Human Rights
Identity Crisis: Power and Freedom in the 21st Century
Is it possible to guarantee security and freedom simultaneously? And can we translate the language of peaceful protest into meaningful political reform?
Garrett Walker
Garrett was the editor-in-chief of the HIR from 2019 to 2020; he previously served as writing chair. He writes about international development, technology, and US and European politics.
Finance & Economics
Fighting Fires in the Engine Room: A Conversation with Christine Lagarde
"The pandemic has driven the euro area economy into an economic contraction of a magnitude and speed that are unprecedented in peacetime."
Interviews
Up High in a Low Country: A Conversation with Sophie Wilmès
"More than ever, I am convinced that leadership is about making sure that people can work together."
Europe
Shock to the Heart of Europe: A Conversation with Andrej Babiš
Andrej Babiš has served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic since December 2017. After becoming the second-wealthiest person in the country, Babiš started a political movement to challenge establishment parties; he remains one of the most polarizing figures in Czech politics to this day.
United States
In the Lions' Den: A Conversation with Daryl Davis
Daryl Davis is a jazz musician who engages directly with members of the Ku Klux Klan to broaden their worldviews. He has directly inspired over 200 Klansmen to leave the organization, and dismantled the Klan’s operation in the state of Maryland. Davis spoke with Garrett Walker in July.
Law & Diplomacy
Deals or Ideals? Negotiation in Modern Diplomacy
In the Summer 2020 Issue History is narrative, and narrative celebrates defiance. From one Martin Luther to the other, humanity has revered those who refuse to compromise on their principles. By contrast, concession can sometimes feel a lot like cowardice. Winston Churchill, the “British Bulldog” who prevented Nazis from goose-stepping
Interviews
Scandinavian Stability for a World in Flux: A Conversation with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg
Erna Solberg has served as Prime Minister of Norway since 2013, longer than any other Conservative prime minister in the nation’s history. Solberg spoke to Garrett Walker in May.
Law & Diplomacy
Exhaustion, Erosion, Extinction: Institutional Failure in a Zero-Sum World
In the Spring 2020 Issue Writing in 1928, the British statesman Arthur Balfour noted that “Our whole political machinery presupposes a people so fundamentally at one that they can safely afford to bicker.” Free expression, like many of the values we hold dear, relies on cultural tradition and the tacit
Agriculture
A Quiet Desperation: Modern Agriculture and Rural Life
In the Winter 2020 Issue Throughout human history, agricultural innovations have filled our stomachs and freed our minds. The domestication of plants during the Neolithic Revolution over 12,000 years ago allowed humans to move past hunting and gathering societies. Bountiful harvests in the 18th-century British Agricultural Revolution contributed to
Finance & Economics
Lack of All Trade: The Meteoric Rise of Protectionism
From the archives. Originally published in the Summer 2018 Issue. In early March 2018, President Donald Trump declared his plans to institute a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum, roiling the international economic order. Pointing to intellectual property theft, supporters of retaliation against China
Defense
A Hermit Gone Nuclear
From the archives. Originally published in the Spring 2018 Issue. Every day for nearly two years, South Korean border guards called a direct line to North Korea. Every day, they got no answer. Until January 3, 2018. Despite sanctions, humanitarian crisis, and international pressure in recent years, Kim Jong-un’s
Science & Technology
The Captain of My Soul: Why Humanity Should Not Fear AI
From the archives. Originally published in the Winter 2018 Issue. In 2013, Carl Frey and Michael Osborne released a startling projection: 47 percent of U.S. jobs were at high risk of automation. Subsequent predictions put the number even higher for the developing world. According to a recent report from