The EI Podcast

In a religious system which presupposed a covenant not just between God and the individual Jew, but between God and Israel as a nation, the sense of communal solidarity had an abiding impact, regardless of the differences between denominations. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Maraike Hofer / Alamy Stock Photo

For more than thirty years, the US has sought to avoid deploying ground forces into protracted conflict. It has nevertheless done so in almost every single one of those years. Perhaps it is time to accept reality. Read by Leighton Pugh https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/americas-problem-with-unconventional-warfare/ Credit: Bumble Dee / Alamy Stock Photo

Islam — unlike Christianity — may not have a central motif of pain, sin and suffering, but it reveals so much about what it means to live with adversity. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/suffering-the-price-of-being-alive-an-islamic-perspective/ Credit: Dmitrii Melnikov / Alamy Stock Photo

While Christianity may strive to sing in a single voice, no one modern denomination ought to claim a monopoly on the truth. The region's history is in fact far more eclectic. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/reassessing-christian-history/ Credit: Yogi Black / Alamy Stock Photo

The Hindu tradition of Radha and Krishna calls us to see passion as the kernel of all religion. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-gods-in-love/ Credit: Heritage Arts/Heritage Images via Getty Images

As Jesuit missionaries spread further across the globe, the order’s founder wanted to ensure that its members remained connected. The result of this was an unparalleled network of knowledge which superseded religious tensions. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/jesuit/ Credit: Wikipedia Commons/ Bibliothèque Universtaire Moretus Plantin

Portugal’s commercial dominance of large swathes of the world lasted little more than a century but the images, transmissions, and trades that it engendered left a significant and long-lasting influence. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images

Sea power derives from resources, a direct interest in sea-based trade, and pressure exerted by enemies. In the modern age, the importance of these factors in international affairs remains paramount. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Lev FedoseyevTASS via Getty Images

If a peace deal is not reached, all the key ingredients are present for Yemen to become a failed state. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/making-sense-of-the-yemen-war/ Credit: MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images

Acts of extreme self-sacrifice – such as suicide bombing – are not aberrations. They tell us something about our deepest instincts for group loyalty. Read by Leighton Pugh.  https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-dark-side-to-loving-a-group/  Credit: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images

So-called civilisational states, including Russia, China and India, invoke fake histories to justify and buttress their contemporary political settlements. But those who cannot let go of the past are always at risk of finding themselves imprisoned by it. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-fake-history-of-civilisational-states/ Credit: PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images

Flags have become synonymous with nationhood, character, spirit, and power. In an age of renewed nationalism, their power should not be underestimated. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-flag-wars-are-here-to-stay/ Credit: Anthony WALLACE / AFP via Getty Images

The line between disinformation, propaganda and fake news is often blurred. This is especially the case when it is unclear whether these untruths or half truths are being disseminated by the 'good' or 'bad' guys. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/disinformation-in-the-information-age/ Credit: Franz Aberham via Getty Images

Once established, Roman exceptionalism and empire needed to be justified and maintained. The practical application of mythology was one way in which this was achieved. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/roman-geopolitics-an-exercise-in-myth-making/ Credit: Fred de Noyelle via Getty

The US once enjoyed the esteemed position of being the 'city on the hill', a beacon of hope and an example to the rest of the world. Post-9/11, however, the superpower's conduct in the Middle East has left its reputation tarnished. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-us-policy-failure-post-9-11-undermined-international-order/  Credit: James May/Alamy

Peering into the hearts and minds those living four thousand years ago is an impossible task. However, when it comes to the worship of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, it seems clear to be, quite literally, a labour of love and fear. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/uruk-and-the-origins-of-the-sacred-economy/ Credit: Print Collector via Getty Images

While at one point in time the idea that socialist economies would ultimately prevail over capitalism was quite a widespread view the fate of socialist states over the past hundred years have demonstrated that they enjoy only two possible paths: authoritarianism or anarchy. Credit: Shotshop GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

While the US remains the sole reigning super power, the rise of China adds complexity to the current world order. Geostrategic conflict is inevitable, but mutual economic interdependence can help manage that conflict and keep it from spiralling out of control.  Credit: Christian Ohde / Alamy Stock Photo

As the largest country in the world, Russia's might past and present has an inherent link to its geopolitics. But since the decline of the Soviet Union, Moscow's eyes are constantly straying beyond the national borders. In Russia, expansion is often regarded as a means of self-defence.   Credit: Tommy E Trenchard / Alamy Stock Photo

There is frequently no real reason why one person has more claim to live or even rule over a piece of land than another. A reason, however must be provided and it is often be found in a fantastical interpretation of history. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/fantasy-in-middle-eastern-nation-making/ Credit: Adobe Stock

Why do humans accumulate ideas, knowledge and technologies while other animals are seemingly stick doing the same thing over and over never getting better? Rather than being a question of raw intelligence, it is in fact largely down to luck, trial and error and copying others. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/you-are-not-as-clever-as-you-think/ Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Voltaire predicted that religion would be defunct in fifty year's time. Karl Marx called it the opium of the masses and Nietzsche declared that God is dead. Adrian Wooldridge is now saying that He's back. From the rise of Islamic extremism to American evangelism, the twenty-first century is seeing a religious renaissance. Read by Leighton Pugh. Credit: Tuul & Bruno Morandi via Getty Images

Studying the evolution of Austria in the 20th century offers deep insight into essential Western political categories. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/austria-nation-state-or-empire/ Credit: Adobe Stock

The story of how, over the course of three generations, the royal dynasty of Wessex went from near oblivion to fashioning a kingdom that still endures today is the most remarkable and momentous in the island's history. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/aethelstan-the-king-who-forged-a-united-kingdom-of-england/ Credit: Public domain

The early modern Italian republics are often portrayed as models of bad government. But the fusion of civic humanism and Christianity they championed endures to this day. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/in-defence-of-the-city-state/ Credit: Alinari Archives/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images