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  1. op_pei3_Hulton-Deutsch CollectionCORBISCorbis via Getty Images_zhouenlai Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images
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    The Tragedy of Zhou Enlai

    Minxin Pei

    The reputation of China's longest-serving premier has fared far better than that of the Maoist regime he faithfully served. Zhou's political survival skills enabled him to survive many purges, and even to steer Mao away from potential disasters, but he could not escape the Chairman's cruelty, even at the end of his life.

     reflects on the complicated life and legacy of the renowned diplomat who was Mao Zedong’s dutiful lieutenant.
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    Oligarchy in America

    Featured in this Big Picture

    PS editors, Daron Acemoglu, J. Bradford DeLong, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Katharina Pistor

    Though Donald Trump attracted more support than ever from working-class voters in the 2024 US presidential election, he has long embraced an agenda that benefits the wealthiest Americans above all. During his second term, however, Trump seems committed not just to serving America’s ultra-rich, but to letting them wield state power themselves.

  3. bhide11_Anthony KwanGettyImages_deepseek Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
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    Is DeepSeek Really a Threat?

    Amar Bhidé explains what a purported Chinese AI breakthrough does and does not mean for the industry.
  4. elerian177_WPA PoolGettyImages_reeves_speech WPA Pool/Getty Images
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    Give the UK Growth Agenda a Chance

    Mohamed A. El-Erian sees promise in the current government’s economic-policy plan despite its imperfections.
  5. reynolds1_Bill PuglianoGettyImages_trump_industrial_policy Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
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    Trump’s Industrial Policy Is More Continuity Than Disruption

    Elisabeth Reynolds thinks that rebuilding America’s manufacturing base has become a central pillar of the US economic agenda.
  6. reichlin39_da-kukGetty Images_dollarcrypto da-kuk/Getty Images
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    Will Crypto Save the Dollar?

    Lucrezia Reichlin asks whether the Trump administration's stablecoin strategy can preserve the greenback's global hegemony.
  7. spence180_Picture AllianceGettyImages_germany_annual_economic_report Picture Alliance/Getty Images
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    What’s Wrong With Germany’s Economy?

    Michael Spence thinks the country’s prospects depend significantly on closing the digital-technology gap with the US and China.
  8. tharoor199_ Sonu MehtaHindustan Times via Getty Images_shahieidgah Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
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    Islam on Trial in India

    Shashi Tharoor warns that efforts to replace centuries-old mosques with Hindu temples could trigger communal violence.
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    Will the Guardrails of US Democracy Hold?

    Erwin Chemerinsky worries about the obvious lack of meaningful checks on Donald Trump's worst impulses.
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  1. Trump’s Industrial Policy Is More Continuity Than Disruption
    reynolds1_Bill PuglianoGettyImages_trump_industrial_policy Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

    Trump’s Industrial Policy Is More Continuity Than Disruption

    Jan 31, 2025 Elisabeth Reynolds thinks that rebuilding America’s manufacturing base has become a central pillar of the US economic agenda.

  2. Oligarchy in America
    bp oligarchy Photo by JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

    Oligarchy in America

    Jan 31, 2025 PS Commentators consider what happens when the ultra-rich run the government.

  3. Give the UK Growth Agenda a Chance
    elerian177_WPA PoolGettyImages_reeves_speech WPA Pool/Getty Images

    Give the UK Growth Agenda a Chance

    Jan 31, 2025 Mohamed A. El-Erian sees promise in the current government’s economic-policy plan despite its imperfections.

  4. Islam on Trial in India
    tharoor199_ Sonu MehtaHindustan Times via Getty Images_shahieidgah Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

    Islam on Trial in India

    Jan 31, 2025 Shashi Tharoor warns that efforts to replace centuries-old mosques with Hindu temples could trigger communal violence.

  5. Will Crypto Save the Dollar?
    reichlin39_da-kukGetty Images_dollarcrypto da-kuk/Getty Images

    Will Crypto Save the Dollar?

    Jan 31, 2025 Lucrezia Reichlin asks whether the Trump administration's stablecoin strategy can preserve the greenback's global hegemony.

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OnPoint is our suite of subscriber-exclusive content. Get long-read commentaries, thematic deep dives, interviews with world leaders, and much more. Learn more.  

  1. op_pei3_Hulton-Deutsch CollectionCORBISCorbis via Getty Images_zhouenlai Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images
    0

    The Tragedy of Zhou Enlai

    Minxin Pei

    The reputation of China's longest-serving premier has fared far better than that of the Maoist regime he faithfully served. Zhou's political survival skills enabled him to survive many purges, and even to steer Mao away from potential disasters, but he could not escape the Chairman's cruelty, even at the end of his life.

     reflects on the complicated life and legacy of the renowned diplomat who was Mao Zedong’s dutiful lieutenant.
  2. GettyImages-1322520591
    1

    Yi Fuxian on China's decision-making, economic prospects, demographic crisis, and more

    Yi Fuxian warns that China's government and mainstream analysts are still underestimating the severity of the country's demographic crisis, identifies some of the gravest policy mistakes Donald Trump's administration is at risk of making vis-a-vis China, explains why China’s middle class will never be strong enough to bring about a democratic transition, and more.
  3. op_bivens1_JIM WATSONAFP via Getty Images_bidenworkers Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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    America’s Workers Are About to Be Forgotten Again

    Josh Bivens & Heidi Shierholz contrast the Biden administration's pro-worker policies with what Donald Trump is likely to do.
  4. op_janeway17_Natalya KosarevichGetty Images_moneyhandslightbulb Natalya Kosarevich/Getty Images
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    False Economies

    William H. Janeway highlights the high cost of the single-minded focus on efficiency that has come to dominate the discipline.
  5. bq trump institutions Photo by Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images
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    Can US Institutions Withstand Trump 2.0?

