The World Today

The World Today has paused publication to consider changes to the magazine. Please bear in mind that whilst your subscription will give you access to the archive, there will be no new issues until publication is resumed later this year.

The World Today, founded in 1945, has now been published monthly for over sixty years. Throughout this period it has offered the best and brightest insights on current affairs — from the fallout of the Second World War, through the Cold War, into the information age and the ‘war’ on terror.

In an increasingly unpredictable world, The World Today presents authoritative analysis from Chatham House on a variety of current topics. It provides vital background for experts, business planners, academics and those curious about the world we live in.

The World Today goes to subscribers in more than eighty different countries; in governments, business, the media, schools and universities. Many hundreds of libraries also find it essential.

In the free trial issue, read about Sapphire Mining in Madagascar, Somalia and Ethiopia caught in a quagmire, The Kurdish Question, Private Security Companies in Iraq, the ANC Leadership issue in South Africa, and The Bali Climate Conference and Forests. 

Welcome to the spring issue of The World Today. Has there been a first 50 days in power like the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency? We invited five Chatham House programme heads to analyse the dizzying barrage of executive orders and policy pronouncements that have upended the international order. On Trump’s ‘extremely risky’ Ukraine interventions, former Dutch defence minister (and Chatham House associate fellow) Kajsa Ollongren says European economies should now be on a war footing. Their assessments are just one part of Chatham House's response to Trump’s deeply disruptive return to power.
The Middle East, where Trump has also intervened, has experienced a tumultuous 17 months since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. In our cover package, Lina Khatib explores the strategic opportunity that Iran’s relative weakness presents Saudi Arabia, Yossi Mekelberg speaks to Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan about alternative directions for the country, and Rahaf Aldoughli asks if Syria’s new leadership will be able to unite the country’s armed factions as security conditions in the country deteriorate.
Three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its effects remain profound. Olga Tokariuk talks to Ukrainian refugees torn between returning home and staying put in host countries. Developing societal resilience to hybrid threats has become an urgent issue – Robin Potter asks what Britain can learn from the Nordic countries. Alex Krasodomski and Carl Miller discuss the possible decoupling of Europe and the US over social-media regulation. Meanwhile, Chris Aylett urges the British government to collaborate with China on emissions-reduction policy. We hope you enjoy these and all the other articles in the spring issue.  
Mike Higgins, editor