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Authoritarian Governance
A firsthand look at China’s material progress and clean-tech revolution -- and what could happen if we let an authoritarian state steer AI's future.
In “Rewiring Democracy,” Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders explore how AI could strengthen democracy or undermine it.
From bombed reactors to inflation and blackouts, a cascade of crises is testing the Islamic Republic’s resilience like never before.
As Beijing encroaches on the territory of the Himalayan kingdom, its ultimate aim is leverage over India.
As democracy recedes and fascism rises in the USA and around the world in 2025, history provides a lesson in how science can fight fascism.
“Technology has always been co-opted for war, but truly intelligent AI, let alone a superintelligence, is a different beast entirely.”
Modern autocracies operate "not like a bloc but rather like an agglomeration of companies," says journalist and historian Anne Applebaum.
"Values emphasizing tolerance and self-expression have diverged most sharply, especially between high-income Western countries and the rest of the world."
Autocrats like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin fear democracy, yet go to great lengths to present themselves as democratic leaders.
In a time when we dislike and distrust our politicians, why can't we get more popular leaders like Kim Jong Un and Bashar al-Assad?
His plan to replace it with homegrown rice did not go well.
The story of China is the story of global economics.
Million Stories
The state of global democracy is relatively strong — but there are clear signs of recent erosion.
Whether in Russia or China, the secret police are defined by their unquestioning loyalty — as well as by their poor career prospects.
From COVID and cancer vaccines to a steady drop in the number of people living in extreme poverty, there are reasons for optimism in 2023.
There's enough evidence to conclude president Bukele had no idea what he was doing.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony sends yet another strong message to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
For decades, the Communist Party of China has relied on reeducation camps to reform "parasites" and persuade people to support the communist cause.
Democracy is in decline, regardless of how we measure it.
For a time, Francis Fukuyama looked like a prophet.
Ukraine destroyed a railway to prevent passage from Transnistria into Ukraine.
While there is more to North Korean cinema than meets the eye, the country’s film industry ultimately amounts to little more than a mouthpiece for the ruling Kim dynasty.
War is peace.
Although saying the wrong thing could often get you killed in ancient civilizations, history shows that the ideal of free speech has deep roots.
As the demonstrations grew, so did the internet service disruptions.
For a long time, important events could only be visualized retroactively through paintings. Photography allowed us to capture history as — or sometimes even before — it happened.
In his new book, "The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power," Jacob Helberg outlines the brewing cyberwar between Western democracies and autocracies like China and Russia.