Domestic Politics Archive

Anyone trying to understand Latin American politics should pay close attention to urban areas. Of the 600 million people in the southern part of the Americas, 80 percent now live in cities. However, old narratives die hard, which explains why English-speaking articles about Latin America still disproportionately focus on rural issues, peasant struggles, land reform and related topics. Of course, these issues remain relevant, because land ownership, rural or urban, is still a major source of conflict. But it is clear that urban issues will increasingly dominate the region’s political future. Take for instance Venezuela, the most polarized—not to say […]

Last month, Lee Wan-koo was confirmed as South Korea’s prime minister, despite allegations that he had dodged military service and was involved in suspicious real estate deals. This is just the latest in a series of scandals that have plagued the administration of President Park Geun-hye. In an email interview, Charles Armstrong, professor of Korean studies at Columbia University, discussed South Korean domestic politics. WPR: What have been the most damaging crises and scandals faced by South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her administration, and how effective has she been at navigating them? Charles Armstrong: The biggest single crisis was […]

A little over a year ago, Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, weighed in on the most pressing political challenge facing Astana at the time: whether or not to change the country’s name. Before any consensus could be reached, however, unidentified men cropped up in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, saying little and admitting less. Twelve months later, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and amid an intermittent war in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and the central government in Kiev, it’s clear that the status quo ante will not return. In just a year, Kazakhstan’s geopolitical environs have shifted more rapidly than at any […]

There are two leading theories about the death of Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy prime minister and liberal activist gunned down in Moscow last week, and neither one is flattering to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to one interpretation, Putin himself must have signed off on the murder, which took place in view of the Kremlin on a bridge under constant surveillance. A second theory—advanced by Masha Gessen in The New York Times, among others—holds that Putin and his inner circle are not directly responsible, but that Nemtsov was killed by vigilante nationalist gangs, an accidental casualty of the […]

After a string of scandals throughout 2014, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s corruption-related troubles haven’t let up this year. A high-profile former governor with close ties to Pena Nieto’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has had his vast collection of luxury real estate in the United States revealed, prompting accusations of impropriety, while another former governor is under investigation for embezzling millions of dollars of public funds. The latest examples of graft and perceived conflicts of interest help explain why Mexico still lags behind Chile, Colombia and Brazil, three of Latin America’s most developed economies, in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption […]

When the idea first emerged of giving a speech before the U.S. Congress on the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political advisers must have thought the platform would give him a strong boost in Israel’s upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 17. The hero’s welcome they expected Netanyahu to receive would all but ensure success in his quest for another term in the prime minister’s office. Electoral politics, to be sure, were not the only or even the principal reason for Netanyahu’s decision to deliver his controversial address. Netanyahu genuinely sees himself […]

Southeast Asia confronts a diverse range of challenges, from the need for reform in Indonesia to the erosion of democracy in Thailand. Some countries in the region are battling insurgencies at home, while others attempt to counter China’s rising influence abroad. This report draws on articles covering the region over the past year. Governance, Reform and Democracy Ruling Party the Only Significant Loser in Indonesia’s Parliamentary ElectionsBy Andrew ThornleyApr. 25, 2014 For Jokowi, Maintaining Indonesia’s Role Abroad Depends on Domestic ReformBy Prashanth ParameswaranAug. 4, 2014 Jokowi’s Test: Managing Indonesia’s Old Guard—and Civil Society’s HopesBy Sue Gunawardena-VaughnAug. 19, 2014 Corruption Concerns […]

In recent months, Kenya has increased its crackdown on Islamic extremism, including mosque raids and alleged extrajudicial killings. In an email interview, Jeremy Prestholdt, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, discussed Kenya’s counterterrorism policies. WPR: What is Kenya’s current approach to counterterrorism, and how effective has it been at tackling terrorism threats? Jeremy Prestholdt: In recent years Kenya has experienced a dramatic increase in terrorist attacks. This escalation is closely linked to Kenyan military actions against al-Shabab insurgents in Somalia. In the wake of Kenya’s 2011 offensive, al-Shabab and its sympathizers in Kenya initiated a terror campaign […]

After months of political tensions that have left more than 100 people dead since the beginning of the year, Bangladesh again made headlines last week when an American blogger known for his criticisms of fundamentalist Islam was hacked to death by a group of attackers in the capital, Dhaka. The murder of Avijit Roy, coupled with the country’s continuing backdrop of seemingly endemic political instability, have overshadowed Bangladesh’s achievements in social development, which include providing basic health care, curbing child mortality, improving nutritional levels of small children and simultaneously reducing the country’s birth rate. Worse still, there is little reason […]

Last week Greece received a four-month extension of its $277 billion bailout program. The parliaments of Finland, Estonia and, most importantly, Germany, as well as Greece’s other EU partners, approved the bailout program that was agreed to Feb. 20, provided that Greece submit a list of planned reforms. Greece submitted six pages of reforms last Monday, but not all of Greece’s creditors think they are sufficient. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), wrote a letter to Dutch Finance Minster Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is also president of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, expressing her concern that […]

The assassination last week of Boris Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister and opposition political leader, in downtown Moscow, just a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, presents a challenge for Washington. The current tensions in U.S.-Russia relations over crises ranging from Ukraine to Syria make a successful engagement with Moscow on human rights even more unlikely. Yet the U.S. must somehow find ways to support the democratic vision for Russia advocated by Nemstov and other political and civil society activists. Nemstov’s murder is in some ways reminiscent of 1990s-era Russia under then-President Boris Yeltsin. At the time, law and […]

Two parliamentary brawls in as many days, filibusters, street demonstrations and a courthouse sit-in have characterized the controversy over a new domestic security bill that Turkish legislators look set to make law. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) insists the security “package” is up to European Union standards and needed urgently. Critics argue it will create the legal conditions for a police state. They point in particular to two immediate concerns. First, Kurdish national leaders have warned the law could scuttle the government’s high-stakes peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to end the three-decade insurgency that has […]

Ongoing clashes in Myanmar between ethnic Kokang rebels and government forces near the Chinese border have so far left over 160 dead. In an email interview, Jasmin Lorch, a research fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, discussed ethnic rebels in Myanmar. WPR: What has kept the government from reaching cease-fires with the group involved in the recent fighting, and what impact might the fighting have on cease-fires elsewhere? Jasmin Lorch: The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) of the Kokang had a cease-fire with the military government that preceded the current quasi-civilian government of President Thein […]