Diplomacy & Politics Archive

In the waning months of the Obama administration, the drama of U.S.-Israeli relations driven by personal and policy frictions between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dimmed. The two leaders’ lack of rapport has become irrelevant, as Obama works to demonstrate an unstinting American commitment to Israel’s security. What remains to be seen is to what extent he will emphasize the unfinished business of Palestinian statehood in his remaining time in office. This month, U.S.-Israeli relations have been back in the news, after being largely absent from the national security preoccupations of the presidential candidates and the […]

Over the past few years, Mongolia’s once vibrant and high-growth economy, buoyed by mineral riches, has languished to the point that there are some legitimate concerns that the country is on its way to bankruptcy. The Mongolian currency, the tugrik, has plunged nearly 15 percent since the beginning of this year against the U.S. dollar. Foreign direct investment, once bountiful and rapidly growing, has completely evaporated. The economy is contracting; unemployment is spiking; and deflationary trends are continuing. Combined, that makes for a cocktail of trouble for the new government in Ulaanbaatar that has been in office since elections in […]

At his first Summit of the Americas, in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009, President Barack Obama laid out a vision for U.S. relations in the hemisphere based on partnership and a commitment to pursuing policies that aligned the United States with the needs and interests of the region’s people, particularly those living in its barrios and favelas. Gone would be the days of overt attempts by Washington to influence Latin America’s political direction or to promote a particular economic course. Countries would decide for themselves which path to pursue, and the United States would cooperate where possible based on mutual […]

Pressure has been mounting on the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, and its former president, Jose-Manuel Barroso, since he recently took a job with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. Many are calling for Barroso’s commission pension to be revoked and for EU ethics rules to be made stronger. In an email interview, Daniel Freund, the head of advocacy for EU integrity at Transparency International, discusses the EU’s ethics rules. WPR: What is the role of the European ombudsman, and what recourse does the ombudsman’s office have when faced with issues of ethics, corruption and abuses of […]

It is time for farewells at the United Nations. On Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon will make his last address as secretary-general to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. A little later, U.S. President Barack Obama will make his valedictory appearance at the same forum. It is hard to think of two more different political figures than the philosophical, articulate Obama and the protocol-obsessed, tongue-tied Ban. That perhaps explains why there is little evidence of much real personal chemistry between the two. Yet it is fitting that they will say some goodbyes together. The two men have fought for common causes […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The continued impasse in Congress over appropriating funds to combat the Zika virus in the United States perfectly illustrates the challenges that the next American president will face in addressing global health. There is a generalized sense that something needs to be done, but widespread disagreement over who should do what—and who should pay for it. Global health has received less attention from the media in recent months, […]

China has a growing terrorism problem. For many years Beijing believed it could avoid transnational extremism simply by staying out of the security affairs of other nations. But this no longer works. Just as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan found that leaving extremists alone did not protect them from terrorism, China is reluctantly being drawn into the conflict with global Islamic extremism. Two things are driving this. China’s growing international presence, both governmental and business, has set off an “antibody reaction.” Chinese nationals have become targets of terrorism simply because they are foreigners from a rich great power, rather than because […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on countries’ risk exposure, contribution and response to climate change. As the European Union faces pressure to quickly ratify the Paris Agreement, Poland has said it will only do so if it is given special concessions for its coal-based power sector, which the government plans on continuing to use for many years. In an email interview, Karolina Jankowska, an independent researcher on climate and energy policy and the author of a chapter in the forthcoming book “The European Union in International Climate Change Politics,” discusses Poland’s climate change policy. […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and host Peter Dörrie discuss the resignation of Mexico’s finance minister, the prospects for Gabon’s opposition after that country’s contested election, and the EU’s ruling on Apple’s back taxes in Ireland. For the Report, Hugh White joins us to talk about great power rivalry and the risk of war in the Asia-Pacific between the U.S. and China. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: Mexico’s Economic Malaise, Not Just Trump Visit, Forced Finance Minister Out Cards Stacked Against Gabon’s Opposition in Election Challenge to Bongo EU Ruling on […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould recently told a gathering of British Columbia Cabinet members and indigenous leaders that Canada will adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but that Canada cannot incorporate it “word for word” into law, which has prompted widespread criticism across the indigenous community. In an email interview, Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, the head of the native studies department at the University of Manitoba, discusses indigenous rights in Canada. […]

On Aug. 4, Nepal elected its 24th prime minister in 26 years. In this period, the country has seen two mass political movements for democracy, in 1990 and 2006; one decade-long civil war from 1996 and 2006; a royal massacre in 2001; the rise of an autocratic monarchy and transformation to a republic in 2008; three big political movements of identity-based assertion and rights, in 2007, 2008 and 2015; five elections, including two for a Constituent Assembly—tasked with writing the country’s post-conflict constitution—in 2008 and 2013; and three constitutions, promulgated in 1990, 2007 and 2015. To this relentless saga of […]

Over the past few decades, Latin America became the very public incubator of new economic models—or at least of flamboyant variations on old ones. For a while, it seemed as if the region might just give birth to some kind of a successful hybrid: a populist, leftist formula for expanding economies and erasing poverty, powered by the free market and assertively steered by governments. But those days are gone, and they’re exiting the stage with the same bombast and drama with which they burst onto it. No one would suggest that the so-called 21st Century Socialism concocted by the late […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. Last month, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced plans for a network of radar and optical telescopes that will track foreign satellites as well as space debris, which it hopes will be fully functional by 2022. In an email interview, Yuichiro Nagai, a researcher at the Policy Alternatives Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, discusses Japan’s space policy. WPR: What are Japan’s space capabilities, in terms of its space-industrial complex, and who are its major international partners, in terms […]

Last week, the United Kingdom announced plans to begin building a barricade at the French port of Calais, dubbed by some media the “Great Wall of Calais.” The U.K. will foot the bill, and the barrier will complement a fence that already protects the port and is guarded by heavily armed French police. The move followed massive protests held by French truck drivers and farmers, who threatened to block the port until Calais’ large migrant camp, known as the “Jungle,” is dismantled. Protesters argue that the camp, which, according to some estimates, is home to 9,000 migrants, has led to […]

On Sept. 7, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the resignation of Finance Minister Luis Videgaray and appointed Jose Antonio Meade, a reputable technocrat, as his replacement. Since Videgaray had been instrumental in organizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Mexico City late last month, most coverage framed his exit as the fallout. But Videgaray’s resignation had more to do with a longer track record of failing to deliver on ambitious economic and structural reforms. It was the latest upheaval in Pena Nieto’s Cabinet at a time when the Mexican economy faces mediocre growth, mounting debt and a […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The most urgent priority in international affairs today is to avoid a war between the United States and China. The consequences of such a war, military as well as economic, would be so vast as to dwarf all the other serious perils the world faces. Of course, a war is far from inevitable, but the risk is real, and much greater than most observers seem to realize, especially […]

It’s hard to believe that just 15 months ago, it was the exception, rather than the rule, to read about Donald Trump at all, let alone daily. The Republican nominee for president is the latest iteration of an archetype that has a long tradition in American popular culture: the huckster, the charlatan, the carnie barker, the snake-oil salesman, who rides into town accompanied by a brass band, only to be ultimately chased out by a vengeful mob carrying buckets of tar and feathers. But never has one gotten so close to being elected to the highest office of the land, […]