Inkstick Media

Posters with a message that read in Spanish "Free abortion."

Founding fatherhood: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia, in the context of the country's legacy of war.

Founding fatherhood: Part II
In this Wednesday, June 29, 2011, photo, Henrik Holgersson puts a shoe on his son.

Founding fatherhood: Part I

Founding fatherhood: Part I
President George W. Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq as he speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. But the war dragged on for many years after that.

Citizen pain: Part II

Citizen pain: Part II
All Assam Students Union (AASU) activists hold hands together as they form a human chain to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on a road in Gauhati, India, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Critics say the bill threatens the secular fabric of India. 

Citizen pain: Part I

Citizen pain: Part I
World Congress of Families XI meeting, Budapest Congress Center, May 27, 2017, Budapest, Hungary.

Home front: Part II

Home front: Part II
American soldiers drive a Bradley fighting vehicle during a joint exercise with Syrian Democratic Forces at the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria, Dec. 8, 2021. 

Home front: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter, takes a deep dive this week into the ways in which US communities that most bear the costs of war are also more prone to right-wing radicalization.

Home front: Part I
French Barkhane force soldiers who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty in the Sahel board a US Air Force C130 transport plane, leave their base in Gao, Mali, Wednesday June 9, 2021.

Trust the process: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the function of ad-hoc organizations that are formed to address a specific crisis — and then often get dissolved when the crisis ends.

Trust the process: Part II
Teachers representing the observatory of knowledge, protest against budget cuts for public universities outside the Ministry of Education, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, July 2, 2019. 

Trust the process: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the politics of patronage in Brazil.

Trust the process: Part I
In this Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014, photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter from Shams al-Shamal heads to the front line in Kobani, Syria. 

Random rules: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into Ahrar al-Sham, one faction in the Syrian war, and the strategies it used to manage alliances among other rebel factions.

Random rules: Part II
Muslims in Nigeria attend Eid prayers at the Kofar Mata prayer ground in Kano Nigeria, Sunday, May 24, 2020. 

Random rules: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the role of sharia in northern Nigeria.

Random rules: Part I
Large icebergs float away as the sun rises near Kulusuk, Greenland, Aug. 16, 2019.

Arctic alternatives: Part II

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Arctic Council has been on hiatus. This week's Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive into the history of the council as a model of international cooperation.

Arctic alternatives: Part II
A CH-47F Chinook helicopter sits nestled in the Alaska Range to offload National Park Service equipment, supplies and personnel on Kahiltna Glacier April 27, 2022. 

Arctic alternatives: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into 21st-century US policy on the Arctic, with a focus on the language used to shape these policies.

Arctic alternatives: Part I
In this file photo taken Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013, a Nigerian soldier patrols in an armored car, during Eid al-Fitr celebrations, in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Outsourced force: Part I

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, take a deep dive this week into reasons why a government might choose to outsource its violence.

Outsourced force: Part I
US President Joe Biden and Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, chat as they gather for a group photo at Castle Elmau in Kruen, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Sunday, June 26, 2022. 

Insult to injury: Part I

This week's Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive into the function of insults, name-calling and other types of undiplomatic language.

Insult to injury: Part I
In this September 1947 file photo, hundreds of Muslim refugees crowd on top a train leaving New Delhi for Pakistan.

State reformation: Part II

Critical State, a foreign policy newsletter by Inkstick Media, takes a deep dive this week into the power and politics of collective memory when it comes to partitions. "If states told ghost stories, they would tell them of past partitions," Kelsey D. Atherton writes.

State reformation: Part II