The reading room

Take the long view.

Arguments worth spending time with. Explore by perspective, or follow an idea across borders.

13 essays
Analysis · Africa / Diplomacy & conflict

The cost of continuing

Britain has announced new sanctions and mediators have returned to Geneva. Changing the course of Sudan’s war requires pressure that reaches its sources of supply, protects civilians and gives Sudanese people a meaningful voice in the peace being negotiated.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Europe & North America / Economic security & diplomacy

The freedom to choose together

The Canada–EU Alliance for the Future promises greater economic security through deeper cooperation. Its significance will depend on whether shared institutions and investment create usable alternatives—and whose choices those alternatives expand.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Asia-Pacific / Technology & diplomacy

The power to make

TSMC, Taiwan and the limits of technological sovereignty: AI, US–China rivalry and the relationships behind industrial power.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Britain & the world / Energy, defence & diplomacy

The price of strategic freedom

Energy, defence and the foreign policy behind Britain’s Budget: Jackdaw, military capability and the responsibilities of international society.

13 MIN READ
Analysis · Britain / Diplomacy & security

Britain’s war of commitment

Alliances, sanctions and military aid in the Russo-Ukrainian war: an English School assessment of what British statecraft has achieved—and what it has yet to secure.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Britain / Grand strategy

The art of choosing what matters

From the Integrated Review to a NATO-first defence policy: what Britain’s decisions in 2021–2025 reveal about ambition, dependence and the ability to deliver.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Global economy / Economic statecraft

The geography of dependence

Suez, the energy shock and the Red Sea: how Britain has tried to protect the connections on which its prosperity depends, and why protection has not removed vulnerability.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Europe / Security & alliances

Europe’s promise problem

From NATO’s northern enlargement to SAFE and the Anglo-French nuclear declarations: Britain’s role in turning European solidarity into credible defence.

14 MIN READ
Analysis · Asia-Pacific / Strategic autonomy

The space between great powers

ASEAN’s pursuit of room to manoeuvre, and the test it sets for British trade, naval diplomacy and regional partnerships.

14 MIN READ