SOME WEEKS, including this one, we publish more than one cover. In most of the world, we consider the rise of “homeland economics”, a protectionist, high-subsidy, intervention-heavy ideology administered by an ambitious state. We argue that governments are systematically jettisoning the principles that made the world rich. But they are making a big mistake.

Leader: Are free markets history?
Special report: Governments across the world are discovering “homeland economics”

In the Middle East and Africa, we look at why Africans are losing faith in democracy. Coups are becoming more common there. Afrobarometer, a pollster, has found that the share of Africans who prefer democracy to any other form of government has fallen from 75% in 2012 to 66%. Unfortunately, the alternative will be much worse.

Leader: Why Africans are losing faith in democracy
Middle East and Africa: Genocide returns to Darfur