Crime and Punishment

Rethinking the Great Recession

– Robert J. Samuelson

In embracing a victims-and-villains explanation of the recession, Americans are missing important lessons about the future of the U.S. economy.

Indonesia's Moment

– Robert Pringle

It is the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation and a highly successful democracy. How did Indonesia do it?

What Is a Tree Worth?

– Jill Jonnes

Trees brighten city streets and delight nature-starved urbanites. Now scientists are learning that they also play a crucial role in the green infrastructure of America's cities.

A Glimmer in the Balkans

– Martin C. Sletzinger

After 20 years of nation-building in the Balkan countries, a big payoff may be in sight. But it will still be a long time before the United States can declare victory and pull out.

The Bounty Hunter's Pursuit of Justice

– Alex Tabarrok

When felony defendants jump bail, bounty hunters spring into action. It's a uniquely American system, and it works.

The Economist's Guide to Crime Busting

– Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig

The old divide betweeen hard and soft strategies is breaking down under a wave of new thinking about how to control crime.

What's the Big Idea?

– The Wilson Quarterly

Big ideas are essential for policymakers, who need an overarching vision as they grapple with daily challenges. Many have been offered, but consensus on which is the right one remains elusive.

Ending the Endless War

– The Wilson Quarterly

Our traditional understanding of war, with its simple on/off options and relatively clear-cut legal distinctions, is not well suited to the current "war on terror" against a non-state enemy.

The Refugee Crisis That Wasn't

– The Wilson Quarterly

Jordanian officials continue to claim that there are more than 500,000 displaced Iraqis within their borders, but the real number may be much lower.

Model Students

– The Wilson Quarterly

The financial panic has caused many economists to do some soul-searching. But the big problem is not what economists don't know, but that they think they know more than they do.

The Golden Millstone

– The Wilson Quarterly

What would a return to the gold standard mean for international trade?

Don't Blame Polarization

– The Wilson Quarterly

America's politicians are afraid that bipartisan compromise will get them thrown out of office.

Disaster Management 101

– The Wilson Quarterly

Only in the last 60 years has the president become the go-to official for disaster response and relief.

Getting High in Portugal

– The Wilson Quarterly

How effective has decriminalization been?

The Blind Aren't "Race-Blind"

– The Wilson Quarterly

How do people who are literally blind think about race?

Untying the Knot

– The Wilson Quarterly

"There is something odd about the mixture of casualness and solemnity with which the state behaves as a marrying agent."

Op-Ed Takes Wing

– The Wilson Quarterly

"The function of newspapers and newspapermen is to interpret the age to the general public."

Renaissance on the Airwaves

– The Wilson Quarterly

Compared with other media, radio is the least discussed, debated, and understood.

Catholicism's Lessons for Islam

– The Wilson Quarterly

Concerns that religion and democracy do not mix are not new, nor are they confined to Islam. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was Catholicism that was the big worry.

Writing Rights

– The Wilson Quarterly

Laws are not the only avenue for establishing rights.

A Jewish Revival

– The Wilson Quarterly

The practice of musar speaks a universal language, asking Jews to become more ethical people, not just "better Jews."

Journals Galore

– The Wilson Quarterly

"Nearly the whole lives of zoologists will come to be spent in libraries, until the thing gets so intolerable that someone will suggest that we burn all the books and start afresh from nature."

School for Slugs

– The Wilson Quarterly

How something as simple as a slug can help us understand ourselves.

Brave New World

– The Wilson Quarterly

The list of habitable zones both in and out of our solar system has been lengthened in recent years.

Gauguin's Stillness

– The Wilson Quarterly

Gauguin was not searching for something new, but something ancient and perhaps close to vanishing.

Papa's Painful Passion

– The Wilson Quarterly

According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway needed "a new woman for each big book." For Hemingway, creativity came from following those passions, even to destructive ends.

The Death of Dance

– The Wilson Quarterly

The dance world is crumbling, and young dancers are training for a profession that grows smaller and less significant by the year.

The Paradox of Words

– The Wilson Quarterly

By expressing reality, writers create reality, yet capturing the world with words is impossible.

Russia's Farming Comeback

– The Wilson Quarterly

The resurgence of Russian agriculture introduces a new and intriguing dimension into relations with the often bellicose giant.

Pakistani Pop

– The Wilson Quarterly

The pop stars of 1980s Pakistan have transformed themselves in ways that reflect the country's shifting religio-political landscape.

China's Confucian Democracy

– The Wilson Quarterly

More than two millennia after his death, Confucius still shapes Chinese political life.

Transatlantic Poet

– Troy Jollimore

W. H. Auden adopted America as his own, and it adopted him.

Hurricane Man

– Michael O'Donnell

Breathing in the sooty air of the American city, Bellow exhaled hurricanes.

Communist Manifesto

– Irving Louis Horowitz

The theoretical underpinning of communism has shifted profoundly from the thirst to cleanse society by liquidating older classes such as the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, to the empowerment of political elites and military strata drawn from the poorer segments of the population.

Bowling With God

– Kevin M. Schultz

If we've become more religiously polarized, how have we also become more tolerant?

Masters of Peace

– James Gibney

Nathan Hodge sets out to explain how and why the Pentagon embraced the once-dreaded business of nation-building, and the "tectonic shift" that this new mission portends for American foreign policy.

Kids These Days

– Michael C. Moynihan

Constantly in need of new and more terrifying copy, news editors and television producers reach for that evergreen tale of America's disillusioned youth.

The Plan Is All

– Blair A. Ruble

Residents, rather than planners, ultimately determine a city plan's success when they decide whether to live, shop, play, and linger in the space a designer has created.

Mental Maps

– Richard Restak

Only recently have neuroscientists realized the extent of the human brain's astonishing plasticity.

He Put the 'I' in Tries

– Sarah L. Courteau

What distinguished Montaigne from his contemporaries was his interest in how people actually live, rather than how they ought to live.

The Thinking Man's Politician

– Steven Lagerfeld

Daniel Patrick Moynihan was the kind of figure who almost makes you wish there were more intellectuals in American political life. But there could only be one Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

The Old Story

– James Morris

How will nations with large numbers of aging and declining birthrates sustain their economic status and prevent crippling fissures in their societies?

A Feast of the Spirit

– Jonathan Rieder

"If God delivered Daniel, why not every man?"

The Engines of Progress

– Mark Reutter

Gas turbines have received little attention, but have led to epochal shifts in world affairs.

The War of Symbols

– James Carman

The outcome of battles during the Peloponnesian War often hinged as much on misapprehensions and chance as on bravery and superior military skill.