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On Dec. 10, a coalition of nationalist parties on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica swept elections for the regional assembly, defeating traditional parties and French President Emmanuel Macron’s new centrist movement. Immediately after their victory, the nationalists called for talks with Paris over more autonomy. In an email interview, Andre Fazi, a lecturer in political science at the University of Corsica, discusses the roots of Corsican nationalism and the implications of the nationalists’ electoral triumph both for the island and for France. WPR: What are the main driving forces behind nationalism in Corsica, and how have they evolved in […]

One year ago, the United Nations appeared to be poised between a moment of renewal and a total meltdown. An energetic new secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, promised to revitalize the organization after a decade of drift under Ban Ki-moon. The former Portuguese prime minister talked about a “surge of diplomacy” and the need to prevent looming conflicts. Listen to Richard Gowan discuss this article on WPR’s Trend Lines Podcast. His audio starts at 29:32: Yet he seemed doomed to run headlong into opposition from the administration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. The president-elect had repeatedly belittled and dismissed the U.N., […]

Public interest in offshore banks and their financial services, particularly in the Caribbean, has risen considerably after revelations in two major leaks known as the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers. The increasingly common practice of the super-rich, celebrities and political figures using Caribbean countries to shelter their income from taxes at home has been a gold mine for investigative reporters. The public outcries have pushed politicians to respond, most recently and prominently with the European Union’s decision to blacklist 17 tax havens “seen as not cooperative on tax matters,” including several in the Caribbean. But the Caribbean side of […]

The split within the Gulf Cooperation Council that pits regional powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Qatar has proven surprisingly durable. Kuwaiti efforts to mediate the six-month-long dispute have failed, most recently and notably when Kuwait’s emir convened the annual GCC summit on Dec. 5 and was forced to end the proceedings early just after the closed-door opening remarks. The intra-Gulf rupture has spilled over to the region’s external relations, making it harder for security partners to insist on maintaining even and equal relations with all GCC members. From informal think tank consultations to formal intergovernmental forums, […]

No doubt shocked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this month to carry out his campaign promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas has been scrambling for an appropriate response. His initial reaction was to slam the decision, declaring that “the United States has become no longer qualified to sponsor the peace process.” Since then, he has shuttled between Middle Eastern capitals drumming up opposition to the move. But beyond statements of indignation, it is not clear that Abbas has considered any real shifts in Palestinian strategy. The Palestinian Authority will “remain committed to the […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about press freedom and safety in various countries around the world. On Dec. 5, Russia designated two U.S. government-funded broadcasters, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as “foreign agents,” under a new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in late November. The moves came in response, Moscow says, to the United States forcing the Russia-backed news broadcaster RT, formerly known as Russia Today, to register as a foreign agent on Nov. 13. U.S. intelligence agencies described RT as “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine” in their assessment earlier this […]

It is the season for columnists to nominate their words, songs and people of the year. Here are mine. My word of the year is “defeat,” with a special nod to its derivative form “defeatist.” My song is “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by the Rolling Stones. And my people of 2017 are British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. I acknowledge that these are not immediately obvious choices. “Defeat” is not exactly a novel word or concept, to start with. Its first known use in English was in the 15th century. “You […]

The rise of populist leaders and parties in Europe and the United States over the past two years has reshaped the political landscape from Budapest to Washington. Challenging elites as corrupt and disconnected from common concerns, these populists claim to derive their legitimacy from the supposed will of the people and usually use their influence to blame some “other” for the country’s ills. They have tried to upend post-Cold War norms on everything from free trade to the integration of Europe, raising fears in the West about the strength of the rule of law and even democracy itself. But this […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. After months of tension and fears of widespread violence, Kenya’s political leadership this week took steps that seemed designed to end the year on a more conciliatory note. In late November, President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term, following a rerun presidential vote that was boycotted by his main opposition rival, Raila Odinga. In the days that followed, Odinga’s political coalition broadcast plans to hold an alternative ceremony inaugurating Odinga as the “people’s president.” On Sunday, […]

Despite announcing a breakthrough in their protracted negotiations over a maritime boundary in August, Australia and East Timor have yet to finalize an agreement that would allow them to move forward on the joint development of an important natural gas field. The delay is in part due to the difficulties of conducting a trilateral negotiation involving the two governments as well as private interests. In an email interview, Bec Strating, a lecturer in the department of politics and philosophy at La Trobe University in Australia focusing on Indonesia and East Timor, which is also known as Timor-Leste, explains the background […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editor, Omar H. Rahman, discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin’s victory lap during his visit to Syria on Dec. 11 and the extent of Russian influence in a changing Middle East. For the Report, Stephania Corpi talks with Peter Dörrie about how the ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is driving a wave of outmigration into neighboring countries in South America. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines, as well as what you’ve seen on WPR, please think about supporting our […]

You can punch above your weight in statecraft as in boxing, and in today’s global security system, Russia is like an aggressive bantamweight. For the United States and the rest of the West, containing or moderating Russia’s sometimes damaging actions depends on understanding why Moscow can punch above its weight, and how that shapes its behavior. Until the late 1940s, Americans had never thought much about Russia and thus were deeply perplexed when the World War II alliance between Washington and Moscow devolved into the Cold War. In a famous Foreign Affairs article, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” career diplomat […]

Four accidents involving the U.S. surface Navy in the Pacific in recent months, two of them deadly, have led to warnings of a readiness crisis at sea. These warnings received additional salience when a Navy resupply aircraft crashed in the Philippines Sea on Nov. 22, killing three of the 11 crew and passengers. The spate of deadly incidents has led the Navy to examine how it trains, equips and sustains its force to operate ever more complex missions with a shrinking fleet. The Navy’s leadership in late October released the findings of investigations into the collisions involving the USS John […]

KATHMANDU, Nepal—Scarred by a civil war in the 1990s, and sapped by constitutional crises in the decade after, Nepal is finally facing some prospect of electoral democracy and constitutional stability. On Dec. 7, it successfully concluded elections for national and state legislatures, implementing the most important and challenging aspects of its 2015 constitution, which was adopted despite sustained opposition from some ethnic minority groups. The elections were a landmark moment for a Nepali state experimenting with the devolution of power at municipal, state and federal levels all at once and for the first time since the formation of the Kingdom […]

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo offered opinions on everything from the state of democracy in his country to child marriage and Donald Trump. But of all the topics covered in the 25-minute segment, it was his responses to a series of questions on LGBT rights that seemed to attract the most attention, at least domestically. Ghana’s criminal code outlaws same-sex sexual acts, grouping them under a category of offenses referred to as “unnatural carnal knowledge.” When asked by the interviewer, Jane Dutton, why the law remained on the books, Akufo-Addo said he did not […]

In late November, the United Nations undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Jean-Pierre La Croix, asked Brazil to contribute troops to the U.N. mission in the Central African Republic. This week, Brazil reportedly agreed to that request. Though it has traditionally eschewed military interventionism, Brazil has assumed an increasingly prominent role in peacekeeping missions in recent years. In an email interview, Kai Michael Kenkel, an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, discusses Brazil’s engagement in peacekeeping operations and how this plays politically at home. WPR: What is the recent history of […]

Last week, a judge in Argentina sent a jolt across the country by ordering the arrest of former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on charges of treason. It was an indictment so powerful that the shock waves must have been felt all the way to Tehran and Beirut. If the government of Iran and the leadership of Hezbollah are not watching events in Buenos Aires very closely, they really should. The case in Argentina has the power not only to bring an ignominious end to the careers of prominent Argentinian figures, but it is sure to put an unwelcome spotlight […]