Essays

Ukraine’s fate, Europe’s choice
Prospect Magazine, 24 Jan 2024

‘Europe Whole and Free’
The New York Review, 2 Nov 2023

Putin, Pushkin, and the decline of the Russian empire
European Council on Foreign Relations, 23 Aug 2023

How the War in Ukraine Is Transforming Europe
Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations), 18 Apr 2023

The Message from Kyiv
The Spectator, 25 Feb 2023

Ukraine in Our Future
The New York Review, 23 Feb 2023

The Future of Liberalism
Prospect Magazine, 9 Dec 2020

Free speech is about listening as well as talking
Financial Times, 13 Jul 2020

Time for a New Liberation?
New York Review of Books, 24 Oct 2019

The west needs its own perestroika moment
Financial Times, 22 Jan 2019

Life after liberation
Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations), 11 Dec 2018

Brexit: an island on the edge
Prospect Magazine, 9 Nov 2018

Poland's Dangerous Populism
New York Review of Books, 16 Aug 2018

It’s the Kultur, Stupid
New York Review of Books, 7 Dec 2017

Is Europe Disintegrating?
New York Review of Books, 19 Jan 2017

Defying the Assassin's Veto
New York Review of Books, 19 Feb 2015

Censored!
New York Review of Books, 23 Oct 2014

Putin’s Deadly Doctrine
New York Times, 18 Jul 2014

From the Lighthouse: The World and the NYR After Fifty Years
New York Review of Books, 7 Nov 2013

The New German Question
New York Review of Books, 15 Aug 2013

Burma's Uncrowned Queen
New York Review of Books, 6 Jun 2013

The King and I
New York Review of Books, 23 May 2013

India: Watch What You Say
New York Review of Books, 25 Apr 2013

To stay in Europe, vote Conservative
Financial Times, 19 Apr 2013

Freedom & Diversity: A Liberal Pentagram for Living Together
New York Review of Books, 22 Nov 2012

The Crisis of Europe
Foreign Affairs, 16 Aug 2012

Germans, More or Less
New York Review of Books, 11 Feb 2011

Velvet Revolution: The Prospects
New York Review of Books, 3 Dec 2009

1989!
New York Review of Books, 5 Nov 2009

The Road from Danzig
New York Review of Books, 16 Aug 2007

The Stasi on Our Minds
New York Review of Books, 31 May 2007

Islam in Europe
New York Review of Books, 5 Oct 2006

Soldiers of the Hidden Imam
New York Review of Books, 3 Nov 2005

The Orange Revolution
New York Review of Books, 28 Apr 2005

A Genius for Friendship
New York Review of Books, 23 Sep 2004

Orwell’s List
New York Reviews of Books, 25 Sep 2003

Anti-Europeanism in America
New York Reviews of Books, 13 Feb 2003

On the Frontier
New York Reviews of Books, 7 Nov 2002

Is There a Good Terrorist?
New York Reviews of Books, 29 Nov 2001

Odd Man Out
New York Reviews of Books, 1 Nov 2001

The European Orchestra
New York Reviews of Books, 17 May 2001

Is Britain European?
Prospect, 20 Feb 2001

Is Britain European? (full version, paywall)
International Affairs, 16 Dec 2002

The Last Revolution [Serbia]
New York Reviews of Books, 16 Nov 2000

Kosovo: Was It Worth It?
New York Reviews of Books, 21 Sep 2000

Beauty and the Beast in Burma
New York Reviews of Books, 25 May 2000

Anarchy & Madness [Serbia and Kosovo]
New York Reviews of Books, 10 Feb 2000

Hail Ruthenia!
New York Reviews of Books, 22 Apr 1999

The Puzzle of Central Europe
New York Reviews of Books, 18 Mar 1999

Cry, the Dismembered Country
New York Reviews of Books, 14 Jan 1999

Goodbye to Bonn
New York Reviews of Books, 5 Nov 1998

Orwell in 1998
New York Reviews of Books, 22 Oct 1998

Can Europeans really find no way of living together in democracies other than living apart?
London Review of Books, 17 Sep 1998

The black and the red
Prospect, 20 Jun 1998

Europe: Iceberg Ahead
New York Reviews of Books, 14 May 1998

Writing for Rupert
Prospect, 20 Apr 1998

Comparative Horrors
London Review of Books, 19 Mar 1998

Europe's Endangered Liberal Order
Foreign Affairs, March/April 1998 issue

The Truth About Dictatorship
New York Reviews of Books, 19 Feb 1998

The Curse and Blessing of South Africa
New York Reviews of Books, 14 Aug 1997

True Confessions
New York Reviews of Books, 17 Jul 1997

Bad memories
Prospect, 20 Aug 1997

The Imperfect Spy (Review essay on Markus Wolf)
New York Reviews of Books, 26 Jun 1997

In the Serbian Soup
New York Reviews of Books, 24 Apr 1997

Hungary’s Revolution: Forty Years On
New York Reviews of Books, 14 Nov 1996

Back into Europe
Prospect, 20 Jun 1996

‘Neo-Pagan’ Poland
New York Reviews of Books, 11 Jan 1996

Bosnia in Our Future
New York Reviews of Books, 21 Dec 1995

Central Europe: The Present Past
New York Reviews of Books, 13 Jul 1995

Catching the wrong bus? Europe's future and the great gamble of monetary union
The Times Literary Supplement, 15 May 1995

Prague: Intellectuals & Politicians
New York Reviews of Books, 12 Jan 1995

Germany's Choice
Foreign Affairs, July/August 1994 issue

Journey to the Post-Communist East
New York Reviews of Books, 23 Jun 1994

The Visit
Granta, 1 Oct 1993

Poland After Solidarity
New York Reviews of Books, 13 Jun 1991

East Germany: The Solution
New York Reviews of Books, 26 Apr 1990

Revolution in Hungary and Poland
New York Reviews of Books, 17 Aug 1989

From World War to Cold War
New York Reviews of Books, 11 Jun 1987

In the Churchill Museum
New York Reviews of Books, 7 May 1987

Under Western Eyes: Poland, 1980–1982
The Washington Quarterly, Volume 7, 1984 - Issue 2