MEGHAN L. O’SULLIVAN

Mar 4, 2025 | foreignaffairs.com | Michael Albertus |Jason Bordoff |MEGHAN L. O’SULLIVAN |Elizabeth Buchanan

Since the mid-twentieth century, the power dynamics and system of alliances that made up the postwar global order provided a strong check on campaigns to conquer and acquire territory—an otherwise enduring feature of human history. But rather than marking a definitive break from the aggression of the past, this era of relative restraint now seems to have been merely a brief deviation from the historical pattern.

Mar 4, 2025 | foreignaffairs.com | Michael Albertus |Jason Bordoff |MEGHAN L. O’SULLIVAN |Elizabeth Buchanan

Since the mid-twentieth century, the power dynamics and system of alliances that made up the postwar global order provided a strong check on campaigns to conquer and acquire territory—an otherwise enduring feature of human history. But rather than marking a definitive break from the aggression of the past, this era of relative restraint now seems to have been merely a brief deviation from the historical pattern.

Jun 18, 2024 | foreignaffairs.com | MEGHAN L. O’SULLIVAN |Jason Bordoff July |Jason Bordoff

The clean energy transition has reached adolescence. Its future direction is not yet set, and in the meantime, its internal paradoxes make for a volatile mix. Political leaders fret that ambitious steps to address climate change will aggravate geopolitical problems in a world already troubled by wars and humanitarian crises.

Jun 17, 2024 | foreignaffairs.com | David H. Petraeus |MEGHAN L. O’SULLIVAN |Richard Fontaine |A Partner

The term “regime change” has fallen out of favor in the past two decades, and it is not a term that Israelis use to describe the war they are waging in Gaza. But regime change is precisely what Israel is seeking. Its military operation in Gaza aims to destroy Hamas as a political and military entity and eliminate the de facto government the group has overseen for nearly two decades.

Jan 18, 2024 | foreignaffairs.com | Jason Bordoff |MEGHAN L. O’SULLIVAN

In the waning days of 2023, likely the warmest year the earth has experienced in recorded history, nearly 100,000 people came together in the United Arab Emirates—one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers—to reach a consensus on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The final agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, also known as COP28, was hailed for calling for a transition away from fossil fuels.