Faced with dilemmas over the expansion of Nato, the fight against Isis and how much to invest in security and defence, Jens Stoltenberg will have a busy inbox next year – but his main priority will always be keeping the…
In the forest of Evjemoen, Norway’s officer training school puts troops through an extreme test of endurance. It’s a physical and mental challenge but more of the latter in these days of modern warfare.
Democracy was supposed to transform journalism in Burma with Myanmar Radio and Television acting as a public-service broadcaster. The reality, however, is a media that’s hardly changed at all.
As editor of ‘The Zimbabwe Independent’, Trevor Ncube became all too familiar with the consequences of criticising the government. Now based in South Africa, where around 35 per cent of people live in poverty, he has plans…
Conceived of only 21 years ago, already most nations want a “soft power” strategy – a way of winning the world over without resorting to military-industrial might. Monocle has indexed the top 30 soft power nations, which…
OK, so the Olympics were a soft-power triumph for the UK. But now what? Over the following pages we explore how Britain can harness that post-games optimism and meet some of the people who can help the country do just that…
All over Africa, Chinese labourers are hard at work building railways, roads and national stadiums. In return, the continent’s developing countries are selling their oil and iron ore to the Chinese. The figures are stagg…
Military action tends to have a more visceral impact when it comes to forcing through change but it is the subtle influence of soft power that drives the most meaningful resolutions. In our fifth annual survey we gauge the…
Izmir in western Turkey was reshaped in the 18th and 19th centuries by European settlers who built railways and founded banks and newspapers. Many fled or were killed after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, but the few rem…
Around the world, some countries look beyond military might to exert a more nuanced influence. In our fourth annual soft power survey, we take the pulse of these subtle superpowers and ask if soft can thrive in hard times…
In this year’s Quality of Life survey we’ve gone beyond the sun to assess cities not just by their daytime attributes but by their nightly traits too. Read on to get the measure of our nocturnal metrics and find out where…
Londoners overwhelmingly want to remain in the EU. So what would happen if they did just that? We take a look at how the UK’s capital could make it a reality.