The world is no longer multipolar - it is ‘multiplex’
Worldview: Multipolarity is based mainly on nineteenth and early twentieth century European precedents concerning balances of state military and strategic power. A multiplex world allows due place in producing order and disorder for institutions, corporations, extremists and social movements
Local politicians are overworked, underpaid and unrepresentative
Worldview: Improving local democracy should be a priority in talks on the formation of the next government
You can’t make America great again if wealth inequalities continue to double and tariffs push up prices
There are deep contradictions between Trump’s policies which empower the super-rich and the interests of left behind communities he pretends to represent
Netanyahu’s strategy of calculated risks and provocative escalation distracts from his low politics
Worldview: Taking on Hizbullah and Iran and showcasing Israel’s mastery of intelligence boosted his popularity, forestalling an early election and political reckoning
Rules-based international order is a poor substitute for the vision of the UN’s founders
Worldview: The United Nations, marginalised in the competition between the US, China and Russia and their emerging blocs, needs a radical overhaul
There are good reasons for Irish people to pay close attention to what’s happening in Scotland
Worldview: If the SNP recovers its strength, the union will weaken - with consequences for the island of Ireland
Ukraine incursion into Russia could make it easier to talk about peace negotiations
Worldview: Public opinion is changing in Ukraine, with 44 per cent support for peace talks
JD Vance is part of a new generation of aristopopulists seeking regime change
Worldview: Vance’s thinking draws on a serious body of conservative political, policy and intellectual ideas from recent years
History suggests democracy will not be saved by further disconnection of economy from society
There are significant parallels - and differences - between countermovements that gripped Europe and the US about 100 years ago and forces shaping politics today
Englishness and Britishness are not the same. That matters as nationalism resurges in the UK
Can a Labour government go far enough with constitutional reform to deflect renewed Scottish demands for independence?
The five different ‘crisis tribes’ dividing European politics
Germans worry about immigration, Poles about Ukraine, Danish and French about climate change, and the British about Covid
Two valuable studies of Ireland’s relationship with the EU
Irish academics offer insights into Ireland’s increasingly outward-looking place in the world as mediated through the EU and its institutions
Overworked, older and mostly male: Ireland has Europe’s weakest local government
Councillors lack the power and the funding to meet the needs of a rapidly changing and more diverse Irish society
The deep problems facing Britain will continue to dog Labour
Weak central government that fails to deliver is making the nationalist case in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland stronger
Messy peace deal may be better option than continuing war in Ukraine
After two years of fighting, the war has entered a phase that threatens even greater danger - but there may also be scope for a suboptimal resolution that could be accepted by all sides