Diplomacy & Politics Archive

The quiet, behind-the-scenes preparations for Cote d’Ivoire’s next presidential election in 2020 were given a jolt this week by a man many expected would play only a supporting role in the process. In an interview published Sunday by the magazine Jeune Afrique, President Alassane Ouattara, who is nearing the end of his second term, said the West African nation’s new constitution would enable him to run twice more, in 2020 and again in 2025. Cote d’Ivoire limits presidents to two terms, and Ouattara had previously said numerous times that he would abide by the restriction. But by claiming that the […]

Mariano Rajoy’s luck finally ran out. For years, the conservative Spanish prime minister succeeded by waiting out his problems. When it looked like Spain might follow Greece and Portugal in requiring a European bailout in 2012, Rajoy refused to ask for help. He was vindicated when the European Central Bank instead announced its massive bond-buying initiative, what is called “Outright Monetary Transactions.” The bank didn’t actually buy Spanish bonds, but the mere possibility that it might stabilized the markets. When Rajoy lost his majority in parliament in 2015, he refused a mandate to form a government, letting the Socialists try—and […]

On May 3, Afonso Dhlakama, the long-time leader of the Mozambican rebel group and later political party Renamo, died unexpectedly. His death came as Mozambique’s National Assembly was considering amendments to the country’s constitution that would extend elected government to provinces, districts and municipalities nationwide. Most administrations at these levels are currently appointed by the national government, a cause of tension in Renamo strongholds. The amendment was one of two pillars of a deal negotiated earlier this year by Dhlakama and President Filipe Nyusi, meant to end a low-intensity conflict that flared back up in 2012—20 years after the end […]

When people take to the streets to protest high prices and tax increases, their message doesn’t usually resonate beyond their country’s borders. But when the protests erupt in a country like Jordan, in the heart of the Middle East, they are an uncomfortable reminder to the region, and the world, of the kingdom’s vulnerability and its importance in preserving regional stability. The protests started last week in Amman, and they quickly took on a life of their own, expanding well beyond the capital and drawing support from across society—a sign that their objective of drawing attention to economic hardships resonated […]

In the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on May 27, Gustavo Petro, the ex-mayor of Bogota, won 25 percent of the votes cast, setting the stage for him to face off against Ivan Duque, a senator and former official of the Inter-American Development Bank who secured 39 percent. Their respective results make Duque—who is running as the candidate of the Democratic Center, the right-wing party that is most critical of the 2016 peace agreement with FARC guerrillas—the clear favorite to win in the June 17 runoff. But despite the fact that Petro can all but rule out taking office […]

Will Donald Trump turn out to be Europe’s best friend? Despite himself, Trump’s decision to pick an ill-conceived fight over trade with America’s closest allies could actually have a salutary effect on European solidarity. It will certainly boost the desire in Europe to distance itself from America and the dependent aspects of the trans-Atlantic alliance. Whether the Europeans will be able to follow through is another story. Trump’s trade war would seem to come at a bad time for the European Union. The incoming government in Italy is hostile to the EU’s fiscal rules and migrant policy. Spain is in […]

Just as the expulsion of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration removed a check on drug-related corruption at the highest levels of Bolivia’s government, it has also created space for an alarming increase in lower-level illicit activity. Nevertheless, President Evo Morales maintains he has the market for cocaine in Bolivia under control.On a Thursday evening this past February, two Bolivian men met at a public plaza in the country’s capital, La Paz, to discuss a major cocaine sale. Though they had been texting back and forth all week, each was wary of the other. One of the men, Luis, was an […]

The Slovenia Democratic Party, led by former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, finished first in Slovenia’s parliamentary elections Sunday, with roughly 25 percent of the vote. Jansa, who was supported by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, campaigned on an anti-immigration platform centered on opposition to the European Union’s proposed quota system for redistributing asylum-seekers among member states. But neither Jansa nor the several parties that split the centrist vote will find it easy to assemble a majority coalition. In an email interview, Florian Bieber, a professor of Southeast European history and politics at the University of Graz and director of the […]

