Foreign Analysis

Our March/April 2026 issue is now available online. Start reading here: foreignanalysis.com/march-april-20…

The current multipolar moment reflects the return of traditional power politics. As great powers compete for influence, smaller states gain more leverage by engaging with multiple partners, writes @Mark_N_Katz foreignanalysis.com/the-multipolar…

Leadership transition alone will not redefine Taiwan policy if command authority stays put. The politicized 2027 target and congressional hawkishness create a volatile mix of deal-making and gray-zone escalation, writes Yangjianxin Zhou. foreignanalysis.com/taiwan-in-the-…

Washington’s simultaneous role as Iran’s military adversary and Gaza’s postwar stabilizer widens the gap between strategy and policy. The dual mission risks overextending U.S. intelligence resources and increasing the likelihood of escalation in the Middle East, writes Lauren Ross. foreignanalysis.com/dual-fronts-di…

As multipolarity emerges, India positions itself as a prospective pole. It resists bloc discipline, manages rivalry with China, and builds partnerships beyond the binary—betting that capability, not rhetoric, secures autonomy, writes Anshu Meghe. foreignanalysis.com/a-pole-in-the-…

Rather than reforming in the face of stagnation, the Kremlin escalates. Ukraine reveals a leadership willing to trade prosperity for power and long-term stability for immediate leverage,writes Matthew Orr. foreignanalysis.com/the-myth-of-ru…

Nationalist narratives and centralized leadership amplify overstretch. Confidence in deterrence and control masks hidden constraints, pushing states toward simultaneous commitments they cannot sustain over time, writes, Alayna Cicchetti. foreignanalysis.com/power-at-the-w…

Authority in China now flows upward with little friction. Yet as succession recedes from view, stability becomes inseparable from embodiment, raising questions about renewal in a post-Xi era, writes Henry H. Marlowe. foreignanalysis.com/the-unfinished…

Rather than preparing the ground for military independence, Xi’s reforms are closing the final pathways through which the PLA could emerge as a rival political actor in a post-Xi era, writes Yan Chang Bennett and Brendan Mirra. foreignanalysis.com/the-plas-loyal…

In our March/April 2026 issue, Kaitlyn King explores how America’s crisis of confidence—not material decline—reshapes its China strategy, fuels protectionism, strains alliances, and risks undermining the structural advantages that still sustain U.S. global leadership. foreignanalysis.com/march-april-20…

Once anchored in optimism, U.S. leadership now operates under urgency and suspicion. Competition with China has become existential in tone, prompting industrial hoarding and alliance friction that weaken collective strength, writes Kaitlyn King. foreignanalysis.com/a-superpower-a…

Strategic errors cluster before a state’s peak. Growth compresses timelines, magnifies threat perception, and encourages expansion. When relative gains are misread as absolute power, overstretch becomes a predictable outcome, writes, Alayna Cicchetti. foreignanalysis.com/power-at-the-w…

India’s rise unfolds amid U.S.–China polarization. It courts American technology and Indo-Pacific cooperation while hedging against Chinese pressure. The real test: converting economic momentum into durable power, writes Anshu Meghe. foreignanalysis.com/a-pole-in-the-…

U.S. primacy endures across finance, innovation, energy, and alliances, yet declinist rhetoric drives defensive policy choices. The danger lies less in China’s rise than in America internalizing a narrative of irreversible decline, writes Kaitlyn King. foreignanalysis.com/a-superpower-a…

The anti-corruption campaign inside the PLA seeks to correct structural decay, but it also risks creating an environment where fear suppresses honest assessments of military readiness and strategic limitations, writes Yan Chang Bennett and Brendan Mirra. foreignanalysis.com/the-plas-loyal…

Multipolarity marks the diffusion of power across several major states, but not the arrival of a new global order. Its most visible effect is greater strategic autonomy for smaller countries, writes @Mark_N_Katz foreignanalysis.com/the-multipolar…

Taiwan strategy is constrained by institutional design. Without a transfer of military power, succession changes little. A hardened 2027 milestone and mixed U.S. signals push coercion and talks forward simultaneously, elevating risk, writes Yangjianxin Zhou. foreignanalysis.com/taiwan-in-the-…

Xi’s rule has fused discipline with personalization, sidelining the informal guardrails that once structured elite politics. The result is efficiency in the present—and ambiguity about what comes next, writes Henry H. Marlowe. foreignanalysis.com/the-unfinished…

By conducting military operations in Iran while overseeing Gaza’s stabilization, the United States assumes a dual burden that conflicts with the 2025 NSS. These parallel missions risk straining intelligence capacity and complicating coalition management across the region, writes Lauren Ross. foreignanalysis.com/dual-fronts-di…

As Russia’s structural foundations weaken, its tolerance for geopolitical risk grows. War and hybrid tactics become tools of survival for a regime that equates status with security, writes Matthew Orr. foreignanalysis.com/the-myth-of-ru…

The U.S. decision to strike Iran while leading Gaza’s reconstruction contradicts the 2025 NSS emphasis on burden shifting and reduced regional involvement. This dual mission risks overstretching U.S. intelligence and military resources while increasing escalation risks in the Middle East, writes Lauren Ross. foreignanalysis.com/dual-fronts-di…