    Featured in this Big Question

    Daron Acemoglu , Bruce Ackerman , Aziz Huq , Alison L. LaCroix , Richard K. Sherwin

    While some observers doubt that US President-elect Donald Trump poses a grave threat to US democracy, others are bracing themselves for the destruction of the country’s constitutional order. With Trump’s inauguration just around the corner, we asked PS commentators how vulnerable US institutions really are.

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    Ricardo Hausmann on immigration, climate finance, economic complexity, and more

    Ricardo Hausmann urges the US to issue more H1-B visas, argues that Europe must become a military superpower in its own right, applies the “growth diagnostics” framework to Venezuela, and more.

The world’s diplomatic, political, and economic divisions continue to harden – both between countries and within them. Whereas 2022 and 2023 featured a war of attrition in Ukraine, we have since entered a broader world of attrition, with zero-sum conflicts multiplying across the board.

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Sustainability Now brings together leading voices in all of the domains involved in combating climate change, each addressing specific facets of the challenge.

Sustainability Now is brought to you in part by:

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  1. perincek1_RODGER BOSCHAFP via Getty Images_africarareearthmine Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images
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    Ensuring Europe’s Supply of Critical Minerals

    Rüya Perincek & Andreas Goldthau call for coordinated funding, resource diplomacy, and secondary material partnerships to boost recycling.
  2. wagner31_Westend61Getty Images_climatependulum Westend61/Getty Images
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    The Climate Policy Pendulum

    Gernot Wagner notes that green technologies retain their many advantages, regardless of national political developments.
  3. barral1_CARL DE SOUZAAFP via Getty Images_brazilsolarpower Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images
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    What Climate Justice Means for Latin America and the Caribbean

    Thiago Barral & Woochong Um urge policymakers to work with key stakeholders to accelerate the uptake of renewables.

Opinion that Moves

  1. Elisabeth Reynolds Trump’s Industrial Policy Is More Continuity Than Disruption
  2. Mohamed A. El-Erian Give the UK Growth Agenda a Chance
  3. Lucrezia Reichlin Will Crypto Save the Dollar?
  4. Michael Spence What’s Wrong With Germany’s Economy?

  1. Shashi Tharoor Islam on Trial in India
  2. Andrés Velasco How Liberals Lost America
  3. Håvard Halland, et al. Norway Should Cede Its War Windfall to Ukraine
  4. Katharina Pistor The New Washington Consensus

  1. Jayasree K. Iyer Climate Displacement Is Also a Health Crisis
  2. Pascal Lamy, et al. The Key to Narrowing the Development Gap
  3. Gordon Brown, et al. School Meals Provide Food for Thought – and Fuel for Development
  4. Angela Bandemehr, et al. Revealing an Invisible Health Threat

  1. Rim Berahab, et al. How to Make Carbon Pricing Work for Africa
  2. Ana Toni How to Make COP30 a Climate Turning Point
  3. Stuart P.M. Mackintosh The Fed Is Running Scared of Trump
  4. Rüya Perincek, et al. Ensuring Europe’s Supply of Critical Minerals

  1. Amar Bhidé Is DeepSeek Really a Threat?
  2. Dambisa Moyo Three Reasons Why AI’s Momentum Could Stall in 2025
  3. Philippe Aghion, et al. What AI Means for Growth and Jobs
  4. Robin Berjon Social Media as It Should Be

  1. Slavoj Žižek Fundamentalist Perverts
  2. Ian Buruma Ukraine’s Existential Culture War
  3. Helen Prejean An Injustice That Biden Can Still Set Right
  4. Peter Singer Australia’s Great Social-Media Experiment

Africa’s economic rise is a world-changing development, but the sources of its emerging strength – and lingering weaknesses – are little understood. W…

  1. Rim Berahab, et al. How to Make Carbon Pricing Work for Africa
  2. Pascal Lamy, et al. The Key to Narrowing the Development Gap
  3. Hippolyte Fofack Trump Can’t Stop De-Dollarization

Today’s media landscape is littered with landmines: open hostility from illiberal and autocratic regimes, mounting censorship in countries such as Hungary, Turkey,…

  1. Katrin Kivi The Case for Press Freedom Just Got Stronger
  2. Geoff Mulgan The Right to Truth
  3. Nishant Lalwani, et al. As Disinformation Thrives, Democracy Dies

As the COVID-19 crisis escalates, PS commentators assess its implications for the economy, propose policy responses, and consider what might – and sho…

  1. Jan-Werner Mueller Confronting the Pandemic’s Toxic Political Legacy
  2. Brahma Chellaney Will Trump Crack the Mystery of COVID’s Origin?
  3. Antara Haldar COVID’s Lessons Have All Been Forgotten