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'YOU'RE STILL A SUPERPOWER,' a top diplomat from one of America's most dependable Middle Eastern allies said to me in July of this year, 'but you no longer know how [...]

The average person, looking around the world today, might say things are very grim. It's understandable. Headlines from Syria reveal devastation and human tragedy on an unimaginable scale. Billions suffer [...]

Regular readers of this column may recall that my father was a scientist at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Beginning his work in the 1950s, when computers were the size of classrooms [...]

THE SALES REVENUES OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST company, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are higher than the GDPs of all but 25 countries. At 2.1 million, its employees outnumber the populations of [...]

There's a whole lotta technophilia going on. The wave upon wave of digital disruptions buffeting and inalterably changing global society--we have been told by a chorus of Silicon Valley CEOs, [...]

The U.S. intelligence community has been thriving since the 1700s. But it's in need of an overhaul. The U.S. president, frustrated by the costs of involvement in the Middle East [...]

Once upon a time, no term evoked modernity like 'the Atomic Age.' It contained the promise of harnessing the power of the atom for good and for ill. Unleashing the [...]

Scientists have proposed calling the geological period in which we live the Anthropocene Era, a time in which human activity--namely the emission of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide from [...]

Remember the Social Security lockbox? It seems a long time ago, doesn't it? Almost quaint. There was good old Al Gore in his first presidential debate against George W. Bush [...]

Who has not stood before a vista--snow-capped peaks, a coral seascape teeming with reef fish, a desert stretching parched and golden to the horizon, the canopy of stars in the [...]

I like to think that the people I know are of above-average intelligence. Most of them, anyway. (I do know lots of people in Washington.) Yet were you to ask [...]

Once, back when pterodactyls still filled the skies, I interviewed for a job working for a man in New York City with too much money and too much time on [...]

White men have had a great run. From the rise of the Greeks to the birth of Western-based global empires, they have controlled much of the world or sought to: [...]

During the interminable but reliably ridiculous early phases of the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican aspirant Jeb Bush felt it appropriate to note that television's new Supergirl looks 'hot.' Because Foreign [...]

This summer's biggest movie is Jurassic World. Apparently, people have an endless appetite for dinosaurs, which could also explain much about the popularity of Flintstones vitamins or, for that matter, [...]

NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONS ARE SUPPOSED TO enshrine fundamental rights for everyone--and for generations. Such documents are also products of moments in time and reflect perceptions of life in those moments. That's [...]

America is in decline. America is broke. America is unwilling to lead. America has alienated the world. America is fat. America is addicted to sugar, reality television, and hearing itself [...]

The fabric of civilization is being rewoven around us. The very nature of life, work, and society is changing so profoundly that we are approaching a moment at which our [...]

The gripping story of the quest to bring former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre to justice that appears in this issue of FOREIGN POLICY is deeply resonant for several reasons. In […]

If you were to ask a typical American voter for a list of creative, intellectually gifted public officials, he or she would probably look at you as though you had [...]

THERE ARE NO failed states. There is only a failure of our international system. Yet we persist in speaking of institutional and economic collapse, social discord, and the turmoil associated [...]

IF, AFTER READING through the FP Power Map that is at the heart of this issue, you were to conclude that the most disturbing aspect of the list is that [...]

TEN YEARS AGO this March, George W. Bush launched America's invasion of Iraq. Had Twitter existed back then, #ShockandAwe would have been trending. Ground operations advanced quickly. By May, the [...]

ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE, you will find advice Barack Obama can act on to ensure that history views him as the transformational figure he hoped to be when he took [...]

ONCE AGAIN, FOREIGN POLICY has with characteristic humility compiled its list of leading Global Thinkers. How we could possibly identify the top 100 thinkers on a planet of 7 billion [...]

IN THE LATE 19th century, roughly half of Americans worked in agriculture. By 2000, that fraction had fallen to under 2 percent. During the last century alone, we have seen [...]

THE MOST SHOCKING THING about October surprises is that they happen so regularly that they really ought not to be called surprises. If anything, they have become a staple of [...]

THIS IS THE EIGHTH year FOREIGN POLICY has published the Failed States Index. During that time it has been both closely followed--not least, inside the U.S. government and in foreign [...]

THE UNITED STATES IS a bit like a 375-pound, middle-aged man with a heart condition walking clown a city street at night eating a Big Mac. He's sweating profusely because [...]

THE WORLD IS RUN today by what I call supercitizens--superempowered global elites that straddle borders, move markets, and make or break politicians. What makes a supercitizen different from you and [...]

Americans have an uncomfortable relationship with smart. They are perfectly happy to celebrate genius, provided it doesn't make them uncomfortable or require too much of them. They are more concerned [...]

When Christine Lagarde took over the International Monetary Fund in 2011, the bank was in crisis. Its previous chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had resigned amid allegations of sexual assault. But restoring [...]

In the seat of American power, power spends most of its time on its seat. That's because, as Henry Kissinger once observed, the greatest force at work in America's capital [...]

SOMETIMES WE IN the media can't help ourselves. We kick the big story to the curb in favor of the salacious one. We ignore the one with lasting global implications [...]

The article discusses the foreign policy and management style of U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration. It analyzes perceived errors, scandals, and mistakes that allegedly harm U.S. interests and standing within the international community. Topics discussed include the president's management style, criticism of him and other government officials such as U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) Susan Rice and her negotiation tactics and diplomacy, and comparisons of Obama's foreign policy and management with former U.S. President George W. Bush.

The article presents an examination of the balance of power between governments and private-sector organizations, adapted from the book "Power, Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government -- and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead," by David Rothkopf.

The article discusses internet and mentions topics such as empowerment and education through the internet. Topics include network breakdowns, distribution of energy infrastructure and digital colonialism. Other topics such as National Security Agency (NSA), controlling internet and internet in military power are also discussed. Network changes, decentralization of power and modern communications techniques are mentioned. Further, distance education, health and smart networks are also discussed.

The article examines whether the possibility of Iran having a nuclear weapon is a threat, a distraction, or a combination of both. Topics discussed include the failure to reduce the threat of a nuclear war with the end of the Cold War, the emergence of a new set of problems despite the effectiveness of deterrence, and the threats associated with Iran's nuclear program. Also discussed is are other risky technologies that are being neglected due to the focus on Iran's nuclear program including cyberweapons.

The article talks about immigration policies by U.S. President Donald Trump. Topics discussed include Trump's action to close American borders to Muslims from select countries and his escalation of the deportation of undocumented residents that focuses mainly on Mexicans. Other topics include Trump's commitments in hiring new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to build detention facilities for the undocumented residents, and former President Barack Obama having deported more people in his first term as President than former President George W. Bush did in 8 years.

The article discusses how working without retiring has become an ambition for Americans. There are challenges when many people continue to work since productivity makes jobs harder to come by. Resentment against persons who stay in the workplace longer may arise and competition for jobs may intensify. Economic growth has resolved these concerns throughout history. Workplaces with experienced workers have greater means for training new workers. People will pay taxes longer when they work longer instead of drawing down on retirement-related entitlements. While politicians look over possible solutions on how to pay for an aging society, medical science and the marketplace has produced an aging society helping pay for everyone else.

The article talks about people's biggest phobias such as public speaking, heights, bugs and strangers. It discusses the issue of obesity in the U.S., which is related to two major causes of death in the country such as heart disease and cancer. It also discusses the rising terrorism in the country, social unrest, inequality and competitiveness.

The author presents a personal narrative of working for a rich person in New York City and mentions money, sex and love.

The article reflects on the author's visit to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960 to study chimpanzees.