Prospectis a monthly British general-interest magazine, specialising in politics, economics and current affairs. Topics covered include British and other European, and US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, the media, history, philosophy and psychology. Prospect features a mixture of lengthy analytic articles, first-person reportage, one-page columns and shorter items.
The magazine was launched in October 1995 by David Goodhart, then a senior correspondent for the Financial Times (FT), and chairman Derek Coombs. Goodhart came up with the idea of producing an essay-based monthly general-interest magazine—a form unknown in Britain at that time—while covering German reunification as Bonn correspondent for the FT.
Some prominent intellectuals have featured in Prospect, including economists Joseph Stiglitz, Sen and Angus Deaton, writers such as Lionel Shriver, Clive James, Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood, as well as scientists like Martin Rees. Notable features of the magazine include debates of two writers with opposing views, discussions in which a series of experts with varying views, an edited transcript of which is published in the magazine, and interviews with political and cultural figures (examples include Orhan Pamuk, Paul Wolfowitz and Hilary Mantel).
Prospect received worldwide attention in October 2005 when it published its list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals, which included Ziauddin Sardar, Noam Chomsky, Umberto Eco, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker and Christopher Hitchens. When the magazine asked readers to vote for the top intellectual on the list, Chomsky emerged the winner. Subsequent lists continued to get attention. Dawkins claimed the top spot in 2013. Amartya Sen won in 2014 and Thomas Piketty was the winner in 2015. After a four year absence, the award was revived by Caucher Birkar in 2019.
Prospect has also published the winning short story of the Royal Society of Literature's V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize in 2009.
