

Tariffs, Global Trade Disruptions, Aid Cuts, and the New Digital Frontiers
The confluence of trade shocks, vanishing aid flows, soaring debt burdens, and speculative digital finance is what we discuss on a daily...
Arda Tunca
Jun 304 min read


Economics, Empire, and Madness: Rereading Don Quijote
I wrote the article, The Contradictory Paths of Civilization , when I was 22, just after graduating from university. The books and...
Arda Tunca
Jun 299 min read


Class Anxiety and the Erosion of Mobility in China
Once a symbol of unrelenting ascent, China’s model of social mobility is now showing cracks. For millions of young people, especially...
Arda Tunca
Jun 242 min read


The Perils of Anachronism: Contextualizing Early Modern Political Philosophy
Introduction Understanding philosophers within their historical context is essential for accurately interpreting their ideas. Without...
Arda Tunca
Jun 2423 min read


The Stablecoin Surge: A Systemic Threat?
In a financial system historically defined by state-backed currencies, central banks, and commercial lenders, stablecoins have emerged as...
Arda Tunca
Jun 214 min read


Human Nature and Political Design: Hobbes, Machiavelli, and the Problem of Order
Introduction This article explores how key early modern thinkers, especially Hobbes and Machiavelli, conceptualized human nature and...
Arda Tunca
Jun 209 min read


Turkey’s Growth Slows Sharply and Labor Market Struggles
Turkey’s economy is losing momentum. In the first quarter of 2025, annual GDP growth slowed to just 2% , down sharply from 5.1% in 2023...
Arda Tunca
Jun 174 min read


Strategic Rivalries in a Fractured Global Order
For decades, economics ruled the world stage. Markets dictated policy, and political choices were increasingly constrained by economic...
Arda Tunca
Jun 143 min read


A Framework for State Durability: Mechanisms for Political Stability Compatible with Human Nature
Introduction Baruch Spinoza, in his Political Treatise , presents a political framework aimed at ensuring the state's durability by...
Arda Tunca
Jun 116 min read


Trade Wars and the Great Supply Chain Shuffle
Trade wars don’t kill trade entirely, but they shrink and reroute it. That’s exactly what we’re seeing as tensions between the United...
Arda Tunca
Jun 93 min read


Goethe's Divan and Dialogue Through Music
There is a never-ending issue in the Middle East. It is a millennia-old problem that has plunged people and generations into pain and...
Arda Tunca
Jun 89 min read


Şimşek’s Program: Promised Stability—But Where Are the Results?
When Mehmet Şimşek was brought back to lead Turkey’s economic policy  in June 2023, it was marketed as a return to reason . After the...
Arda Tunca
Jun 83 min read


China’s Manufacturing Slowdown: A Global Warning Sign?
In an earlier analysis, I cautioned that China’s manufacturing-driven growth was vulnerable to both internal demand weaknesses and...
Arda Tunca
Jun 33 min read


Rebetiko: The Music of the Dispossessed, the Margins, and the Aegean Soul
In the shadowed taverns and smoky tekédes of early 20th-century Greece, a sound emerged that would come to define an era of displacement,...
Arda Tunca
Jun 14 min read