Domestic Politics Archive

The ink was not dry on the agreement that the United States and its five partners signed with Iran over the weekend before criticism exploded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “a historic mistake,” while his economic minister, Naftali Bennett, said, “If five years from now a nuclear suitcase explodes in New York or Madrid, it will be because of the deal.” Former U.S. diplomat John Bolton called it “abject surrender.” And all of this is just the opening round: During the coming weeks there will be an outpouring of attacks on the agreement. The freshly signed deal is […]

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced today that Lt. Gen. Raheel Sharif will succeed Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani as Pakistan’s powerful chief of army staff. Kayani, who will retire on Nov. 29 after a six-year tenure, commanded the Pakistani army through a tumultuous time in the country’s history, which included Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s clash with the Supreme Court, imposition of emergency rule and forced ouster; a complex and violent insurgency; antagonism with the U.S.; and economic uncertainty. Kayani was instrumental in transforming the army, enabling it to better cope with current and emerging security threats. He also distanced the army […]

If Mozambique has attracted international headlines over the past year, it has been mainly for the return to armed conflict in central Mozambique by the ex-rebels Renamo as well as for new discoveries of world-class gas reserves in the country’s offshore waters. But while the results of Mozambique’s municipal elections, which took place on Nov. 20, have not attracted the same level of international attention, they are an important indicator of the health of political pluralism in a country touted as a post-conflict success story with impressive GDP growth. The election results will influence how the Mozambique government deals with […]

Voters in the West African nation of Mali will go to the polls this weekend for legislative elections that may offer insight into the country’s uncertain political trajectory. Mali descended into chaos last year, when a coup d’etat in the country’s south paved the way for Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida to take over the northern two-thirds of the country. In late-July, Malians turned out in record numbers for a presidential election that the international community—particularly, France and the U.S.—had been calling for as a condition for unlocking nearly $4 billion in pledged assistance. That election came just six months […]

For many in Washington, last month’s two-week shutdown of the federal government is already ancient history, replaced by a focus on the travails of the Obamacare website and feverish speculation about Hillary Clinton’s prospects as a presidential candidate in 2016. But the aftershocks of the shutdown continue to reverberate around the world. In particular, there is concern that President Barack Obama will have difficulty getting Congress, particularly a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, to vote in favor of giving his administration the flexibility it will need to conduct delicate negotiations, both with foes as well as with friends. The continuing negotiations […]

Fans of the television drama “Homeland” might have been surprised when in a recent episode one of the protagonists surfaced in Venezuela as a guest/prisoner of a sinister gang living in a crowded and dilapidated half-built Caracas high-rise. The espionage show normally focuses on Middle East terrorists and the CIA agents chasing them. But Venezuela’s strife and the sheer strangeness it produces proved hard to resist. The depiction, with its post-apocalyptic overtones was, of course, fictional, even though thousands of squatters do live in unfinished buildings in Venezuela, and crime levels are a growing threat. But there is no escaping […]

Hondurans will vote Sunday, Nov. 24, in a presidential election that polls suggest is too close to call. U.S. interests are plainly at stake, but this has less to do with the individual who may end up being elected than with the legitimacy of the election itself and how the new president, once in office, chooses to govern. In what should be a clarifying and unifying election, the electorate instead is polarized, and at least three of the leading candidates are each convinced they will win. Official results may not be known for a week or more after the election; […]

This month, thousands of anti-government protesters have rallied in the Thai capital Bangkok, at first turning out against a bill that would have offered amnesty to deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but continuing to protest after the bill was defeated. In an email interview, Duncan McCargo, professor of Southeast Asian politics at University of Leeds, explained what’s driving Thailand’s recent protests and their likely effects on Thai politics. WPR: What do Thailand’s recent protests mean for the stability of the government under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra? Duncan McCargo: Thailand has a long tradition of political rallies and protests; street […]

