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Governance

French Barkhane force soldiers who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty in the Sahel board a US Air Force C130 transport plane, leave their base in Gao, Mali, Wednesday June 9, 2021.

Trust the process: Part II

Critical State

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the function of ad-hoc organizations that are formed to address a specific crisis — and then often get dissolved when the crisis ends.

Afghan police arrive at the site of an attack at Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.

​​​​​​​What does ‘legitimacy’ mean: Part II

Critical State
Government soldiers wait on a helicopter at the airport in San Pedro, southwestern Ivory Coast, Friday Jan. 10, 2003, before heading to an area near Grabo, also in the southwest, where government forces are fightng rebels.

What does ‘legitimacy’ mean: Part I

Critical State
A person wearing white protective gear and gloves sits in the doorway of an ambulance.

Italy’s coronavirus response was a role model for Europe. What went wrong?

COVID-19
A boy carries a tub of water down a street past a wall full of grafitti in Arabic letters.

Putting the ‘scare’ in scarcity conflicts: Part I

Critical State
A person washes a wall with painted big yellow hammer and sickle of the Chinese Communist Party.

Illiberalism isn’t just rising — it’s spreading (Part II)

Critical State

The International Department is the diplomatic wing of the Communist Party of China. It has zeroed in on training foreign parties in its own image, using tools that allow the CPC to teach the blocking and tackling of its approach to governance to a wider audience than ever before. Critical State’s Sam Ratner looks into new research on the ID-CPC’s global reach.

The White House.

What theoretical physics says about the future of our government

Global Politics

Hint: Our society is too complex to be managed by a hierarchy.

Ukraine law

Ukraine’s new law cracks down on free speech, protests and the Internet

Global Politics

The Ukrainian parliament has passed a law that restricts free speech, peaceful protest and free communications in the country, leaving citizens and journalists outraged.

From poisonous snakes in Brazil to poisonous gas in Syria, to political poison in the US, what a Monday!

Global Scan

Monday’s Global Scan covers wild animals, wild politics and not-so-wild efforts to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons infrastructure. What will the rest of the week bring?

Woman is killed after leading police on a chase from the White House to the Capitol

Conflict & Justice

In a puzzling incident in the nation’s capital city, a woman tried to enter the White House grounds in her car and then led police on a chase to the Capitol. The woman was killed and an infant was found in the car.