Total ownership
Feature: What do Middle Eastern states want with European football clubs? Sarath K. Ganji on autocratic governments’ ambitious move into the global game.
Mission drift
Feature: Why have Americans lost faith in higher education? Julia Adams and Sarath Sanga on what’s gone wrong—and what universities can do about it.
The state’s return
Feature: How have governments become some of the biggest investors in the global economy? Adam Dixon on a new era of state capitalism.
‘When the culture changes …’
Feature: Can you really switch off? Sara Robin on the growing resistance to addictive technology.
Unmatched speed
Feature: How is new technology reshaping the battlefield? Matthew Ford on why the most sophisticated weapons systems can’t overcome the oldest problems in warfare.
Borrowed trouble
Feature: Why is Pakistan in “open war” with the Taliban? Anatol Lieven on how Afghanistan became a battleground again.
Shadow state
Feature: Why did the Mexicans kill El Mencho? Benjamin Smith on the state losing control over the cartels.
An Orwellian war
Will Ukrainian democracy survive the Russian assault? Serhii Plokhy on the historical clues.
Code black
Feature: How did a criminal industry worth tens of billions entrench itself in Cambodia? Jacob Sims on the nexus of organized crime and autocracy in Southeast Asia.
