Foreign Policy’s Year in Review 2025: Our Most Read Stories

In 2025, Foreign policy readers have been coming back for stories about US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy moves since his return to office and his administration’s impact on the world. They also gravitated toward articles on the post-Cold War era, what came after it, and what the geopolitical landscape looks like now.

These are 10 of the most-read stories of 2025, as measured by website traffic among subscribers.

In 2025, Foreign Policy readers have been coming back for stories about US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy moves since his return to office and his administration’s impact on the world. They also gravitated toward articles on the post-Cold War era, what came after it, and what the geopolitical landscape looks like now.

These are 10 of the most-read stories of 2025, as measured by website traffic among subscribers.

End of development

By Adam Tooze, September 8

Two of FP columnist Adam Tooze’s print articles are among the most-read this year. In this first article, Toews examines development economics in a time of crisis for our Fall 2025 issue, reviewing the recent history of global development and the competing visions for its future.

Samuel Huntington takes revenge

By Nils Gilman, February 21

“We stand on the cusp of a moment of reordering in international relations as important as 1989, 1945, or 1919 – a generational event,” historian Nils Gilman wrote in February.

According to Gelman, “the new post-Cold War hegemony that emerged in the 1990s rested on several normative pillars” – and each pillar has been increasingly challenged since then. In this article, Gelman revisits previous debates in international relations about the nature of the world order and considers what a new order might look like.

Periodic table of countries

By Parag Khanna, March 13

In March, global strategist Parag Khanna presented a “League of Countries” – a meta-index based on more than two dozen metrics, aimed at comparing the overall stability of countries. In addition to the table itself, readers can explore country data, graphs mapping diplomatic bodies, non-state actors, and more throughout the article.

The end of modernity

By Christopher Clark, June 30

“As the global blocs disintegrated in the twentieth century, we are witnessing a return to the more mobile and unpredictable world of the nineteenth century,” historian Christopher Clarke wrote in the Summer 2025 issue of Foreign Policy. Citing the recent history of political parties and systems as well as the global economy, Clark argues that uncertainty and polarization are defining characteristics of the post-Cold War era.

When the threat is inside the White House

By Tim Weiner, July 11

In an article excerpted from his recent book on the CIA, Mission: The CIA in the 21st CenturyJournalist Tim Weiner speaks to agency insiders to understand the paradigm shifts in intelligence before the Russia-Ukraine war, how the CIA began to “look inside the Kremlin,” and the deepening divide between the US executive branch and the national security establishment.

America is stuck in a new class war

By Adam Tooze, January 7

In the winter issue of Foreign Policy, Tooze noted that polls after the 2024 US presidential election found that low-income voters had shifted to the right, while wealthier Americans had shifted to the left. He writes that these data suggest that “in analyzing the political landscape in the United States, we should allow for the three-class model rather than the two-class model.” Toews believes that such an approach is essential to understanding “the class forces surrounding Trump.”

Is America a kleptocracy?

By Judy Vettori, March 25

According to researcher Judy Vettori, anti-corruption institutions and norms are under pressure in the United States. In an article for the Spring 2025 issue, Vettori examines and compares global examples of the development and consequences of corruption and kleptocracy.

It is time for Europe to do the unthinkable

By Kishore Mahbubani, February 18

Europe has found itself on the defensive as it grapples with the ongoing war in Ukraine and its relationship with the United States, writes Singaporean statesman Kishore Mahbubani. Now, he believes, Europe must consider “three unimaginable options” to advance its geopolitical interests.

Why does Beijing think it can beat Trump?

By Scott Kennedy, April 10

After US tariffs on China were announced in April, Scott Kennedy examined what caused Chinese elites to renew their resolve. Kennedy writes that negative perceptions of the United States under Trump “have become an invisible mirror through which the Chinese look to reassess their country’s present and future.”

Four explanatory models for Trump’s chaos

By Emma Ashford, April 24

In April, Foreign Policy columnist Emma Ashford wrote about the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, saying it was clear that his administration “aims for change — not stagnation — in US foreign policy, although the direction of that change is unclear.” Ashford offers four possible explanatory models for Trump’s decisions, from a return to realpolitik to a foreign policy confrontation among Republicans.