Geopolitics
The New Balance of Power in the Middle East
How shifting alliances, military pressure and economic constraints are quietly redrawing the regional order — and why the old certainties no longer hold.
The Journal
Signed analysis and reference
Original analysis, essays and evergreen explainers written for Statevera by Zeynep Doruk. Every piece here is reported, argued and signed — as distinct fromthe Wire, which gathers other newsrooms' reporting.
Latest
Security
How NATO Is Relearning Deterrence
After three years of war on its eastern flank, the alliance is rediscovering a doctrine it once thought solved: making aggression against any member too costly to attempt.
Diplomacy
Ankara's Pivot: Turkey Between Moscow and Brussels
Turkey has turned its position between Russia and the West from a vulnerability into a strategy. The question is how long the balancing act can survive a hardening of both fronts.
Theory
Comparative Advantage and the Theory of International Trade
An academic summary of trade theory from Ricardo to the new trade theory — why states trade, who wins and loses, and what the theories say about tariffs and supply chains.
Economy
The Sanctions Paradox: Why Economic Statecraft Is Blunter Than It Looks
Sanctions are the default instrument of great-power pressure. Their record suggests they change behaviour less often than they transform the structure of world trade.
Security
The Strait of Hormuz: A Chokepoint Under Pressure
A fifth of the world's oil moves through a 33-kilometre strait between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Everyone knows it. That is why it keeps being tested.
Economy
The Trade Corridor Wars: US–China Competition Moves South
The contest between Washington and Beijing is no longer decided in the Pacific alone. New ports, railways and digital corridors are turning the Global South into the competition's decisive theatre.
Archive
Security
How NATO Is Relearning Deterrence
After three years of war on its eastern flank, the alliance is rediscovering a doctrine it once thought solved: making aggression against any member too costly to attempt.
Diplomacy
Ankara's Pivot: Turkey Between Moscow and Brussels
Turkey has turned its position between Russia and the West from a vulnerability into a strategy. The question is how long the balancing act can survive a hardening of both fronts.
Theory
Comparative Advantage and the Theory of International Trade
An academic summary of trade theory from Ricardo to the new trade theory — why states trade, who wins and loses, and what the theories say about tariffs and supply chains.
Economy
The Sanctions Paradox: Why Economic Statecraft Is Blunter Than It Looks
Sanctions are the default instrument of great-power pressure. Their record suggests they change behaviour less often than they transform the structure of world trade.
Security
The Strait of Hormuz: A Chokepoint Under Pressure
A fifth of the world's oil moves through a 33-kilometre strait between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Everyone knows it. That is why it keeps being tested.
Economy
The Trade Corridor Wars: US–China Competition Moves South
The contest between Washington and Beijing is no longer decided in the Pacific alone. New ports, railways and digital corridors are turning the Global South into the competition's decisive theatre.
Opinion
Europe's Defence Moment: The Continent Must Decide What It Is For
The debate about European defence spending keeps avoiding the real question. It is not how much Europe should spend. It is what Europe's military power is supposed to make possible.
Theory
Realism: The Core Theory of International Relations
A concise academic summary of realism — classical realism, neorealism and the offensive-defensive debate — and how the theory explains the behaviour of states.
Geopolitics
The View from Manila: Small-State Strategy in a Great-Power Age
The Philippines has transformed from a bystander to a frontline state in the Pacific competition. Its experience shows what the great-power contest looks like from the middle.
Explainer
What Is Article 5 of NATO?
The alliance's collective defence clause is the most famous sentence in Atlantic security. What it actually obliges, what it leaves open, and when it has been used.
Explainer
How Does the UN Security Council Work?
Five permanent members, fifteen seats, one veto. The council that writes the rules of international security is smaller and more conservative than most people imagine.
Explainer
What Is Balance-of-Power Theory?
The oldest theory of international politics says states survive by preventing any one power from dominating. A guide to the idea that keeps shaping real policy.
Explainer
Why Does the Strait of Hormuz Matter?
A narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula carries a fifth of the world's oil. A short guide to the geography of energy security.
Explainer
What Are Economic Sanctions?
The weapon of choice for states that want to coerce without fighting. How sanctions work, what they can do, and the limits that always appear in practice.
Explainer
Deterrence vs Compellence: The Grammar of Coercion
Both words describe using threats to shape another state's behaviour. The difference between them explains why some threats work and others start wars.
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Explainers
Evergreen guides to the concepts, institutions and chokepoints of international relations.
6 explainers →Opinion
Explicitly argued pieces on the decisions facing governments and alliances.