  In this review, we discuss the confining and finite-temperature properties of
the 3D SU(N) Georgi-Glashow model, and of 4D compact QED. At zero temperature,
we derive string representations of both theories, thus constructing the
SU(N)-version of Polyakov's theory of confining strings. We discuss the
geometric properties of confining strings, as well as the appearance of the
string theta-term from the field-theoretical one in 4D, and k-string tensions
at N larger than 2. In particular, we point out the relevance of negative
stiffness for stabilizing confining strings, an effect recently re-discovered
in material science. At finite temperature, we present a derivation of the
confining-string free energy and show that, at the one-loop level and for a
certain class of string models in the large-D limit, it matches that of QCD at
large N. This crucial matching is again a consequence of the negative
stiffness. In the discussion of the finite-temperature properties of the 3D
Georgi-Glashow model, in order to be closer to QCD, we mostly concentrate at
the effects produced by some extensions of the model by external matter fields,
such as dynamical fundamental quarks or photinos, in the supersymmetric
generalization of the model.
