When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

Welcome to Mid-Afternoon Map, our exclusive members-only newsletter that provides a cartographic perspective on current events, geopolitics, and history from the Caucasus to the Carolinas. Subscribers can look forward to interesting takes on good maps and bad maps, beautiful maps and ugly ones — and bizarre maps whenever possible.***Having devoted our July 4 newsletter to maps of America, I had to wait till today for my second favorite Independence Day topic: an extended rant about monarchy. Thankfully, the subject only gets more timely with time. Waiting an extra two weeks to write about this particular institution just makes it several centuries and 14 days more of an anachronism.The subject generated public debate most recently in the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, when some critics took the occasion to condemn Britain’s imperial legacy. In response, supporters pointed out that it was absurd to treat one (by all accounts lovely) 96-year-old woman as some sort of personal incarnation of the entire British state. I completely agree. But then this seems like less a defense of monarchy than an attack on its very essence.Whatever you think of the British royal family, though, its power remains thoroughly circumscribed. Apparently, while the King can always abdicate, he can’t even abolish the monarchy without the approval of Parliament, which seems like the one thing he should always have the power to do. I picture King Charles tearfully announcing that the time has come for the British people to govern themselves, then retiring to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to run a charitable foundation for retired royals.In the Middle East, by contrast, many monarchs continue to hold real political power. This was generally considered outdated and undemocratic, even by Middle Eastern standards. But when the Arab Spring swept the region, bringing turmoil, civil war, and ultimately little democratic change, many observers