Dawn of the Electric World Order

Global shockwaves from the war on Iran

Global shockwaves from the war on Iran are accelerating the energy transition

War on Iran

The illegal war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran has triggered the mother of all commodity-supply shocks. In response to the unprovoked...

Conscious Uncoupling

Can America's allies bypass the hegemon?

Can America's allies bypass the hegemon?

Insurance in the Polycrisis

The future is triage on an uninsurable earth

In April, a senior European insurance executive warned in a viral LinkedIn post that climate change threatened his industry’s existence and, in turn, capitalism itself....

Beyond Neoliberalism?

In search of programs, strategies, and coalitions for a new world order

The globalization that defined the neoliberal period was imagined at a remove from the material world: weightless supply chains composed of transparent logistics networks, just-in-time...

BRICS in 2025

Two energy systems and development models compete for primacy within the group

Within the BRICS group, two competing global models of energy, growth, and influence. The future of the world’s majority will be decided by the pace...

April is the Cruelest Month

Diversification and dedollarization in the world economy

Investing in the US has been a good bet for well over a decade. America’s tech industry, its indefatigable consumers, highly profitable firms, and pro-growth...

Molecules of Freedom

The hydra-headed global market for liquified natural gas

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, European, and especially German, industry was left in the lurch. Much of the 150 billion cubic meters of...

Europe Enters Its Metal Era

What kind of Europe survives a fractured transatlantic military alliance?

This month, Trump entered into formal talks with Russia—without Kyiv’s consent—to settle the war in Ukraine, largely on Putin’s terms. And on Friday, speaking with...

Polycrisis 2025

Diplomacy, finance, and extraction in the year ahead

The United States will be a source of chaos and volatility for the next several years. The first month of 2025 has set the scene....

America First?

Escalation and reverberations in the trade war

The reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency has sent shockwaves around the world. And just hours after results came in, the ruling three-party German...

Marshall Plans

New green industrial diplomacy?

At September’s UN General Assembly in New York, Brazil’s President Lula described the international financial system as a “Marshall Plan in reverse” in which the...

The Contest to Shape “Country Platforms”

IMF reforms and Bangladesh’s revolt

Last month, young people in Bangladesh revolted against their government over a jobs quota bill that would have reserved 30 percent of public-sector jobs for...

The View From Nairobi-Washington

Debt, austerity, and Kenya’s global positioning

On June 25, crowning a dramatic, nationwide tax revolt, demonstrators in Nairobi stormed Kenya’s parliament buildings. President William Ruto’s new finance bill, introduced in Parliament...