Global Archive

More than 11 years after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Dominic Ongwen’s arrest, and nearly two years after he was captured and transferred to The Hague, his prosecution finally began in December. Ongwen, a former senior commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), faces 70 counts, including charges of murder, enslavement, rape and torture. He allegedly committed or oversaw these atrocities as part of the Ugandan rebel militia’s bloody campaign against the people of northern Uganda’s Acholiland that originally began in 1987. Though the LRA remains active in pockets of central Africa, it was driven from Uganda […]

It has been hard to keep up with the sheer torrent of dreadful political proposals that have emanated from the United States in the past 10 days. President Donald Trump’s decision to block refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. is undoubtedly the vilest of the lot. But the new administration has also managed to promulgate a bundle of ideas about international crisis management that will, if put into action, prove pretty disastrous. Last week, I predicted that Trump would adopt “haphazard” approaches to conflicts overseas. That may have underestimated both his sense of purpose and […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss the global reactions to U.S. President Donald Trump’s first week in office. For the Report, Daniel McDowell talks with Peter Dörrie about the problems facing globalism and how they are getting worse. Listen: Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: With an Eye on China—and Trump—Japan Enhances Security Ties With Southeast Asia Could Trump’s Hard-Line Support End Up Backfiring for Israel’s Far Right? Temer Has Few Easy Choices to Solve Brazil’s Prison Crisis China’s Complicated Relationship With Workers’ Rights Globalization Was Already […]

The world economy is caught in a vicious cycle that it cannot seem to break. It all began in 2008 with the shock of the global financial crisis followed two years later by the slow drip of the European debt crisis. In response to these events and the worldwide recession that accompanied them, many countries took steps to protect their economies from international instability and foreign competition. Yet creeping protectionism just acted as a further drag on economic growth. Continued tepid growth helped fuel the growing protectionist backlash in the industrialized world, which is poised to deliver a level of […]

What will international peacemaking look like in the Trump era? Here are five tentative but credible predictions. One: The U.S. will play an increasingly haphazard, and often counterproductive, role in peace processes. Two: Organizations that have always relied on American largesse to function, like the United Nations and NATO, will also struggle to stay relevant. Three: A small host of aspiring alternative peacemakers, ranging from Russia to midsize African powers, will try to fill the resulting political vacuum. Four: The majority of these new peacemakers will dump post-Cold War niceties, such as giving human rights a prominent role in peace […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy. For the Report, Patrick M. Stewart talks to Peter Dörrie about the prospects of the liberal world order and what might replace it. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: Why Obama’s Foreign Policy Gamble Fell Short The Problem With Obama’s Foreign Policy Has Been Inaction, Not Weakness Ghana’s Democracy Delivered. Can Its New President? How to Read the National Intelligence Council’s Latest Global Trends Report An Open World Is in the Balance. What Might Replace […]

The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States imperils the liberal international order that America has championed since World War II. That open world was already operating under strain, challenged by rivals and upheaval abroad. But suddenly, it is vulnerable at home, too. A wave of angry populism has propelled to power a nationalist leader who campaigned on a promise to put “America First.” As a candidate, Trump questioned longstanding U.S. alliances like NATO, criticized international institutions like the United Nations, and promised to abandon major trade, arms control and climate agreements. Little wonder that liberal internationalists […]

This week, the National Intelligence Council released its quadrennial report about global trends, and it’s a sober read. Governance is getting harder, and the nature of power is changing. While the report doesn’t predict major power conflict, it sees Russia and China both exploiting the erosion of confidence in the West to expand their influence in the international system. One policy-relevant judgment is about resilience: Countries that invest in infrastructure, innovation and relationships will fare better in this unstable future. Every four years, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) produces an unclassified, broad-gauged assessment of long-term global trends. The work of […]

Antonio Guterres is off to a strong but slightly surreal start as the United Nations’ new secretary-general. Since replacing Ban Ki-moon at the start of the year, the former Portuguese prime minister has moved fast to place his stamp on the organization. Yet, while U.N. officials are keen to see their boss succeed, all are conscious that the administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could soon place the institution under severe political pressure. The new secretary-general’s chances of leading the U.N. effectively over the next five years may be shaped by how he handles Trump in the next few months. […]

In July, World Politics Review launched its Global Agenda series, inviting authors to make their case for the biggest priorities facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. Over the following months, contributors took turns diagnosing the gravest challenges, and greatest opportunities, facing the global community. 2016 has come and gone, bringing a series of tectonic shifts to the geopolitical landscape. What developments might 2017 bring about as an encore? WPR has compiled 11 articles from the series that provide a roadmap to the upcoming year in international affairs. The following 11 articles are free to nonsubscribers until Jan. […]