Global Archive

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The world must find a way to end violence and discrimination against women. In any other context between human beings, the endemic violence committed by men against women would be considered warfare or terrorism. But rather than being seen as a war against a segment of the population—a real genocide or “gendercide”—which it would be if the targets were not women, the violence and oppression targeting half of […]

The United Nations took a historic step earlier this month, for the first time naming a victim of human trafficking as a goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of such atrocities. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who survived months of captivity as a sex slave of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, was appointed to the position at a ceremony at U.N. headquarters in New York. She gives an international voice to the brutalized young women and children of the Yazidi religious minority, the victims of barbarity and sexual enslavement in northern Iraq. Murad’s new role provides some […]

It is time for a serious assessment of what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for the United Nations. For most of this year, this prospect has seemed little more than a topic for passing drollery. In May, for instance, I wrote that “as president, Trump will love the U.N.: He loves bloviating, so he should feel right at home in Turtle Bay.” With the U.S. elections just over 40 days away, this seems less amusing. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is still the frontrunner, but opinion polls suggest her lead is narrow. U.S. officials and diplomats in foreign capitals are […]

Burkina Faso, a small West African country that most Americans have never heard of and that saw a popular uprising in 2014 and attempted coup a year later, has received more than $4 million in the past 10 years to help professionalize its military. However, even with consistent U.S. security assistance, the State Department reports significant human rights concerns in Burkina Faso, including extrajudicial killings by security forces and excessive use of force, such as torture, against civilians. Burkina Faso is not the only country receiving U.S. security assistance despite a questionable human rights record. Every year, the United States […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The continued impasse in Congress over appropriating funds to combat the Zika virus in the United States perfectly illustrates the challenges that the next American president will face in addressing global health. There is a generalized sense that something needs to be done, but widespread disagreement over who should do what—and who should pay for it. Global health has received less attention from the media in recent months, […]

It is time for farewells at the United Nations. On Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon will make his last address as secretary-general to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. A little later, U.S. President Barack Obama will make his valedictory appearance at the same forum. It is hard to think of two more different political figures than the philosophical, articulate Obama and the protocol-obsessed, tongue-tied Ban. That perhaps explains why there is little evidence of much real personal chemistry between the two. Yet it is fitting that they will say some goodbyes together. The two men have fought for common causes […]

Since August, there have been growing rumors about an oil production freeze by major oil producers. The deal might be concluded on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria from Sept. 26 to 28, where the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will hold an informal gathering along with other producer countries, such as Russia. Seasoned oil market watchers will have a strong feeling of déjà vu. Back in April, members of OPEC and Russia failed to hammer out an agreement to limit oil production at a meeting in Doha. The talks collapsed at the 11th hour after […]

This week, America commemorated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the world worried once again about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. All that is missing to illustrate all three of the biggest threats that will be priorities for the foreseeable future is a catastrophic natural disaster linked to climate change. The next president will have to update the strategies to cope with all three, with varying international mechanisms in place to do so. National security experts often say that if everything is a priority, then nothing is. They wish that political leaders and bureaucratic processes would do a better job at […]

United Nations headquarters in New York is abuzz with rumors about the organization’s future leadership. The race to replace Ban Ki-moon as secretary-general next year is entering its final straightaway, but it looks like there will be some serious twists before it is complete. Meanwhile, big powers including China and Russia are allegedly looking to secure top jobs in the next secretary-general’s team. That could make the U.N. a rather less Western institution than it has been since the end of the Cold War. What is going on? Right now, it is hard to disentangle passing rumors from hard facts. […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and host Peter Dörrie discuss the prospects for Uzbekistan after President Islam Karimov’s death, the challenges of implementing Colombia’s peace deal with FARC rebels, and Iran’s posture toward the West and Saudi Arabia in the year since signing its landmark nuclear deal with world powers. For the Report, Kimberly Ann Elliott joins us to talk about the global backlash against liberalized trade. Listen:Download: MP3 Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: Uzbekistan Faces Continuity With Karimov’s Successor—and the Same Challenges Why Colombia’s Historic Peace Breakthrough Was the ‘Easy Part’ […]

Trade is essential to every economy in the world. But policies to further liberalize trade are under attack. Both U.S. presidential candidates oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiated by President Barack Obama with 11 other Pacific Rim countries, though Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has supported it in the past. The Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has threatened to withdraw from the World Trade Organization and impose steep tariffs on imports from China and Mexico if they do not comply with his demands. In June, a majority in the United Kingdom—albeit a slim one—voted to leave the European Union, the world’s […]