As the Games get underway, President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo are vying for first place on the political podium. Read by Michael Bott.


Foreign Policy helps you dive into the headlines with rigorous analysis and award-winning journalism focused on global affairs, current events, and international relations.

Foreign Policy

The competition for France’s olympic legacy

During the UK's election campaign, David Lammy was determined to stay on message—but he has always had strong opinions. Read by Sharon Bott.


Britain’s new foreign secretary hates Trump and loves America

Trump's shooting is part of a lethal tradition of U.S. political violence 

The attempt to kill Donald Trump should be a chilling reminder of how easy it is to trigger a lethal U.S. tradition. Read by Karl Miller.

This Is America, Too

As the race to win the EV market intensifies, Paul Hockenos explains why Europe’s car companies are against—and environmentalists are for—making Chinese EVs more expensive. Read by Simon Mattacks.

The fight over China’s electric cars is upside-down

A 2024 Trump presidency could mean a stronger EU or a return to historical conflicts. Hal Brands explores the implications of reduced American involvement for European stability and democracy. Read by Michael Satow.

Trump’s return would transform Europe

Predatory microloans and high youth unemployment have exacerbated the economic tensions in Kenya, prompting young people to take to the streets in frustration. Reflecting on these protests, Nina Berman explains that Kenya's economic potential has long been hindered by a broken financial system. Read by Emily Woo Zeller.

The deep roots of Kenya’s unrest

As the far right secures more victories in Europe, Mukul Kesavan argues that the West's failure to combat right-wing parties stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of their nature. Read by Karl Miller.

The west misunderstands its own far right

Many people with access to sensitive information are adrift both online and offline. Online safety expert Natalia Antonova warns that this makes them sitting ducks for foreign intelligence, hackers, and agenda-driven trolls. Read by Sharon McCune.

Loneliness is a national security crisis

The conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine can only end with deals that don’t satisfy anyone completely. Stephen M. Walt argues that overzealousness, rigidity, and excessive moralizing often hinder finding effective solutions to complex international issues. Read by Karl Miller.

Morality is the enemy of peace

Why has France’s president decided to embrace electoral chaos? Emile Chabal argues that Macron emerges from this turmoil as the only credible government figure in the best-case scenario, but the risks of unleashing chaos are huge. Read by Michael Bott.

Macron is destroying his democracy to save it

A new government initiative seeks to develop a video game to help people resist disinformation, a significant challenge for democracy. Despite potential benefits, Joshua Foust reflects on why scepticism remains about the effectiveness of such a program. Read by Sean Crisden.

There’s no dodge button for disinformation

The Israeli prime minister is indeed cynical, devious, and untrustworthy, but the excessive focus on Netanyahu allows flawed assumptions to flourish in Washington’s policy ecosystem. Steven A. Cook reflects on why U.S. politicians have been making a series of wrong assumptions about Israel that trace back 30 years. Read by Gary Furlong.

America’s Israel policy is stuck in the 1990s

As more jurisdictions around the world flirt with the idea of legalizing cannabis, many of them view Canada’s example through a critical lens. John Last reflects on how a new government report faults some of its regions with prioritizing big business over public health. Read by Ron Butler.

Where Canada’s weed legalization went wrong

British politics may be bad, but they’re not unusual. Marie Le Conte examines how a new book aims to point out the problems with the UK that the British would rather ignore—or are finally beginning to come to terms with. Read by Emma Powell.

Is Britain all that special?

In recent national votes conducted across Europe, young people voted in unprecedented numbers for extreme nationalist and euroskeptic parties. Paul Hockenos reflects on how the continent’s radicals are increasingly attractive far beyond their traditional pool of voters. Read by Jonathan Booth.

Europe’s youth are fueling the far right

The death of President Ebrahim Raisi throws further doubt into the future of the country and the region. Jack Detsch reflects on the death of Iran’s president. Read by Michael Satow.

What Raisi’s death means for Iran’s future

Ted Nordhaus argues that investment must go beyond intermittent renewable energy to secure the most reliable low-carbon electricity systems. Read by Jonathan Booth.

Can wind and solar solve climate change?

Are critics of U.S. campus demonstrations aiming at the wrong target? Howard W. French argues that we need to study more history, not less, to understand contemporary issues. Read by Simon Mattacks.

No, college curriculums aren’t too focused on decolonization

Appeasement is underrated: challenging the Munich analogy in U.S. foreign policy

Foreign-policy debates in the United States would improve dramatically if politicians and pundits stopped defending their recommendations by constantly invoking Neville Chamberlain and the so-called 'lessons of Munich,' Stephen M. Walt argues. Read by Sean Crisden.

Appeasement is underrated!

Some politicians have called peaceful U.S. student protests against the Israel-Hamas conflict a threat. Instead, they are providing us all with an education in democracy, argues Howard W. French. Read by Karl Miller.