The state faces the challenge of grappling with centralized social media companies as distinctly political entities. These companies may need to be replaced by decentralized social infrastructure that is less politically and socially problematic.

Welcome to the first episode of the Palladium Podcast, where we explore the future of governance and society. This week, Jonah Bennett, Ash Milton, and Wolf Tivy review the magazine’s opening article, discuss Jonah’s adventures in Davos, and expand on the recent piece about geoengineering.

China’s global influence has largely expanded through economic mega-projects. However, the role of culture and soft power was essential to its historic prominence. Its growing economic strength must be understood through this lens.

The global image of Davos is as a network of elite interests, social agendas, and competing ambitions. Those who make the trip are confronted by a gathering full of social grifters, boring grinders, and a few interesting people.

The current ice age is a geologically rare event, threatened by human activity. Emissions reduction won’t be enough to resolve climate change. Instead, we must learn from the ancient past to stabilize and geoengineer our environment.

A scientific and technocratic philosophy of management was developed in the 20th century. With many of its most-prized skills now being automated, a return to human judgment will be central to the fourth industrial revolution.

Kazakhstan emerged from the Soviet Union as a poor country under Russian domination. Today, its new capital rises from the steppe and its living standards are improving. Behind this lie both a Eurasianist politics and an authoritarian development model.

Indonesia’s rising working and middle classes have demonstrated a commitment to its traditional religious values. In response, formerly neoliberal leaders are jettisoning their Western influences and renewing alliances with the country’s major Islamic organizations.

Retired military generals financially entangled in the defense industry structurally bias the media towards war. These networks have legitimized many of the U.S. military interventions which continue to define foreign policy.

Non-Western universities are rising in reputation and research capability as Western universities become increasingly consumed with social politics. As more global decision-makers are trained by non-liberal institutions, liberalism will cede a key historical vector of influence.

As testosterone levels decline in America, executives at the highest levels of industry are supplementing with human growth hormone and testosterone to build their empires and engage in corporate trench warfare well into their 70s.

In the 20th century, a Catholic world centered in Europe and North America sought to engage the liberal world order. Many believed the age of ecclesial conflicts with modernity to be at an end. With the coming of Pope Francis, the periphery is exerting its influence—and a political theology of confrontation is returning.

Barack Obama’s 2008 election promised a reform of American foreign policy. Ten years later, a new book by senior Obama official Ben Rhodes explains how forces both inside and outside the administration successfully constrained executive action.

A Palladium team embeds with the Gilets Jaunes in Paris. They return with on-the-ground observations about the riots, the movement’s desires, and France’s political winds.

Developments in technology and politics are leading to increasing competition for control over space. The liberal focus on time and progress seems ill-suited to such a reality. As a result, the spatial politics of history may well play a role in defining the future.

A team of Palladium correspondents spent a week in Xinjiang. They saw how the Chinese state uses Uyghur manpower and high-tech Maoism to suppress Islam and extremism.

The prospect of mass political violence is a growing theme in American discourse. However, the pacifying effects of liberal political structures have made such an outcome virtually impossible.

During the Syrian conflict, the feedback loop between Western journalists and pro-rebel social media accounts legitimized prominent ISIS supporters. This arose from a media environment where industry pressures create perverse incentives and a flawed epistemology.