In The News

The Myth of the Islamic State: The History of a Political Idea

Mohammed Ayoob May 4, 2016
The goal of a worldwide modern caliphate may be impossible for diverse Muslim nations that lack consensus over universal standards on governance. Phrases like “golden age” are tossed about, yet ignore the challenges, explains Mohammed Ayoob for Foreign Affairs. The Prophet Mohammed died in the year 632, when the world’s population was about 200 million, and Ayoob details the history of the early...

Turkey: The Eastern Question Is Back

Jonathan Marcus February 26, 2016
The Middle East and Europe have a long history of shifting boundaries and periods of destabilization. Europe viewed Turkey as a bulwark against Russian influence, explains Jonathan Marcus, diplomatic correspondent for BBC News. He points to the Crimean War of the 1850s, with France and Great Britain battling Russian influence in Turkey: “Times change - but geography doesn't, and strategic...

Crisis Without End: The Disintegration of the European Project

Brendan Simms and Timothy Less November 14, 2015
Europeans and their leaders increasingly struggle over integration. Writing for New Statesman, Brendan Simms and Timothy Less remind that such struggles have historical precedents, including the breakups of Austria-Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Those examples are used to analyze a scenario for possible collapse of the European Union. EU integration has grown at a fast pace. “This was...

Thank You for Not Smoking

Heather Wipfli October 7, 2015
The passage of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC, offers a critical case study of how international law can be harnessed to address public health issues. Heather Wipfli is author of “Global War on Tobacco: Mapping the World's First Public Health Treaty,” and an excerpt of her book was published in Foreign Affairs. With nearly 6 million tobacco-...

Pakistan Keen to Keep Ties with Iran and Saudi Arabia

Debalina Ghoshal October 1, 2015
Diplomacy in Asia is complicated by religious conflict and sets of regional rivalries including Iran and Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan and India. A deal on Iran’s nuclear program negotiated by the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, could test strategic relations in Asia and trigger a series of recalculations. In particular, strengthening Indian-Iranian ties could fray...

How the Piano Became Chinese

Sheila Melvin September 14, 2015
In planning a trip to China in 1601, Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci gathered gifts including a clavichord. At that time, China had many musical instruments and traditions but nothing like the clavichord, explains journalist Sheila Melvin for Caixin: “That's why Ricci chose it, hoping that the unusual instrument would so excite the emperor's curiosity that he would agree to receive Ricci...

China Aims to Keep Some Ghosts of History Alive

Börje Ljunggren September 8, 2015
Asia’s two great power marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. In a speech, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe surprised by offering words of atonement for his country’s role while China celebrated with a grand military parade emphasizing victory against Japan. China has ample reasons to be proud of its role during World War II, resisting Japanese occupiers and expansionism even as...