Introducing the Fall 2026 Print Issue

The liberal international order, flawed and unequal as it was, is gone. Personally, I’ve grown tired of wringing my hands at what is no more. I’m focused on what might come next—and how we can shape it to be peaceful and fair.

“It’s time to throw some spaghetti against the wall,” one former diplomat suggested to me recently. Consider this issue to be exactly that: an assortment of new, perhaps even radical, ideas. Some of them won’t be quite al dente, but all good dishes are born of trial and error. And the current moment, ahead of the U.S. midterms, is exactly the time to experiment.

An illustrated headshot of Ravi Agrawal

The question we wanted to grapple with is how countries and companies can survive in a world without rules. And as they do that, what kind of order should come next?

Hal Brands takes a stab at a survival guide for the here and now. Don’t be nostalgic, get ready to pay higher risk premiums, and start investing in your own defense and manufacturing, he advises. That might get countries through the next few years, but what then?

Charles A. Kupchan has a plan. The world’s only real hope of maintaining order, he argues, is a system that has both a bottom-up and a top-down component. The former is necessary because that is the direction in which the world is already headed—a diffusion of power and a bigger role for regional groupings. The latter, however, is where we’ll have to get creative, especially since the United Nations won’t magically start working again. Kupchan proposes a flexible and informal steering group resembling the 19th-century Concert of Europe, sitting above the U.N. and directing a symphony of tiered groups. I found the idea compelling and thought-provoking, and I hope you engage with it. Now there’s just the small matter of getting Beijing and Washington on board.

We had to explore how the flow of money fits into our rewiring of power, of course. Countries in the global south have struggled of late with the trend toward nationalism and protectionism and without the tailwinds of unfettered free trade and globalization. Michael Beckley makes the case that there’s a useful synergy right in front of our eyes. The developed world is cash-rich and labor-poor, while the developing world is cash-poor and labor-rich; each side needs the other for its future growth, so why not embrace their respective opportunities for arbitrage? Beckley explains how to get there.

Mariana Mazzucato injects a dose of fairness. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were created as global organizations but in reality concentrate power in a handful of countries. Mazzucato argues that a world without rules is the crisis we needed to rewrite some of those rules with the common good at the center.

The final essay in our cover package is by me, and it’s a deliberate provocation. U.S. President Donald Trump started his second term with a bang, as we all know. He has been incredibly disruptive for global order. But Trump has peaked, I argue. His coercive powers are now in decline, in large part because of his own policies. The key example is this year’s Iran war and how it has drained the U.S. military of munitions. Countries and companies are already realizing this and adapting how they navigate Trump—and how they will approach discussions about a future world order.

Weighty stuff, I know. But change is afoot in the United States, if you look at the polls for the midterm elections. And after those elections, the political conversation will inevitably move to the race for the White House. My hope is that amid that race, serious thought is given to Washington’s role in the world. This issue is our humble attempt to play a part.

Lots more in the issue, as always. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you’ve had a lovely summer. And if you make it to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meetings in September, I hope to run into you somewhere!

As ever,

Ravi Agrawal

Read More

• A coil of blue and green climbing rope against a light cream background, with a map of the world printed across the center wrapped bundle. Multiple strands extend outwards from the main coil, each ending in a attached metal carabiner clip.

  A coil of blue and green climbing rope against a light cream background, with a map of the world printed across the center wrapped bundle. Multiple strands extend outwards from the main coil, each ending in a attached metal carabiner clip.

  How to Survive in a World Without Rules

  Self-help is becoming more vital in a vicious world.

  Essay

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  Hal Brands

• A black music stand holds multiple open songbooks against a solid light blue background. On the pages of the open books, blue world map patterns overlay the printed musical notes. The stand features a tiered layout, with a large music book on the top ledge and smaller books arranged across the lower ledges.

  A black music stand holds multiple open songbooks against a solid light blue background. On the pages of the open books, blue world map patterns overlay the printed musical notes. The stand features a tiered layout, with a large music book on the top ledge and smaller books arranged across the lower ledges.

  The World’s Only Real Hope of Maintaining Order

  A proposal for a new international system that is at once centralized and regionalized.

  Essay

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  Charles A. Kupchan

• An illustration of steps made from stacked U.S. hundred-dollar bills, topped with a colorful map of Africa, with a small stack of extra cash sitting nearby on a green surface.

  An illustration of steps made from stacked U.S. hundred-dollar bills, topped with a colorful map of Africa, with a small stack of extra cash sitting nearby on a green surface.

  A New Engine of Development

  The era of easy growth is over, but rich and poor countries can still join forces.

  Essay

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  Michael Beckley