Briefing Archive

Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, held its annual conference at Victoria Falls on Dec. 11 and 12, an event preceded by meetings of the party’s politburo and central committee. Although these gatherings were ostensibly exercises to take stock of the party’s work over the past year, in reality they were dominated by a single issue: the question of who will succeed 91-year-old President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe’s succession has become the elephant in the room of Zimbabwean politics, an issue that everyone is invited to ignore while simultaneously discussing little else. The succession question defines the country’s domestic scene and continues to […]

Argentina’s new president, Mauricio Macri, inherits a host of problems and points of friction at home and abroad from his predecessors, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and, before that, her late husband, Nestor Kirchner. But in contrast to the daunting domestic economic issues his new administration faces—just 0.4 percent economic growth in 2015 and an economy projected to shrink by 0.7 percent in 2016, on top of inflation estimated at 20 percent—the international hangover of nearly 13 years of Kirchner governments looks relatively easy to fix. International spats were an extension of the angry, polarizing rhetoric and policies of Kirchnerismo that […]

Has Poland gone from European poster child to enfant terrible in one year? The new conservative government’s moves to stack the constitutional court and tighten its control of the media have worried Poland’s allies in the European Union and the United States and brought tens of thousands of Poles onto the streets to protest. Some have even warned of a serious threat to Poland’s democracy, two and a half decades after communism fell. In response, the recently elected government of the Law and Justice party, known in Polish as the PiS, points to its democratic mandate and the unconstitutional behavior […]

“You requested me to lead the country again after 2017,” President Paul Kagame told Rwandans in a televised address on Jan. 1. “I can only accept. But I don’t think what we need is an eternal leader.” Kagame’s presidency was originally limited to two terms, but in a referendum last month, Rwandans voted to amend the constitution to allow him to run again—and potentially stay in power until 2034. He is now allowed to seek another seven-year term in 2017, and two five-year terms after that. The referendum drew criticism from Western powers, since a disconcerting 98 percent of voters […]

For several regional observers and much of the media, the string of conservative electoral victories from Argentina to Venezuela late last year was the last nail in the coffin of Latin America’s left. With Brazil’s leftist government floundering and other signs of discontent among its neighbors, leftism’s appeal appears to be on the decline in the region. But despite setbacks, it’s too soon to declare the left dead in Latin America, given the perseverance of more mainstream leftist governments and ongoing socio-political and economic realities in a region still defined by huge inequality. Admittedly, 2015 did not end well for […]

North Korea claimed Wednesday that it tested a hydrogen bomb, which it referred to as an “H-bomb of justice.” The test prompted condemnation from across the globe, including Japan, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and NATO. But Pyongyang’s announcement was also met with widespread skepticism; the seismological data from the test are comparable to the test of a smaller atomic device. South Korea immediately responded to the nuclear test, saying it will cooperate with the international community to ensure that North Korea pays the price. President Park Geun-hye added that there would be a stern response […]

In early December, China and Thailand finally signed a deal to build a multibillion-dollar railway line linking the two countries. If realized, the move has the potential to be not only a boost for bilateral ties, but also a feather in the cap of Beijing’s geopolitical ambitions in Southeast Asia. The idea of a Sino-Thai rail project has been in the works for years, with the latest plans unveiled in December 2014 during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Thailand, alongside rice and rubber deals. The rail agreement comprises two routes covering more than 530 miles and costing 350 billion […]

The refugee crisis dominated last month’s European Union summit in Brussels, but the U.K.’s planned referendum on whether or not to stay in the EU was also on the agenda. Although a final agreement was not reached, all sides committed to work toward finding solutions and resolving British demands on renegotiating the status of its EU membership at the next summit in February. The U.K. referendum is expected to take place this summer, but the exact date has yet to be decided. While his government was implementing unpopular austerity measures in January 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that, […]

Last month, on Dec. 17, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council adopted a communiqué that threatened to launch a military intervention in Burundi after violence escalated considerably in the country. If it is deployed, the mission would represent a historical echo of the AU’s very first peacekeeping operation, launched in 2003 to implement a fragile cease-fire agreement in Burundi, where a long civil war was then drawing to a close. The nearly 3,000 soldiers from South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia that made up the AU’s mission to Burundi stayed in the country for a year, handing off to a […]

During Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Qatar in early December, Ankara and Doha signed a memorandum of understanding for the long-term trade of liquefied natural gas. While a final agreement has yet to be completed, it was still a significant step for gas-dependent Turkey, which is trying to diversify its sources of imported natural gas and reduce its reliance on Russia, which accounted for 57 percent of Turkey’s gas imports in 2013. With ties fraying between Ankara and Moscow after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet along the Turkish-Syrian border in November, raising the possibility of Russia […]