The Archive

The questions. The debates. The verdicts.

Explore every session of The Long Council.

31 of 168 sessions
  1. 21 August 2026

    What happens if there are fewer and fewer farmers and war breaks out, causing food to become scarce?

    Verdict

    Fewer farmers in peacetime means empty shelves and broken armies in wartime. Rebuild reserves and protect farmland now, before the crisis prices that choice out of reach.

    GovernanceWar
  2. 27 July 2026

    How should the German government deal with regular terrorist attacks by muslim immigrants?

    Verdict

    Prosecute and deport individuals who commit or plan attacks. Do not govern by religious category.

    EUGovernanceWar
  3. 27 July 2026

    How should the German government respond to terrorist attacks?

    Verdict

    Germany should treat terrorism as a crime, prosecute it through courts, and keep emergency powers time-limited and specific.

    EUGovernanceDemocracyWar
  4. 17 July 2026

    How to negotiate successfully with current Iranian leaders?

    Verdict

    Front-load enough relief to give Khamenei something to defend at home, but sequence each tranche so breaking the deal costs more than keeping it.

  5. 5 July 2026

    What defines the success of the US after 250 years, compared to other nations?

    Verdict

    America's founding institutions created durable legitimacy no peer nation replicated; whether that advantage is now spent is the unresolved question.

    US
  6. 3 July 2026

    Is NAR movement a serious threat to democracy

    Verdict

    NAR is a real threat to democratic institutions, but the 2022 elections show those institutions can still hold.

    USGovernanceDemocracy
  7. 2 July 2026

    Can democracy still solve long-term problems?

    Verdict

    Democracy can solve long-term problems, but only when institutions force future costs into the present before catastrophe does it instead.

    GovernanceDemocracyClimate
  8. 29 June 2026

    What conditions and actions would resolve the conflict between Iran and the USA?

    Verdict

    A deal is possible, but only if both governments can frame concessions as victories at home.

    USWar
  9. 28 June 2026

    Is the rise of the AfD a threat to German democracy, or a sign that it functions?

    Verdict

    The AfD's rise is a warning that German democracy is failing its eastern citizens, not proof it is working.

    EUDemocracy
  10. 26 June 2026

    How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?

    Verdict

    Procedural fixes will not stop mutual radicalization. Rebuild local civic life, narrow material inequality, and hold leaders to honest language.

    USGovernance
  11. 19 June 2026

    Should Western media shift coverage of the Ukraine war from military strategy to the erosion of democratic values and human rights?

    Verdict

    Cover the rights violations now. Waiting for a better moment means the moment never comes.

    DemocracyWar
  12. 17 June 2026

    Do Trump's policies and approach to government pose a threat to American democratic institutions?

    Verdict

    Trump's pressure on courts, prosecutors, and elections is a real threat, but whether institutions hold depends on whether their defenders still act like defenders.

    USGovernanceDemocracy
  13. 4 June 2026

    Why do Israelis perceive Palestinian suffering differently than most Western countries do?

    Verdict

    Israelis live under existential threat while Western observers debate from safety. Both see the same deaths through different survival calculations.

    War
  14. 30 May 2026

    How should the current political crisis in Turkey, involving the appointment of a trustee to the CHP and the conflict between Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, be evaluated in light of Atatürk's warning about "negligence, betrayal, and delusion"?

    Verdict

    Turkey faces systematic constitutional breakdown, but the council splits on whether resistance or patience better preserves the republic.

    War
  15. 30 May 2026

    How can Turkey restore its democracy while Erdogan systematically eliminates political opponents?

    Verdict

    Turkey's captured institutions cannot be reformed from within, but comprehensive reconstruction requires economic crisis to fracture Erdogan's coalition first.

    GovernanceDemocracy
  16. 30 May 2026

    How should Özgür Özel challenge Kılıçdaroğlu for leadership of the CHP?

    Verdict

    The anchors show Özel already defeated Kılıçdaroğlu in November 2023 and won major cities in 2024.

  17. 29 May 2026

    When debt grows, why do governments choose to print money — and how does that shape the debt cycle?

    Verdict

    Governments print money because the political cost of fiscal adjustment arrives in months while inflation arrives in years.

    Economy
  18. 28 May 2026

    Will China surpass the US in economic output and technological leadership?

    Verdict

    China will likely overtake US GDP by 2030, but internal cohesion and institutional management matter more than raw economic size.

    USChinaEconomyGovernanceAI & Technology
  19. 27 May 2026

    What conditions would make a Ukraine ceasefire durable and acceptable?

    Verdict

    Ukraine must choose between accepting territorial losses now for institutional protections, or fighting longer to build independent deterrent capacity.

    War
  20. 15 May 2026

    Has Britain entered an accelerating spiral of disorder?

    Verdict

    Britain's institutions work but lack the will to enforce hard choices — this is decline, not disorder.

    EUGovernance
  21. 11 May 2026

    Could Trump's rise have been predicted, and what conditions made it possible?

    Verdict

    Trump's rise was entirely predictable — economic anxiety plus elite disconnection creates the exact conditions that produce authoritarian populists.

    USDemocracy
  22. 8 May 2026

    How do we ensure long-term progress of human civilization?

    Verdict

    Long-term progress requires institutions that adapt across generations while preserving core functions, but democracies may lack the discipline for civilizational-scale decisions.

    Governance
  23. 5 May 2026

    Will China become the new hegemon power and will it replace the role of the United States over the next decades?

    Verdict

    China will become a major power equal to America, but whether it becomes the dominant hegemon depends on choices both powers have not yet made.

    USChina
  24. 4 May 2026

    Is it possible to reverse the downfall of empire like the EU?

    Verdict

    The EU can reverse decline but only by completing political union or accepting managed fragmentation.

    EUGovernance
  25. 2 May 2026

    Fertility rate is dropping dramatically. What problems would we face with a diminishing population?

    Verdict

    Declining populations create fiscal crises, demand shortfalls, and political gridlock that policy tools cannot fix once the demographic shift accelerates.

  26. 1 May 2026

    Will the current dominant global order persist over the next 50 years, and if not, what conditions would enable a different power to become globally dominant?

    Verdict

    American dominance will not survive fifty years unchanged, but whether this means inevitable decline or strategic renewal depends on choices not yet made.

    US
  27. 1 May 2026

    Which country or countries will be the next world leader?

    Verdict

    No single country will dominate the next era — power will flow to whoever solves critical problems others cannot.

  28. 29 April 2026

    Should the US extend its response to Iran's blockade of the Hormuz Strait?

    Verdict

    Military escalation and diplomatic restraint both carry strategic costs America cannot avoid.

    USEconomyWar
  29. 26 April 2026

    Should the EU be further expanded with other nations?

    Verdict

    The EU faces an irreducible trade-off between institutional effectiveness and territorial scope that cannot be resolved through technical fixes or gradual reform.

    EU
  30. 26 April 2026

    Should countries prioritize economic growth or environmental protection?

    Verdict

    The council establishes that the growth-versus-environment framing is fundamentally flawed because environmental degradation ultimately destroys the resource base that economies depend on, making the two inseparable over any meaningful time…

    EconomyWar
  31. 25 April 2026

    What are humanity's biggest mistakes in human nature, and how do they show up in the world we're living in now?

    Verdict

    Humanity's greatest mistake is designing institutions that systematically fail to align human behavior with collective flourishing, though the council reveals this failure has multiple, interconnected dimensions that resist any single solut…

    EconomyGovernanceClimate