Incentives, Burden-Sharing, and the Reconfiguration of the International Security Order

In the current international security landscape, one can observe a phenomenon that deserves careful and dispassionate analysis. The pressure exerted by Donald Trump on NATO allies—particularly regarding defense spending and strategic responsibility—has, in the short term, led several member states to reassess their own security obligations. One visible consequence has been a renewed European attention to strategic chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global energy flows.

This development has attracted criticism. Some argue that such pressure undermines the so-called “postwar international order.” Yet this criticism often rests on an insufficiently examined premise: that the existing order is both neutral and self-sustaining. A closer look at the historical evolution of that order suggests otherwise.

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Why Western Europe Is Falling Behind: Welfare States, Interventionism, and the Loss of Economic Vitality

To say that Western Europe is “poor” would be inaccurate and intellectually dishonest. Compared with developing countries, Western Europe remains wealthy. But that is not the correct benchmark. The real question is whether Western Europe has reached the level of dynamism, innovation, and economic vitality that its history, institutions, and human capital should allow. On this standard, the answer is increasingly no.

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Burden Sharing, Welfare States, and the Structural Tensions Within the Transatlantic Alliance

From time to time, strong emotional reactions emerge in transatlantic political discourse. These reactions are often framed in terms of “betrayal,” “pressure,” or “coercion.” While such language may resonate rhetorically, it obscures a more fundamental issue: the long-standing imbalance in security provision within the NATO alliance.

To understand why these tensions recur, one must move beyond rhetoric and examine incentives, fiscal realities, and institutional structures.

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Why Milei Won Argentina’s 2025 Legislative Election

Argentina’s legislative election of 26 October 2025 was not merely a midterm. It was a referendum on whether the country would continue along Javier Milei’s path of fiscal stabilization, deregulation, and market reform, or drift back toward the Peronist cycle of inflation, controls, subsidies, and policy reversals. The electorate chose continuity. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) won about 40.8% of the national vote, became the fastest-growing force in Congress, and secured the one-third threshold in the lower house needed to help sustain presidential vetoes and strengthen his bargaining position for the second half of his term.

That result was not an accident, nor can it be reduced to charisma or media theater. It reflected a harder political fact: by late 2025, enough Argentines concluded that Milei’s policies, however painful, were producing visible macroeconomic improvement, while the opposition still represented the memory of chronic inflation, fiscal disorder, and repeated policy whiplash. Some analysts tied Milei’s stronger-than-expected result to fear of renewed turmoil if austerity and reform were abandoned; polling analysts likewise said many voters were willing to give the government more time precisely because they did not want to relive earlier crises.

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Attitude, Curiosity, and the Formation of Serious Scholars

In many situations, attitude is decisive. This is not a motivational cliché, but a structural fact about intellectual life. Over the years, when I speak with younger scholars in the Austrian School—particularly in Spain—I repeatedly observe a striking pattern. Those who listen attentively, reflect carefully, and actually put suggestions into practice tend to achieve excellent results. Their academic trajectories advance more quickly, but more importantly, they grow as individuals. Their confidence deepens, their intellectual independence strengthens, and their capacity for judgment matures.

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