5 Top Reads

List of 5 Top Reads articles

U.S. President Joe Biden puts his fingers to his eyes with his head bowed and hands clasped in prayer. A folder sits on his lap as he sits in the lower house of the Irish parliament.
U.S. President Joe Biden puts his fingers to his eyes with his head bowed and hands clasped in prayer. A folder sits on his lap as he sits in the lower house of the Irish parliament.

Biden and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year

The U.S. president’s foreign-policy strategy came undone in 2023.

5 Top Reads
Cameron Abadi
An illustration showing a torn Russian flag and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
An illustration showing a torn Russian flag and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Is Russia’s Future a Forever War?

The Kremlin is hunkering down, but 2023 showed that its rule is less stable than it wants us to think.

5 Top Reads
Stefan Theil
Four workers in blue hardhats walk past a coal plant. One is smoking a cigarette.
Four workers in blue hardhats walk past a coal plant. One is smoking a cigarette.

2023 Was Another Record Year for Climate Change

As the world threatens to breach a critical global warming threshold, cooperation still seems to fall short.

5 Top Reads
Chloe Hadavas
A Palestinian is seen from behind as they look outside through a large broken window. Some shards of fractured glass remain in the frame, but the rest of the opening reveals dark smoke billowing from a dense street of buildings in Gaza City. The sky is otherwise light but hazy.
A Palestinian is seen from behind as they look outside through a large broken window. Some shards of fractured glass remain in the frame, but the rest of the opening reveals dark smoke billowing from a dense street of buildings in Gaza City. The sky is otherwise light but hazy.

The Year of the Israel-Hamas War

The events of Oct. 7 sparked a conflagration in the Middle East that has reverberated around the world.

5 Top Reads
Jennifer Williams
People walk along Shanghai's Bund waterfront with skyscrapers of the Lujiazui financial district in the background.
People walk along Shanghai's Bund waterfront with skyscrapers of the Lujiazui financial district in the background.

A Grim Year for the Chinese Economy

How the sharp slowdown has impacted young people, the military, and more.

5 Top Reads
James Palmer
Smoke plumes billow from a fire at a lumber warehouse in Khartoum.
Smoke plumes billow from a fire at a lumber warehouse in Khartoum.

The Year Geopolitical Competition Returned to Africa

From Sudan to Mauritania, regional and global powers are jockeying for position on the continent.

5 Top Reads
Sasha Polakow-Suransky
A collection of illustrated flags fly over a textured background that fades from blue to gray. The flags of the G-7 and NATO are the largest and positioned near the top of the image. Beneath them are the smaller flags of individual countries, including China, Russia, India, and others.
A collection of illustrated flags fly over a textured background that fades from blue to gray. The flags of the G-7 and NATO are the largest and positioned near the top of the image. Beneath them are the smaller flags of individual countries, including China, Russia, India, and others.

Alliances Are Back at the Center of Power

States are increasingly focused on security and the age-old diplomatic instruments to achieve it.

5 Top Reads
Stefan Theil
An illustration shows piles of shipping containers and symbols of industry as protectionist islands in a sea.
An illustration shows piles of shipping containers and symbols of industry as protectionist islands in a sea.

Industrial Policy’s First Cracks Are Starting to Show

This year, state intervention solidified as the world’s new economic orthodoxy—and its weaknesses began to emerge.

5 Top Reads
Cameron Abadi
A Panzerhaubitze 2000 tank howitzer fires during a mission in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
A Panzerhaubitze 2000 tank howitzer fires during a mission in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

What 2023 Taught Us in the Russia-Ukraine War

Foreign Policy’s best reads on the state of the conflict and the implications going forward.

5 Top Reads
Stefan Theil
AI-geopolitics-cooperation-nonproliferation-foreign-policy-illustration-erik-carter-3-2
AI-geopolitics-cooperation-nonproliferation-foreign-policy-illustration-erik-carter-3-2

The Year Policymakers Woke Up to AI

Artificial intelligence became more than just a buzzword in 2023.

5 Top Reads
Rishi Iyengar
An illustration shows the lopped off lower half of the globe with a diverse group of people holding it up from below for a story about the term "the global south."
An illustration shows the lopped off lower half of the globe with a diverse group of people holding it up from below for a story about the term "the global south."

Was 2023 the Year of the Global South?

From the halls of the United Nations to leaders’ podiums, policymakers fixated on the concept this year.

5 Top Reads
Audrey Wilson
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong attends the Pacific Islands Forum.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong attends the Pacific Islands Forum.

The Year’s Best Profiles

Life stories of the politicians who changed our world in 2022.

5 Top Reads
Amelia Lester
modi-cult-of-personality-matthieu-bourel-illustration_Spot_homepage_1500X1000px_72dpi
modi-cult-of-personality-matthieu-bourel-illustration_Spot_homepage_1500X1000px_72dpi

Our Best Long Reads From 2022

Foreign Policy’s best deep dives of the year.

5 Top Reads
Chloe Hadavas
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walks with soldiers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walks with soldiers.

5 News Stories That Packed a Punch

From Russian kill lists to refugees and rebels, these were among FP’s most impactful news stories this year.

5 Top Reads
Keith Johnson
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran.
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Year

Why Iran’s Gen Z is protesting, and why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps won’t back down. These articles explain Tehran’s difficult 2022.

5 Top Reads
Cameron Abadi
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