Series: What Is It For?

Are zoos an anachronism in the 21st century when we can watch animals in their natural habitat, close-up from our couches without worrying about cruelty? Should they go the way of other bygone era 'spectacles' and 'attractions' that we now regard as barbaric? There are vocal campaigners and activists who believe so. Heather Browning and Walter Veit disagree, but they...

There is general agreement about the need to criminalise the production, sale, and possession of certain drugs, yet the costly international apparatus surrounding this is failing. But why do we criminalise some substances and not others? Is the purpose misguided, or the methods, or both? Julia Buxton looks at how our current drug control regime came about from the first...

Truth is for striving at, for the sake of good collective action. With new media technologies, it seems that falsehoods can spread faster and further than ever. And with new norms of public discourse, while being caught in a lie would once end a politician's career, today it is shrugged off, which has profound implications for democracy. Does the truth...

Across the world, an increasing number of people are turning to veganism, changing not just their diets, but completely removing animal products from their lives. For some, this is prompted by concerns over animal ethics; for others, it's a response to the part played by animal agriculture in the climate crisis or an attempt to improve their own health. What...

How will protecting our digital infrastructure shape our future? Cybersecurity is one of the key practical and political challenges of our time. It is at the heart of how modern societies survive and thrive, yet public understanding is still rudimentary: media portrayals of hoodie-wearing hackers accessing the Pentagon don't convey its complexity or significance to contemporary life. What Is Cybersecurity...

History, suggests Robert Gildea, "is a battlefield." Questions of power, rights, identity, and nationhood always have an ancient and modern historical dimension, and countries still go to war over their interpretation of history. Yet accounts of history are just as prone to fabrication as fake news, so how can we tell good history from bad? How can history be critical,...

Religious belief is declining in many parts of the world, yet people still seek purpose in their lives and guidance on how to navigate life's challenges. Humanism is a broad tradition of thought and action that encourages thinking for oneself about what to believe and accommodating diversity. What is the purpose of humanism in an increasingly secular world? Written by...

Most states in the world make some provision for the welfare of their citizens. Every state engages with health care provision, almost all provide education services, and, after an explosion of interest in recent years, a substantial majority now have national schemes in place for cash assistance. Welfare states matter for people's lives – but there is little agreement about...

What is at stake when journalism is threatened? Does society still need journalists? Journalism faces multiple threats today all over the world: economic decline, online disinformation, the rise of AI, authoritarian curbs on freedom of the press, and violence against journalists. In such a climate, it is more urgent than ever to ask what journalism is for. Drawing on his...

Does the British monarchy still have a place in today's society? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit cast light on institutional racism, Prince Andrew's alleged sexual abuse highlighted troubling attitudes towards gender and power, while the abolition of the monarchy in Barbados accentuated its relationship to colonialism. But what is the monarchy actually for? Does it benefit the UK, or...

How should we treat animals? The long-held belief that other animals exist solely for human use has undergone radical challenge in the past half century. How much further do we need to go to minimise, and even eliminate, animal suffering? The field of animal rights raises big questions about how humans treat the other animals with which we share the...

The days when museums were dusty, stuffy institutions displaying their wealth and wisdom to a reverential public are over. Museums today are a cultural battleground. Who should decide what is put on display and how it is presented? Who gets to set the narrative? In this passionately argued book, Jon Sleigh maintains that museums must be for all people and...

What Are Prisons For? explores the concept of what makes a good prison. With over eleven million people currently incarcerated across the globe, the question arises: does prison actually work? The answer often depends on one's beliefs and feelings about crime, punishment, and the internal workings of prisons. The profound social and personal impact of prisons necessitates a better understanding...

What Is Counterterrorism For? by Leonie Jackson explores the often overlooked but crucial topic of counterterrorism, which is essential to understanding actions taken in the name of safety. Since 9/11, there has been a substantial increase in the state's special powers, ostensibly for security purposes. These include indefinite detention, the assassination of suspected terrorists, the use of extraordinary rendition, torture,...

Athletes first is a slogan the International Olympic Committee often touts, but the reality is very different, as preeminent Olympics expert Jules Boykoff shows in What Are the Olympics For? While the world's attention is riveted by the triumphs and tribulations on their screens, there is much that goes on behind the scenes that is deeply troubling: athletes are increasingly...

Does charitable giving still matter but need to change? Philanthropy, the use of private assets for public good, has been much criticised in recent years. Do elite philanthropists wield too much power? Is big-money philanthropy unaccountable and therefore anti-democratic? And what about so-called "tainted donations" and "dark money" funding pseudo-philanthropic political projects? The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified many of these...

How does armed conflict shape global politics? When states wage war on their neighbours while denying its existence, what chance do we have to regulate it, and how will we ever achieve a more peaceful world? What Is War For? examines how changes to social rules, such as interpretations of international law, reshape how states explain their military actions. It...

A new perspective on the role of the market, and its future place in society. Markets are apparently straightforward: they connect buyers to sellers. But their operation is complex, depending on places, things, networks, and performances. Belief in markets is a cultural and political ideology. They are a means of governance in modern society, linked to individualistic self-responsibility. But markets...

A wide-ranging look at football's powerful but controversial governing body. Football is the world's most popular sport and truly a global phenomenon. As a result, it attracts huge sums of money from its advertisers, sponsors and broadcasters, including FIFA, the sport's international governing body. So, given its decidedly chequered history, the question of what FIFA is for is crucial to...

A deeply researched look at the debate around immigration policy, and possible paths forward. Does political rhetoric on immigration policy match what is actually happening on the ground? Why do well-intentioned plans fail? Could immigration policy be done better? What Is Immigration Policy For? explores what immigration policy seeks to achieve and why so many people end up unhappy with...