Africa’s Sahel region has come under increased interest from global powers in recent years due to various strategic factors and political instability. Historically, the region’s states have been key partners of Western powers – notably France and the United States – in their push to exert their influence on the continent. However, the Sahel states from Guinea to Sudan have experienced a spate of military coup d’états that have drastically altered the balance of power in the r

The values and political orientations of younger citizens are widely regarded as key indicators of a country’s future political trajectory [1]. In Germany, trends indicate a significant shift to the right among young German voters with a drastic increase in support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing populist party (RWPP). In the 2025 federal elections, AfD placed second nationwide with 20 percent of the vote [2]. Current polling data further indicate that, if

Across the world, organised violence continues to shape global politics. The persistence of war raises an uncomfortable question: is this simply what humans are, or is it something we keep choosing to build?

If the reaction to the Gorton and Denton by-election is to be believed, Britain has suddenly turned Green. With 14,980 votes,40.7 per cent of the total, the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer captured a seat long regarded as safe Labour territory (UK Parliament, 2026). Commentators rushed to declare a breakthrough for environmental politics. In reality, the result says far more about Labour’s collapse, and the opportunism of the Green campaign, than it does about any surge of enthu

There is a growing sense that the economy is harder to understand than it used to be. It is tempting to romanticise the past. The twentieth-century industrial economy is often imagined as structurally straightforward: people worked in factories or offices, firms produced tangible goods, governments regulated markets, and economic growth translated into visible improvements in infrastructure and living standards. Careers appeared more linear.

Note: this is an opinion piece Peru has removed yet another president. Amid the salsa music of a London theatre, I found myself asking the question Mario Vargas Llosa asked decades ago: ¿en qué momento se jodió el Perú? — at what moment did Peru go wrong? Last night I was standing in a London theatre, packed shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of Venezuelans and other Latinos, waiting for Danny Ocean to take the stage. The queue outside had already felt like a reunion — slang

What has often been recognised as one of the geopolitical theatres of the Cold War, the Middle East (ME) has been vulnerable to the United States’ (US) and the Soviet Union’s (USSR) ideological and politically strategic influence after Europe.[1] However, the degree to which the superpowers shaped the Middle East’s trajectory remains contested by scholars. Here, the impact of the superpowers refers to their power to determine political outcomes such as wars, alliances, regime

Women have always had a complicated relationship with money, or rather, society has always had a complicated relationship with women having money. For most of modern history, women were legally excluded from economic independence. In the UK, married women could not open bank accounts in their own name without a husband’s permission until the 1970s following the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) (Pugh, 2018). Credit cards were routinely denied to them. Financial dependence wasn’t

Reform UK, the United Kingdom’s far-right populist party, have rose drastically over the past years, [1] with it came a revival of the struggle over the British history. With this revival, archives, and sites of history at large, have once again become a hotbed of issues as the right has sought to ‘clean out’ the archives. This is already taking place ‘across the pond’ with the Trump administration having already laid off ought out a number of staff at the U.S. National Arch

Pridi Banomyong’s relationship with the Thai monarchy is an interesting one as he originally headed the 1932 Siamese Revolution that ended absolutism and yet later came to represent the monarch as Regent. This essay will provide an overview of this relationship focused on three key stages of Pridi’s political career, represented by his three personas: the Revolutionary, the Regent, and the Prime Minister. As will be demonstrated, Pridi’s relationship with the monarchy was one

A few years ago, I spoke at a biometrics symposium in Florida. In my lecture, I argued that the United States should avoid encouraging the weaponization of algorithms - and the weaponization of any consumer technology more broadly - because the economy of the United States is dependent upon technology and computing infrastructure more so than any other economy in the world...

When South Africa held its first democratic elections on the 27 th April 1994 and Nelson Mandela was voted in as president, it signalled the end of Apartheid. It began in 1948 and involved a system of racial segregation and discrimination which gave all social, political and economic power to the white minority in the country. Post-WW2 the National party promised to ‘protect’ Afrikaner culture, expanding segregation laws which had been in place since European colonisation in

Introduction: Mobutu Sese Seko’s Congo presents an interesting case of authoritarian control. Lasting over thirty years as an almost unopposed ruler, Mobutu deployed multiple aspects of the authoritarian toolkit, namely divide-and-rule, decentralisation of the military, and extensive patrimonialism. However, there is a disconnect between the failure of Mobutu’s policies and the length of his regime’s survival. How did he manage to maintain control of the state even as all h

Journalism is a profession that most people admire, respect, and fear at the same time. Scrutiny and judgement are at the centre. Those who can speak to citizens with clarity are met with bouquets and messages of admiration, as well as critiques and threats from millions. As a young, aspiring journalist, I was in awe of Clarissa Ward’s work. Seeing her on my screen, from Damascus to Ukraine and Yemen, filled me with a fierce curiosity and admiration for a job that still feels

China and Russia have deepened their strategic partnership since 2022, driven by a shared opposition to the US-led global order. The partnership has weathered geopolitical headwinds, with trade soaring and joint diplomatic statements emphasising a “no limits” relationship. Despite asymmetries, their coordinated efforts span multilateral platforms, energy, and military affairs. Persistent tensions and divergent regional ambitions remain, but common grievances ensure the partne

Introduction From the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the early 21 st century, Britain maintained a ‘Splendid Isolation’ stance, deliberately avoiding formal alliances with other significant European powers of that time. [1] Preferring to act as a balancer, this was done to preserve diplomatic flexibility and deter aggression arising from being bound to alliances. First coined by Eric Eisenberg in the 1980s, ‘Strategic Ambiguity’ is a tool for states to navigate complex geopo

On the morning of December 8, 2024, the world woke up in shock and disbelief as the latest news from Damascus arrived. In only eleven days, the rebel jihadist forces of Hayat Tayir al Sham (HTS) successfully concluded their assault on Damascus, forcing Assad to flee towards Moscow. What would become a new international figure, an Islamist under the fighting name of Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, marched on the empty presidential palace as the allied forces were liberating the priso

In 2020, while millions lost their jobs during the pandemic, the world’s billionaires saw their wealth jump by over 38% (Bordeerath, 2025). The cause? Surging stock and housing prices, fuelled, in part, by central bank policies meant to ‘save’ the economy.

When Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote Influence of Sea Power Upon History in 1890, he argued for a ‘theory of security’ that provided a grand strategic initiative and ‘greater wealth through global engagement.’ [1] Embraced by the U.S. Navy and the White House, there’s no question that the Influence of Sea Power Upon History shaped US strategic thinking in the 20th century. Yet, as President Eisenhower said, ‘farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousa

“The decision we will make for our country on 2 December is a choice between the past and the future, between the habits and fears of the past, and the demands and opportunities of the future.” (Gough Whitlam, November 1972)[1]