The quiet mechanics of multilateral diplomacy, and why agreements take so long
Most of the work behind international agreements happens far from the cameras, in drafting rooms where single words can take days to settle.
Diplomacy
Negotiations, alliances and the institutions of international cooperation.
Analysis
How economic sanctions are designed, and why they so often leak
Sanctions are meant to impose costs without firing a shot. Their effect depends less on the headline measures than on the plumbing of trade and finance beneath them.
Podcast
The Briefing: the quiet work of trade negotiators
What happens in the rooms where trade agreements are drafted. This is a demonstration episode.
Explainer
How international disputes are settled when there is no world government
States cannot be hauled before a judge the way citizens can. Yet a patchwork of courts, tribunals and arbitration panels resolves a surprising number of quarrels.
