Foreign Affairs✓

Our November/December 2026 issue is now available online. Start reading here:

“For vulnerable leaders, nuclear weapons offer something more personal than the ability to protect their states: insurance against their own elimination,” writes @Yonatan_Touval. Read the rest of the debate on nuclear deterrence here:

Nicholas Lardy and @MikeFroman assess “the vulnerability of the global economy to imbalances”:

.@AKendallTaylor and @RHFontaine explain how “Trump’s efforts to create a more transactional and coercive world” could reinforce partnerships between U.S. adversaries:

“Putin’s long game with Trump began years ago, driven not so much by some specific objective, but by the hope that Kremlin influence on him might someday prove useful,” writes @McFaul. “Now that day has come.”

“Iran is developing its own version of Israel’s ‘mowing the lawn’ strategy,” writes Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar. “In doing so, it hopes to make the United States less able to protect its allies and its own forces from future Iranian strikes—and thus less likely to stay in the region.”

“Harnessing AI’s potential to increase prosperity without destabilizing society requires coordination,” write @alexolegimas, @elerianm, and James Manyika.

“Extreme policies and positions have become normalized under Netanyahu’s watch.” Read Dalia Dassa Kaye on the future of Israel’s approach to national security:

“The United States must make contingency plans before the dollar’s exorbitant privilege is visibly tattered and signs of hedging against it become clear,” argues @ZongyuanZoeLiu.

Read @nfergus, Lisa Klaassen, and @ericschmidt on how AI will shape the new age of empires:

“The United States may think that it has cornered Iran,” write Narges Bajoghli and @vali_nasr. “But Tehran disagrees. It does not see itself as on its heels or out of options. Instead, it believes that it has won great-power status.”

Read @Justin_Br0nk on the limits of what sustained air and missile strike campaigns can accomplish—and the enduring benefits of air superiority:

“All modern wars end in negotiated settlements; talks are not a second-best fallback.” Read Stephen Biddle, @SamWinterLevy, and Yuri Zhukov on why “military victory” is a myth:

“Modi is in no danger of falling,” writes @pbmehta. “But the Indian government faces a subtler danger: its writ no longer carries unequivocal sway.”

Read @JaredCohen on the greatest obstacles to foreign investment in Africa—and how the continent’s governments can overcome them:

For the first time since World War II, “Europe, rather than the United States, has become Russia’s principal geopolitical adversary,” writes Dmitry Adamsky.

Nicholas Lardy and @MikeFroman consider what the next global economic crisis will look like:

“Trump’s support has bolstered Putin’s belief that time is on his side.” Read @McFaul on how the Trump administration has undermined Ukraine and helped Russia gain momentum:

“Whoever produces and controls frontier models acquires global leverage over innovation, production, science, culture, and, ultimately, advanced thought.” Read @nfergus, Lisa Klaassen, and @ericschmidt on the imperial nature of AI:

“A change of leadership could have profound consequences for Israel’s domestic policy,” writes Dalia Dassa Kaye. “But whether Netanyahu leaves politics this week or years down the road, his national security vision will outlast him.”

“Given the ever-tightening link between national security and the commercial economy, the United States can no longer afford to withhold its most sophisticated intelligence from the companies that may well define the country’s security and power in the years to come,” argues David Cohen.