If colonialism constituted the first phase of contemporary African history, and the era of decolonization and the Cold War the second, modern Africa is now in its third phase. There has been some European, American, and, increasingly, Chinese investment in infrastructure and minerals. And there is periodic terrorism. But again, the continent is mor

The European Allies also share some of the blame. As is often the case in history, it was not what the major European countries did as much as what they chose not to do. The lack of military preparation, the embrace of symbolic but toothless international pacts, the appeasement of German…

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The concept of sovereignty had three basic dimensions. First, countries should accept the borders of other countries and not use force in an attempt to change them. Second, countries should not interfere in events inside other countries. Third, governments should have a free hand to do as they please within their own borders. These three notions ma

The Gulf Cooperation Council, essentially comprising the Sunni Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, has become little more than a Saudi-dominated front against Iran. There is no regional organization that includes Israel, Turkey, and Iran in addition to the Arab states—which is to say there is no regional organization in a position to tackle regiona

Whatever the number of powers, order can be either strengthened or undermined by alliances. An alliance is a collection of countries that have come together to promote what they see as their common security interests. All alliances enshrine a formal commitment or obligation to provide military—and possibly other kinds of—support if any member of th

Some see a dollar-dominated world as a mixed blessing. The rest of the world is affected by U.S. monetary policy but has little influence over it. The Federal Reserve, or the Fed, is responsible for setting U.S. monetary policy in response to conditions in the United States, not in response to the needs of the global economy. But the adjustment of

There are important differences, in particular between the energy-rich nations (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan) and the countries that are poorer, less stable, and less connected to the world (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). What these countries (with the partial exception of Uzbekistan, which is introducing a number of economic and political reforms) have i

Eighty-five percent of the world’s refugees are in developing countries, and nearly 60 percent of all current refugees have come from Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan.

Oil generates roughly one-third of the energy consumed, while nearly 30 percent comes from burning coal. Natural gas is third, at just over 20 percent, which means that fossil fuels combine to account for close to 85 percent of all energy use. Hydropower accounts for 7 percent of primary energy consumption, renewable forms of energy such as solar,