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Nations and empires

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

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A video camera reflected in sunglasses with a scenic view of water and hills in the background.

videoGlobal history

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, a young couple discovers a strange, newly open world

18 minutes

Photo of an elderly woman resting her forehead on a large stone bust outdoors near a decaying concrete structure.

videoHistory

In Stalin’s home city in Georgia, generations clash over his legacy

20 minutes

Painting of ancient Roman ruins with people, cattle and trees under a blue sky with clouds.

essayNations and empires

The rewards of ruin

Societal downfalls loom large in history and popular culture but, for the 99 per cent, collapse often had its upsides

Luke Kemp

Photo of a large conference with a speaker on stage in traditional attire and an audience seated facing a large curved screen.

essayPolitics and government

How to run the world

We need new forms of global diplomacy to transcend the current pathetic bargaining of national and commercial interests

David Van Reybrouck

Painting of a vast landscape featuring rocky hills, a woman with a child and distant snow-capped mountains under a cloudy sky.

videoNature and landscape

After independence, Mexico was in search of identity. These paintings offered a blueprint

15 minutes

Medieval painting of a circular walled city with towers and a large lamb statue on a roof, surrounded by countryside.

essayPolitical philosophy

The allure of autarky

Liberal thinkers are shocked that nations are once again isolating from the world. The real surprise would be if they didn’t

Ben Chu

Mosaic of a man in a red coat and wide brimmed hat holding a scythe with three workers in the background on a patterned brick wall.

essayHuman rights and justice

Levelling the world

Gerrard Winstanley led a small band of radicals whose vision of justice encompassed the globe and continues to inspire

Rowan Wilson

Painting of a man on a rocky cliff overlooking a foggy mountainous landscape, with a walking stick in hand.

essayArt

Out of the fog

It’s a ‘failed painting’ that obscures the profound power of German Romanticism. Why do we love the ‘Wanderer’ so much?

Gianluca Didino

Medieval painting of soldiers in armour on a boat and horseback near a fortress with Cyrillic script above.

essayGlobal history

Vikings on the Silk Roads

The Norse ravaged much of Europe for centuries. They were also cosmopolitan explorers who followed trade winds into the Far East

Neil Price

Black and white photo of a person in glasses and military attire standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

videoArt

When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer

9 minutes

Photo of a rural scene: a man and child walk with ducks past a military motorcycle and three soldiers in a field.

essayNations and empires

Shame and revolution

Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame

Kevin D Pham

Photo of two boys sitting in a dilapidated room surrounded by debris with a view of an overgrown outside through a broken wall.

videoWar and peace

Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines

22 minutes

Vintage sepia photo of a group of soldiers in hats and uniforms posed with a US flag.

essayWar and peace

Could conquest return?

It’s only a century since US diplomats first persuaded the world that it’s wrong for countries to annex their neighbours

Kerry Goettlich

Photo of a large crowd celebrating outdoors with a person waving a South African flag energetically in the foreground.

essayPolitical philosophy

A right to exist?

Since states are founded on violence and expulsion, their existence is always bound up in thorny questions about justice

Andrew F March

Aerial black-and-white photo of a town surrounded by rolling hills and agricultural terraces.

essayNations and empires

Passion and Palestine

More than any other conflict, Israel/Palestine has provoked extraordinarily fervent emotion throughout the world. Why?

Derek Jonathan Penslar

Vintage black-and-white photo of a colonial-era courtroom with seated officials and standing West African defendants in traditional attire.

essayHuman rights and justice

What’s in the rule of law?

The British Empire used a great democratic ideal to manufacture racial difference and rationalise colonial domination

Kanika Sharma

Photo of a protest in front of a historic building with statues. Signs read “End Racism Now!” and other messages.

essayNations and empires

What is decolonisation?

There’s more talk of decolonisation than ever, while true independence for former colonies has faded from view. Why?

Lydia Walker

People in a church with raised hands in worship, expressions of joy and devotion on their faces.

essayNations and empires

Utopia brasileira

Within less than a decade, Brazil will have as many evangelicals as Catholics, a transcendence born of the prosperity gospel

Alex Hochuli

Photo of a soldier in camouflage standing on a busy market street surrounded by people and colourful fabrics.

essayNations and empires

Colonies of former colonies

India’s ongoing subjugation of Kashmir holds portentous lessons about the nature of contemporary colonialism

Hafsa Kanjwal

Painting of a woman with a sword defending a fort from attackers; other figures fight with swords and wooden poles and carry stones.

essayRace and ethnicity

The forging of countries

Two distinct and conflicting forms of nationalism – civic and ethnic – helped create the nation-states of Europe

Luka Ivan Jukić

Black-and-white photo of a man in a suit and hat grabbing another man by his collar in front of a bar with bottles.

essayPolitical philosophy

C L R James and America

The brilliant Trinidadian thinker is remembered as an admirer of the US but he also warned of its dark political future

Harvey Neptune

Photochrom image of a narrow street lined with Middle-Eastern buildings; people are walking down the middle of the street and some are holding umbrellas.

essayNations and empires

The paradoxes of Mikha’il Mishaqa

He was a Catholic, then a rationalist, then a Protestant. Most of all, he exemplified the rise of Arab-Ottoman modernity

Peter Hill

Ancient Mayan ruins, including a prominent stone pyramid, surrounded by dense green jungle under a cloudy sky.

essayArchaeology

Beyond kingdoms and empires

A revolution in archaeology is transforming our picture of past populations and the scope of human freedoms

David Wengrow

President Eisenhower and Kwame Nkrumah talking. Nkrumah is wearing traditional African attire and pointing at Eisenhower, who is wearing a suit.

essayGlobal history

The route to progress

Anticolonial modernity was founded upon the fight for liberation from communists, capitalists and imperialists alike

Frank Gerits