August 2026

Introduction: Beyond the Surface of Urban Unrest Modern political unrest rarely emerges from a single cause. It is usually the result of multiple forces converging: genuine grievances, ideological movements, organizational networks, media ecosystems, and competing interpretations of events. The challenge for democratic societies is distinguishing between legitimate civic activism and the ways political narratives can…

Every foreign policy doctrine is tested the same way: can it distinguish one threat from another? Grand strategy is not about producing the same answer everywhere. It is about allocating limited military power, limited political capital, and limited public patience to the risks that matter most. States cannot afford to treat every crisis as equally…

Introduction: The Politics of Moving Without Arriving For more than four decades, the United States and Iran have been locked in a confrontation that repeatedly appears on the verge of transformation. A crisis erupts. Washington issues warnings. Military assets move. Officials promise consequences. Markets react. Allies prepare for escalation. Then, almost inevitably, the cycle changes…

Introduction: The Politics of Forgetting Democracies depend on more than access to information. They depend on the ability to remember. A functioning democratic society requires historical continuity: the capacity to connect present decisions with past assumptions, compare political promises with outcomes, and evaluate whether leaders and institutions have learned from previous experiences. Without that continuity,…

Introduction When roughly 60,000 people suddenly rushed across the heavily guarded borders of Ceuta—a small piece of Spain located on the coast of North Africa—it looked like a terrible accident. If you only watched the news for a few minutes, you might have thought it was just a random wave of people looking for a…