae Takaichi's Taiwan gambit, the unfinished business of World War II, and the ascendance of American isolationists
White caution cone placed on a computer keyboard symbolizing warnings about data privacy, ethical risks, and inequality in the digital world
Who really owns our data and why it matters for equality
Uncovering the gender biases, power imbalances, and hidden costs behind the digital economy that shapes our lives
Individuals absorbed in screens and thought, reflecting isolation, information overload, and the quiet erosion of collective thinking
I do not think, therefore I am
Descartes, epistemologies of the South, and the mechanical collapse of doubt
A foreign student taking in Morocco’s cultural beauty, echoing how Fulbright exchanges allow participants to learn as much from the country as from their academic programs
Fulbright’s role in expanding Morocco–US relations
How cultural exchange help strengthen communities
A hand reaches toward mushrooms growing in the soil
The polyphony of precarity
Tsing's assemblages and Berlant's cruel optimism in the margins of capitalism
A woman dressed for work, representing how they rise to the challenges and uplift societies
Women, work, and power: fuelling global economic growth
Economies grow, societies stabilise, and nations rise when women are allowed to work and lead
A man stands with his fists clenched in anger, while a woman sits on the ground in front of him, fearful and covering her face
Jennie’s law and the reality of domestic violence
Why Ireland’s domestic abuse register is a necessary step to protect victims before it is too late
Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Female farmers working in the fields, reflecting the struggles of rural poverty in the Global South
Gender inequality and the struggle for justice
Gender equality is not just a women’s issue, but a development and a human rights issue
Hidden exchange of bills out of public view, capturing the corrupt dealings that diverted funds from real flood defences
Inside DPWH’s billion-peso corruption scandal
The paper trails, financial red flags, and human consequences behind the controversy
Facial recognition technology illustrated by a woman holding a phone with scanning lines across her face
Between digital grace and digital control
The expansion of digital identity, data collection, and ai governance demands a human-centered, ethical approach
Argentina’s public university system under siege: a symbolic chainsaw slicing through one of the country’s most cherished institutions
Argentina: the public university under the chainsaw
Why is Milei’s administration refusing to fund the public university system that shaped the country?
A map reflecting a world learning to navigate complex storms—geopolitical, economic, and digital
Navigating the storm: charting the borders of a world reborn
How conflict, technology, and emerging powers are reshaping the geopolitical map
Rufin Sudkovsky – "Naval Battle Between Vesta and Fetkh-i Bulend," Black Sea, July 11, 1877: This dramatic seascape by Rufin Sudkovsky (1850–1885) captures the intense naval clash between the Russian steamer Vesta and the Ottoman ironclad Fetkh-i Bulend during the Russo-Turkish War
The Black Sea: a shifting geopolitical battleground
From imperial rivalries to modern power struggles in a strategic region
A New Zealand cityscape symbolizing the nation’s pivot from price taker to value shaper
Lessons from New Zealand for smaller open economies
How moving beyond commodities can reconnect export strength with domestic prosperity
Collage on climate, People's Summit, Belem @ Ashish Kothari
COP30: when people step in to save the planet
As global negotiations stall, grassroots movements lead the real fight for climate justice
A view of Earth from space, reminding us of our shared responsibility to protect a fragile and interconnected planet
World parliament declares a “state of planetary emergency”
The Provisional World Parliament in India concludes on this alarming note
An olive branch extended: a symbol of the global peace paradigm this vision calls us to imagine
The game: if I were President, what would I do? Part 3
Creating global peace and prosperity aligned with nature
Silhouettes of people holding hands at sunset, symbolizing unity and togetherness
The human desire for community
Exploring why we gather, what we seek, and how we grow together
A woman uses her smartphone on the sidewalk while a man and woman walk away from her
The shortcomings of individualism
How personal freedom, digital life, and social change are weakening collective bonds
A teenager with a smudged face holding a cellphone, sitting on the bathroom floor—evoking the emotional isolation, digital dependency, and silent distress that many adolescents experience in today’s online world
Behind the hashtags: what we owe our children
From “Blue Whale” to “Red Dolphin,” media, manipulation, and neglect deepen fear and exploitation among vulnerable teens
Strategic moves unfold at the table as casinos continue to attract millions of annual visitors
The casino crowding index
Ranking the busiest casino destinations in the United States
