How a made-for-TV foreign policy triggered real-world crises

A way to solve some of the world’s trickiest problems

America and China have done too little planning for a Korean crisis

Three scenarios illustrate the threat of a nuclear device in rogue hands

A podcast on the 2016 edition of "The World If"

Reforming economists’ tools, temperament and training could help to mitigate, if not to prevent, the next crisis

How China sells its state-owned enterprises matters as much as whether it does

Recent attacks give a glimpse of the sort of cyber-assault that could bring the world economy to a halt. Better defences are needed

Might future law-school graduates look to machines rather than the judges, rules and standards that have underpinned the legal system?

The ability to peer unhindered into the deep would reveal a host of wonders—and have huge practical consequences

Joining East and West together within NATO and the European Union was the worst option, except for all the others

She won the election by leaning right on national security and left on the economy. Now comes the fallout

The world rightly worries about the prospect of a Greater Russia. But a Lesser Russia could be just as troubling

How the West would recognise, and respond to, a Russian offensive

The yuan’s rise will challenge America, but not before China changes

Thomas Piketty, a superstar economist, favours the introduction of a global wealth tax. Its impact might be surprisingly small

Why a Chinese firm might dig a giant waterway through America’s backyard

If the rich world aimed for minimal growth, would it be a disaster or a blessing?

The difference economic reforms could make for Africa

Overturning industries and redefining urban life, self-driving cars promise to be as disruptive and transformative a technology as the mobile phone

Just because you can move the stars in their courses, it doesn’t mean you should

A more erratic rainy season in India could lead to mass famine. But there are ways to avoid such a disaster

Smartphones could transform women’s lives, says Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

What if Mao Zedong’s Communist Party had lost the Chinese civil war to Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party?