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a two-part series on Bolivia’s relationship with coca, funded by WPR’s International Reporting Fellowship. The second installment can be found here. Ten years ago, Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which had been tasked with curbing the production of coca in Bolivia, the main ingredient in cocaine. Since then, Morales has championed a nationalized, legal coca market, but critics accuse him of fostering the rise of a narco-state. On a Monday afternoon this past February, around 300 residents of the small jungle town of Chimore in central Bolivia […]

Italy’s government crisis did its best to disprove the economist Herbert Stein’s axiom that “if something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” But 89 days after Italians voted on March 4, the crisis finally succumbed. A government drawn from Italy’s two leading populist parties—the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, or M5S, and the anti-immigration Lega, or League—was accepted by President Sergio Mattarella on May 31. The premiership will be entrusted to a law professor with no previous political experience, Giuseppe Conte, and several other technocrats will occupy key ministries. Political upheaval is notoriously part of the ritual of governance in […]

After the initial public euphoria about an imminent breakthrough in their decades-long crisis with North Korea, South Koreans who work professionally on foreign and national security policy are taking a more strategic and sober view of recent events. Many worry about the consequences of a change in their relationship with the United States, while others see important economic and political opportunities ahead. I just returned from a week of meetings in Seoul and Incheon with scholars from universities, government agencies and think tanks, as part of a delegation from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. I came […]

On May 12, East Timor voted in early parliamentary elections, after last year’s indecisive elections produced a minority government and political paralysis. Following a campaign that was tarnished by some incidents of political violence, the Change for Progress, or AMP, coalition of opposition parties won 34 of 65 seats. A court challenge by the defeated Fretilin party over alleged irregularities was rejected by an appeals court last week, opening the way for the AMP to form a government. In an email interview, Guteriano Neves, a policy analyst based in East Timor’s capital, Dili, discusses the election results, the AMP’s policy […]

The European Commission recently announced that it would step up its efforts to fight disinformation online. Despite the prior reluctance of several commissioners to name any specific foreign governments, the newly published policy document, called a Communication, singles out Russia for practicing information warfare and aims to establish what it calls “a European approach” to tackle these and other forms of hybrid interference. This new approach will focus on improving transparency, promoting media diversity, fostering credible sources of information and devising long-term solutions to tackle disinformation in Europe. The announcement comes at a time when the European Union’s existing in-house […]

Birthday parties can be moments for both celebration and introspection. While it may be fun to mark life’s milestones, they can inspire soul-searching about the meaning of aging. There were understandably mixed feelings at the United Nations last week, as the organization marked peacekeeping’s 70th birthday. The Security Council sent military observers to the Middle East in 1948 to supervise the end of the first Arab-Israeli war. Pedants can debate whether this represented the birth of peacekeeping—the interwar League of Nations had deployed multinational forces—but it was the first of over 70 U.N. missions that have become the organization’s trademark. […]

The Republic of Ireland has historically remained out of step with the vast majority of Europe when it comes to abortion. Although more than 80 percent of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states permit abortion without restriction at the request of the woman, Ireland has been steadfastly committed to strict pro-life legislation, permitting legal abortion only under the most limited of circumstances, forcing many women to travel out of country to exercise their choice. But that is suddenly shifting, after the landslide result on May 25 of a referendum that will bring dramatic changes to abortion policy in Ireland. […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Senior Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. For well over a year, activists have been buzzing about the potential for a new tribunal in the Central African Republic to foster a tradition of domestic accountability and deter fighting of the sort that has rocked the chronically unstable nation since 2012. The court’s prosecutor, the Congolese military magistrate Toussaint Muntazini Mukimapa, arrived in the country in February 2017, and hopes were high that he would be able to move fast in building cases. Yet as recently as […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss President Donald Trump’s first trade war—not with China, but with Canada, Mexico and the European Union. For the Report, Christopher Looft talks with WPR’s senior editor, Robbie Corey-Boulet, about the Brazilian government’s move to militarize security in Rio de Janeiro and the political impact across Brazil. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered straight to your inbox. The newsletter offers a free […]