Through the eye of the digital age: how platforms capture attention, data, and power
Unravelling the digital revolution: platforms taking over
The systemic shift from industrial capitalism to global rentierism
Chinese sailors stand in formation ahead of a visit by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson to the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)) headquarters in Beijing on January 14, 2019, China
China's military rise: shaping the future of global security
Beijing's expanding military power and assertive regional policies reshaping the Indo-Pacific and global trade dynamics
Humanity accelerates into an uncertain future without the guardrails we need
Taming the three horses of the apocalypse
Confronting the triple threat of climate change, nuclear proliferation, and artificial intelligence
The Nelson Mandela wall art in Johannesburg, South Africa
Division in the 21st century: the reimagining of Apartheid
Before you dehumanise the other, you have to dehumanise the self
A quiet evening trek after work, showing the labour that sustains global tea, cocoa, and coffee markets
The legacy of crop colonialism in Africa
How cocoa, tea, tobacco, and flowers continue to shape the continent’s food security and economies
Abstract illustrations of the scales of justice can symbolize the tension between fairness and cultural bias
The tragedy of commonsense morality
The problem of cooperation between societies
A man walks along a quiet sidewalk in Greece
How drugs could boost tourism in Greece
A simple tweak to the way Greece polices drugs could boost the tourism industry
A smiling Black woman choosing Christmas decorations in a store
Celebration in a consumer world
Seasonal shopping and mindful living in a culture of constant consumption
South China Sea (Oct. 9, 2019), Aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 fly in formation over the forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5
Maritime disputes in the South China Sea
The legalisation of the maritime space and the battle for state sovereignty
Caribbean theater of tension: U.S. naval deployments tighten the strategic perimeter around Venezuela
Evilness cahoot: negotiating with the wrong guy
As Venezuela’s internal collapse accelerates, regional instability draws the U.S. Navy deeper into the Caribbean
A consumer navigating through diverse influences, including factors, advertisements, and potential marketing messages
Deceptive environmental marketing by big brands
The truth behind green advertising tactics in the food industry
Zohran Mamdani speaking at a DSA 101 meeting at the Church of the Village in New York City, US
Indian right-wing indifferent to Mamdani’s victory
The victory of the left-leaning democrat that India’s right-wing couldn’t savour
The iconic blue houses of Morocco, representing a country moving forward with confidence and stability
A new Green March: Morocco’s 21st-Century resilience
How infrastructure, diplomacy, and social stability form Morocco’s new Green March
A woman checking the price of olive oil in the market
Climateflation: the food system in crisis
Rising prices, shrinking harvests, and the myth of “sustainable” agriculture reveal why Big Ag is as dangerous as Big Oil
The weight of memory on a changing Russia © Illustration by Paola Bilancieri
Russia at a crossroads: a society in transition
The long tail of Soviet rule and the complex forces defining Russia’s future
An artist's impression of a Soviet ballistic missile submarine base from the 1980s
The uncertain future of the Russian Navy
Russia’s stalled warship ambitions expose a deeper struggle between global reach and limited resources
European politicians attempt to engage in dialogue with Trump
Europe must wake up: from peace project to power player
The end of illusions
A line of Syrian refugees crossing the border of Hungary and Austria on their way to Germany. Hungary, Central Europe, 6 September 2015
How migration became the language of global politics
The hidden politics behind borders, diplomacy, and the movement of people
A lone silhouette rallies a silent crowd, capturing the atmosphere of rising authoritarianism in uncertain times
The Mein Kampf of the “new” global far right
How old fascist doctrines are recycled to shape today’s authoritarian politics
Trump's second-term foreign policy seeks to reshape the international system through a combination of military pressure, selective alliances, and unilateral actions
Washington's strategic compass points south
Strategies, conflicts, and alliances in the United States' geopolitical offensive against China, Russia, and Latin America
The 1702 Visscher Stoopendaal Map of Israel, Palestine, or the Holy Land is a historical map that illustrates the geography of the region during that time
A closer look at claims in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Foundational myths and historical claims in the debate over land ownership and legitimacy
On the margins of a wealthy world, a man’s plea for support speaks to the urgency of making poverty unacceptable
Make poverty illegal
The “war on poverty” may not be the best answer to fight poverty
A group of people in Jakarta, Indonesia, hold a white banner promoting the Sustainable Development Goals