There is some relief now that the presidential election in the Maldives has been completed and its result accepted by all sides. But the outcome has not allayed concerns over the nation’s democratic transition. Yaamin Abdul Gayoom of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), who is the half-brother of former authoritarian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was sworn in as the Maldives’ new president Sunday, Nov. 17. He narrowly defeated the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate, former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was ousted in what Nasheed claims was a coup in February 2012. The runoff, held Nov. 16 after repeated […]

Today the U.S.-Israeli relationship, long a bedrock alliance for both nations, is rancorous and tense. Americans on the political right attribute this to the weakness or even incompetence of President Barack Obama, particularly concerning Iran. Portraying the problem as one of personalities or political inclinations may keep pundits employed, but it misses the bigger and more important picture. The United States is, in fact, “pursuing a policy agenda in the Middle East that is increasingly divergent from Israeli interests,” but this reflects more than just a predilection of the Obama administration. The divergence between the two old allies reflects deep […]

Representatives of the Colombian government and the FARC guerilla group announced on Nov. 6 in Havana that they had reached an agreement that could allow FARC leaders to participate in Colombian politics. The precise details of the agreement have not been disclosed, and the two sides have agreed that it would not go into effect until a final peace settlement has been reached. Nevertheless, according to Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, the peace process is moving along reasonably well, and the two sides both may have “gotten past the point of no return” toward reaching a […]

Diplomacy in the American political system is frequently described as the exclusive province of presidents. Thomas Jefferson, America’s first secretary of state, wrote in 1790, “The transaction of business with foreign nations is executive altogether. . . . Exceptions are to be strictly construed.” A decade later, John Marshall, who would go on to become the most influential chief justice in U.S. history, declared on the floor of the House of Representatives, “The president is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations.” Justice George Sutherland noted Marshall’s claim in United […]

A few days after sitting across from an Iranian delegation in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is facing another daunting interlocutor as he buys time for the administration’s diplomatic approach: the U.S. Congress. Kerry made the case for a pause in additional sanctions at an off-the-record Senate Banking Committee briefing on Wednesday. Although the exact details have not been publicly disclosed of last week’s negotiations between Iran and the U.S.—in coordination with the other members of the Security Council and Germany—the proposed agreement reportedly contains some form of sanctions relief for Iran and other inducements in return for […]

China is moving to ease restrictions on its one-child policy, Chinese policymakers announced Friday. The new rules will allow parents who are themselves only children to have two children. Therese Hesketh told WPR in August that changes to the policy were seen in China as inevitable: The policy has achieved its original goal of reducing population growth and lifting many out of poverty. It has also become an anachronism as freedoms have increased in many areas of life; as growing wealth means many can afford the fines; and as China becomes a key player in the global community and can […]

A new political alliance was announced in Europe this week. Meeting in The Hague, the leaders of the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, and France’s National Front, Marine Le Pen, announced they would campaign together for the approaching European Parliament elections in 2014. Both parties oppose immigration, Islam and the European Union, and hope to rally a pan-European insurgency to their banner. The meeting was focused on May 2014, when voters across Europe will head to the ballot box to elect their representatives in the European Parliament. European elections are held every five years to determine the composition of […]

While Michele Bachelet is all but certain to win a second, nonconsecutive term over Evelyn Matthei in Chile’s Nov. 17 presidential election, the long-term implications of Bachelet’s victory are still to be written. The election will be a watershed in Chile’s 23-year-old democracy, and not just because it will be the country’s first presidential election held without mandatory voting. A realignment of political forces and the emergence of a new generation of young politicians have pushed a new reform agenda, which Bachelet has tried to capture in a series of constitutional and tax reform proposals. The shifts are certain to […]

After weekend election violence in Kosovo forced polling places to close early and left ballot boxes destroyed, leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are meeting in Brussels today to discuss next steps. At the same time, officials have announced that the elections will be repeated in Mitrovica, the northern Serb-dominated municipality in majority-Albanian Kosovo where the attacks took place. Prime Minister Ivica Dacic of Serbia and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo are meeting to determine how to move forward on a pact that aims to integrate ethnic Serbs with the rest Kosovo. Under the terms of a European Union-mediated agreement […]