On 8 April, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he will close France’s elite postgraduate school for training public leaders, the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA). Macron, himself an énarque (as graduates are known), says he …
Covid-19 has offered some tough but useful lessons about governance. Many wealthy countries didn’t manage the crisis as well as anticipated, whereas many poorer, more populous and vulnerable countries exceeded expectations. The difference raises important …
The famous Lebanese American writer, poet and visual artist Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) once reflectively wrote about his country of birth: ‘You have your Lebanon and its dilemma. I have my Lebanon and its beauty.’ While …
‘A spectre is haunting the rich world. It is the spectre of ungovernability’, began an editorial in The Economist earlier this year, paraphrasing the opening line of The Communist Manifesto. But it is not only …
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has outlasted the country. For the foreseeable future, Assad will be trying to restore central government control and manoeuvring between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan over …