The sustainable development goals ten years after
Why the sustainable development goals faltered and what a changing world means for the future of global governance
Seeing clearly begins when we learn to assemble what we’ve taken apart
The true cost of stereotypes in leadership
How to use listening, asking, and learning to dismantle the walls of disunity and drive growth
A woman holding a laptop, representing gender equality in business, corporate board diversity, and women in leadership, all contributing to gender balance in the workplace
Rethinking gender quotas on corporate boards
Examining the impact of the European Commission’s “Women on boards” directive on merit and diversity
A woman stands in a serene meadow, next to a book that symbolizes life, knowledge, and the secret wisdom to be learned from nature and the human spirit, blending reality with a touch of fantasy
The responsibility of wisdom in society
How wise individuals shape ethical progress and social responsibility
The NATO symbol resting on blue satin, conveying how global order is often staged as harmony while driven by strategic profit
NATO and EU: instruments for the military-industrial complex
With the war in Ukraine, the Western world has embarked on the largest arms build-up ever seen
The Valley of the Fallen — proof that in Spanish politics, the dead never truly rest
Frankenstein politics: the propaganda of the dead
When the past becomes campaign material: Spain’s uneasy dance with its dictator’s ghost
Climate Smart Village project under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS), South Asia program, in Vaishali, India. Photo credit: V. Reddy
The rise of the 'she-conomy' in South Asia
Women reshaping economic futures
Despite its economic power, the EU's current defense capabilities are inadequate and bureaucratic, leaving a critical gap in global security
Why the EU needs an offensive military force
In a destabilized world, the European Union's reliance on external defense is unsustainable, demanding a proactive and unified military strategy
The China–Pakistan Friendship Monument stands along the Khunjerab Pass near the scenic Atabad Lake tunnels in Hunza Valley, marking the deep bond between the two nations on their shared border route
The enduring partnership between Pakistan and China
A strategic, economic, and geopolitical nexus
In a war zone, a man grips a rifle beside heavy machinery
Gamification and the attention economy
The hidden consequences of gamification in apps, social media, and war
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus championed his concept of social business as a way to release deprived people from the ‘prison’ of welfare at a special summit hosted by the University of Salford, 2013
Dr. Muhammad Yunus: architect of change in Bangladesh
From microfinance pioneer to interim national leader
A city in motion, representing the pulse of everyday life shaped by invisible political choices
The politics of everyday life
How laws on labour, housing, and safety shape daily life
Maasai children using a laptop while sitting in a desert area of Tanzania, highlighting the contrast between poverty and access to technology
Breaking free from the illusions of progress
Our inherent development obligations and the challenges ahead
On 5 September 2023, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya where she participated in the Africa Climate Summit. Pictured here (from left to right): Ursula von der Leyen, Alice Wahome, Member of the Kenyan Parliament for Kandara Constituency, and Rigathi Gachagua, Deputy President of Kenya
Can Central and Eastern Europe boost soft power in Africa?
Declining Western influence and the growing Russian and Chinese presence in Africa
Argentina finds itself once again at a historical crossroads, torn between the promise of modernization and the risk of repeating old pacts of dependency
The future of Argentina after the legislative elections
Trump, Milei, and the re-establishment of an old alliance: the promise of freedom in times of debt
UNRWA staff member comforts a distressed child at a school shelter in Nuseirat camp, Gaza Strip, Palestine
When NGOs dance with terror
The soft face of hard power in a world where saving lives pays dividends
Polish soldiers and intelligence agents operate amid a backdrop of Warsaw’s skyline, symbolizing Poland’s ongoing struggle against espionage, cyberwarfare, and disinformation in its hybrid conflict with Russia
Poland: NATO’s first line against the Kremlin
Behind diplomatic formality lies a relentless shadow war of spies, hackers, and propaganda defining NATO’s eastern front
Barbara Kruger’s mural on the housing crisis poses a striking question—‘Who is housed when money talks?’—highlighting inequality in access to shelter
Is Europe still a place to call home?
Europe’s housing crisis and the theft of a generation
Individual refilling a big agricultural drone for farming use
Precision agriculture: sustainable ways to grow food
A look at how precision agriculture and new technology can make food production more sustainable and climate-friendly
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