Do democracies have the guts for diplomacy on Syria?
People used to ask whether democracies had the makeup for war. But when it comes to Syria, it seems that it is diplomacy rather than warfare that is most difficult for Western onlookers to digest.
Mark Leonard
UK Independence Party renews culture wars
UKIP is just a small part of a broader phenomenon spreading across the developed world that resembles a political backlash against globalization and interdependence. But how should mainstream parties respond?
Think again: European decline
Although it may seem that Europe is down and out as it struggles with multiple crises, things are in fact far, far better than they appear on the surface.
The remarkable rise of continental Euroscepticism
A new ECFR analysis shows that trust in the EU has plummeted across the continent. Both southern debtors and northern creditors feel like they are victims.
Revolt of the technocrats
Does the launch of a new Eurosceptic party in Germany suggest there is fertile ground for a real alternative ahead of elections later this year, despite Merkel's refusal to countenance change?
The Europeanisation of America
The two giant economies – Europe and the US – are no longer as different as they once were. Austerity and the prospect of decline have brought them back together.
The State of the Union and the end of persuasion
With his State of the Union address, President Obama combined the two most powerful tactics of modern politics – big speeches and big data – to spur political action. Are we witnessing a reinvention of representative democracy?
Cameron’s backward looking speech
Cameron's EU speech is a bad miscalculation that underestimates how much the world has changed, and how much Britain needs Europe if it is to retain an influential voice in global affairs.
In 2013, the great global unraveling
The main theme of 2013 is likely to be the unraveling of the global economy and supporting political integration.
New world, same old Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to show that nothing in Israel's security situation has changed. But in the wake of the Arab Uprising the Middle East is a different place and Israel needs to reconsider its whole strategy.