Section archive

Books & Ideas

Critical engagement with the books, thinkers and ideas shaping how we understand global politics. These are not summaries — they are arguments about whether a book's thesis holds, where it succeeds and where it fails. The best pieces in this category stand alone as analytical essays even for readers who have not read the book. If a work matters to the study of power, diplomacy and international affairs, you will find an honest assessment of what it is worth and what it misses.

All desks Abraham Accords Accountability Afghanistan Africa Aga Khan Foundation Aggression AI Governance AIPAC Analysis Arabic Armenia Artificial Intelligence Asia Australia Awards Azerbaijan Barack Obama Beaufort Castle Benjamin Netanyahu BJP Board of Peace Books Books & Ideas Brazil Bulgaria Canada Career Development Career Planning Careers Caribbean Carnegie Gaither Ceasefire Central Asia CFR Fellowship Chevening China Chinese Government Scholarship Civilian Casualties Climate Change Colonialism Columbia University Commonwealth Scholarship Counterintelligence Cuba DAAD Dahiyeh Daniel Huttenlocher Democracy DIA Diplomacy Donald Trump

Books & Ideas

The View from the Commanding Heights

Kissinger, Schmidt and Huttenlocher have written a serious book about AI’s civilisational stakes. They have also, almost entirely, written about the humans who will govern it rather than those who will be governed by it.