Opinion

  Leonid Bershidsky A clash between European Union bureaucracy and artificial intelligence is a plot worthy of a cyberpunk thriller. It will take place in real life in 2018, once some European data protection laws, passed earlier this year, go into effect. And, though we might instinctively be tempted to endorse progress over regulation, the EU is on the side …

  Virginia Postrel At 56, I’m way too old to be playing Pokemon Go. After all, the smartphone game’s phenomenal success is built on millennial nostalgia, and I don’t even have any kids to blame. But what started out as research has turned into a mild addiction. It’s fun to wander the streets finding magic critters and the tools to …

WASHINGTON Few technological breakthroughs have had the social and economic impact of the automobile. It changed America’s geography, spawning suburbs, shopping malls and sprawl as far as the eye could see. It redefined how we work and play, from the daily commute to the weekend trek to the beach. It expanded the heavy industry — steel-making, car production — that …

  South Sudan rival leaders have their own doubts that the August 2015 deal midwifed by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body, and troika, led by US and the UK, would work. They cited some weaknesses in the accord that the frustrated mediators who were in a hurry to clinch the deal, overlooked. Among those doubts though not …

  Justin Fox Twenty-nine years ago, historian Paul Kennedy coined the term “imperial overstretch” to describe what happens to great powers when their global commitments become too expensive to sustain. He also suggested that the US, which at the time was in the midst of a defense-spending boom under Ronald Reagan, might be overstretching things a bit. A lot of …

  On Tuesday, the arbitral tribunal issued a much-anticipated ruling in the Philippines’ South China Sea case against China. The tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favor of Manila, determining that the extent of several major elements of Beijing’s claim and its efforts to enforce it were unlawful. While the ruling itself was quite clear and decisive, its implications are much less …

  If there is a silver lining for the world of finance from the Brexit vote it is this: that the departure of Britain offers the European Union a chance to complete much-needed reforms to the Continent’s lagging capital markets. If it can do that, the EU might just be able to demonstrate its ability to enhance growth across its …

  Grant Wyeth Many international relations theorists hold the perspective that in the 21st Century it will be cities, rather than nation-states, that will be the dominant global actors. As humanity rapidly urbanizes, and the gains from connectivity extrapolate, global organization will increasingly revolve around the people cities can attract, and how their skills can be harnessed and utilized. Performing …

  Matthew Winkler Fear mongers on both sides of the Atlantic would have us believe that governments are failing. They cite racially-charged violence from Dallas to Charleston, South Carolina; voters in Britain choosing to exit the European Union; the flood of migrants from the war in Syria; terrorist-inspired massacres from Brussels to San Bernardino, and the anemic global economy that …

  WASHINGTON Can we get globalization right? It has emerged as an all-purpose scapegoat for our economic woes — lost jobs, depressed wages, large trade deficits, greater income inequality, anxieties about the future. The reality is otherwise: Although globalization is genuine, it’s been distorted and its ills exaggerated. I have written about this before, but because the issue is so …