The last year was one of near-constant North Korea missile testing. Dozens of launches have put the region on edge and are driving an increasingly militarized response from South Korea and Japan. Meanwhile, China has done much to enable this state of affairs by its lackadaisical attitude toward North Korea.
During the war in Ukraine, Telegram has been essential for communications. As a result, Moscow has infiltrated the encrypted messaging app’s channels to spread disinformation to Ukrainians and flood Russian users with pro-Kremlin content, indicating that when Moscow can’t block a technology, it will work to subvert and overwhelm it.
Since the impeachment of Peru’s President Pedro Castillo on Dec. 7, protesters have been demanding “que se vayan todos,” which roughly translates to “get rid of them all.” But even though Peru’s Congress has now responded to calls for early elections, the anger that fueled the protests cannot be quickly overcome.
It’s hard not to see 2022 as a “year that changed everything.” The war in Ukraine and other developments certainly represented shocks to the international system. But rather than a year that has changed everything, I see a year that has made everything more possible, at times for the worse but also for the better.
Over the past year, I have fielded several requests from readers and interlocutors who sought out my thoughts and recommendations on literature, poetry and plays by African writers. To that end, I decided to create a list of some of my favorite literary works by African authors that were published in 2022.
Voters in Nepal turned out in force this year to elect lawmakers across the local, provincial and federal levels of government. That signaled that the country’s federated system, instituted in 2015, is gradually gaining legitimacy. As Nepal consolidates its political configuration, however, the next hurdle may be higher.
This year’s most underreported event is the renewed fighting in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The violence is especially dangerous as it is essentially a proxy conflict between Congo and its neighbor Rwanda, with the potential to become a direct military confrontation—and a regional war.
EU energy ministers adopted a natural gas price cap after months of heated negotiations, causing concern in the Biden administration and the European Commission that the cap will push exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas away from Washington’s allies in Europe and toward other countries that are willing to pay more for them.
Three months after voters rejected a draft constitution, Chilean President Gabriel Boric brokered an agreement with the country’s political forces setting out the process for another try at producing a new basic document. This time, though, guardrails are in place to avoid the radical changes attempted in the first draft.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belarus this week to shore up support in Minsk for his war in Ukraine. Even if Alexander Lukashenko does not send troops to Ukraine, closer political and military ties between Moscow and Minsk signal Belarus’ loss of sovereignty and its de facto involvement in the war effort.
Germany’s image of political stability caused many observers to downplay the revelation in early December that German police had uncovered an organized plot by a network of far-right conspirators to mount a coup. But that underestimates the extent to which the group’s anti-constitutional worldview has spread in Germany.
Last month, a U.S. Coast Guard patrol vessel off the coast of Ecuador was forced to take evasive action when a Chinese fishing boat tried to ram it to avoid being boarded and inspected. The incident highlights the growing risk for conflict over fishing rights amid heightened geopolitical rivalry on the world’s oceans.
Amid a boycott by Tunisia’s main parties, only 11 percent of voters turned out for legislative elections Saturday. The elections were meant to legitimize President Kais Saied’s efforts to remake Tunisia’s democratic institutions. Instead, the opposition says low turnout indicates he has lost all legitimacy and must resign.
Though the world is still not on track to tackle the climate crisis, politicians, investors and businesses are waking up to the far-reaching transitions, such as clean energy, that are needed to limit the effects of climate change. That transition is accelerating, with important implications for finance, trade and geopolitics.
If Iran’s moves over the past couple months are any indication, Turkey’s growing influence in the South Caucasus, especially its alliance with Azerbaijan, has heightened Tehran’s sense of unease. Iran now sees the prospect of an arc of Turkey-aligned states emerging as a powerful Turkic alliance along its northern borders.
Writing about human security and international law often means writing about the worst things in the world. With the holidays around the corner, it’s worth sharing a few stories that show how numerous strategies—including NGO activism and nonviolent protest movements—are making a positive difference for human security worldwide.
In late November, the leaders of the Accra Initiative, a collaborative security mechanism designed to target the region’s common security challenges, launched a multilateral task force to counter terrorism, violent extremism and transnational crime. But the new force and others like it largely mistake symptoms for causes.