Pedro Castillo’s victory in Peru’s 2021 presidential election was a symptom of the country’s political instability. After taking office, however, he went from being a symptom to being a cause of instability. His impeachment and subsequent arrest this week mark a denouement that was as swift and surprising as his initial rise.
Despite a third round of peace talks between the government of Congo and representatives of major rebel groups this week, ongoing tensions in eastern Congo are raising fears of the conflict potentially escalating into an interstate war. It would be a dismal end to a year that has already proven to be a bloody one across the continent.
War is hell, but for large and politically influential defense contractors, it is also good business. This is fueling claims among some NATO allies that the U.S. is profiting from the war in Ukraine. There is no denying that U.S. defense contractors are benefiting, but accusations of war profiteering are simply off base.
Despite a remarkable nationwide uprising that shows no sign of abating, Iran has not put its external policies on hold. While some onlookers may hope that the internal unrest and growing international isolation will hinder Iran’s troubling policies outside the country, the opposite may unfortunately be more likely.
Senior officials in the European Commission are seething at the national governments on the EU Council for what they view as caving to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s threat to veto aid to Ukraine amid the EU’s long-running dispute with Budapest over its failure to uphold democratic institutions.
This past June marked a milestone in trans-Atlantic energy relations: For the first time, the European Union bought more natural gas from the United States than from Russia. In some ways, this was a positive development for both sides. The EU, however, is also discovering that the U.S. is a strange energy superpower to partner with.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election as Brazilian president has been hailed as a turning point for protecting the Amazon from deforestation, and hence for the world’s struggle against climate change. But while Lula is being anointed as an environmental savior, he faces arduous work before his promises can be fulfilled.
China’s former leader Jiang Zemin died last week at the age of 96. As the country enters a period of mourning, many foreign observers of Chinese politics continue to reflect on Jiang’s impact on Chinese foreign policy, while many in China will be thinking of his legacy as the Chinese Communist Party’s leader.
Mexico’s Congress voted yesterday to reject a sweeping reform of its electoral system that triggered massive protests and a counterdemonstration by supporters of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last month. The episode highlights several features of AMLO’s presidency that will continue to present challenges to Mexico’s democracy.
The first signs of how the inability of established elites to prevent state collapse could generate new forms of popular resistance emerged in Lebanon in 2019, as economic collapse generated a wave of mass protests cutting across class and religious lines. Now, the turmoil in Lebanon may presage similar dynamics in Egypt that could have a much more dramatic global impact.
The peace deal ending the war between Ethiopian federal government and the TPLF is a breakthrough, not because it handed victory to one side, but because it reestablished the federal constitutional framework, however contested, as the blueprint for resolving the political and constitutional disputes at the heart of the conflict.
As the 2022 FIFA World Cup enters its knockout rounds, a subdued atmosphere in Doha increasingly mirrors the waning public debate around geopolitical issues—particularly Qatar’s poor human rights record—that received significant attention in the runup to the World Cup and during the tournament’s first two weeks.
Who is to blame for Afghanistan’s food insecurity crisis depends on whom you ask. What almost everyone agrees on, though, is that it is a manufactured disaster stemming from multiple, interrelated policy-driven causes. Ultimately, the blame game only adds a political layer to the problem, making it even more difficult to fix it.
Whether driven by the desire to secure his legacy, avoid prosecution or stroke his ego, Donald Trump’s reelection bid is a move that will be familiar to observers in Latin America, where ex-presidents often seek a return to office. The lesson from these campaigns is clear: They seldom end well and often undermine democracy.
In the countries where they have gained power, Latin America’s left-leaning leaders have usually won by campaigning on economic and social issues. Now that they are in power, they must deal with the region’s security challenges—and the political fallout for the failures that occur, whether or not they are to blame for them.
Five days after the country’s general election on Nov. 19 resulted in a hung parliament, Malaysia’s king appointed veteran opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, as prime minister. Anwar and his reformist bloc must now navigate a fragmented parliament and unify an untested coalition that includes its long-time adversary, the UMNO party.
The protests against China’s zero-COVID policies are notable for featuring overt criticism of Xi Jinping, the CCP and the country’s political system. Coming just weeks after Xi was reappointed to a third term as party leader, the protests are a major reversal in the triumphalist narrative he and the CCP had hoped to portray.