Diplomacy & Politics Archive

Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, opened the year on the heels of a bruising fight over pension reform, which has galvanized the opposition and sent his approval ratings tumbling. But the promise of greater economic growth and persistent divisions among the opposition make it far from certain that this short-term turmoil will derail his government’s agenda and turn into a major barrier to his re-election next year. Macri’s team first began floating the idea last summer of reforming a retirement system that is plagued by an insufficient funding base—the result of demographic factors and widespread labor informality. His determination to secure […]

Editor's Note: This article was updated in December 2018. Foreign tech companies have been forced into difficult compromises and today find themselves asking whether the financial rewards and access to a massive market justify the work required to stay in Beijing’s good graces—especially given that the risk of failure is rising, illustrated by the recent blocking of WhatsApp in China. When users of WhatsApp in China started noticing technical problems with the mobile messaging application in September 2017, nothing seemed unusual at first. The slow sending speeds and inability to deliver video and audio files could have easily been due […]

The majority of New Zealand’s once pristine rivers and streams have been rendered unswimmable—and some of its water supplies undrinkable—by contamination from the country’s intensive agro-food industry. Although environmental issues, including agricultural policy, were debated ahead of New Zealand’s general election in September, little has been done since a new coalition government took power. In an email interview, Mike Joy, a senior lecturer in ecology at Massey University in New Zealand, discusses the dangers of intensified farming and successive governments’ failure to find solutions. WPR: How have changes in New Zealand’s agro-food industry over the past decade led to a […]

After more than three years in the doldrums, the economy of the United Arab Emirates is headed for a recovery. Spurred on in part by the highest oil prices since December 2014, the UAE has also taken strides to implement important, if long overdue, structural reforms aimed at liberalizing and diversifying its economy. One expected boost to revenue in 2018 will come from a 5-percent value-added tax that was rolled out Jan. 1. While all six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council initially intended to adopt the VAT initiative together, only the UAE and Saudi Arabia moved forward at the […]

Over the past six months, debates have grown in Australia and New Zealand about whether China is wielding more political influence within their borders than at any time in recent memory. In September, a New Zealand academic, Anne-Marie Brady, released an exhaustive report detailing Beijing’s efforts to influence the country’s politics. Tactics included trying to control organizations representing the ethnic Chinese community in New Zealand and channeling money to politicians and educational institutions. In late 2017, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister called for an investigation into the vetting process for national security clearances, after Brady and several reporters revealed that […]

The festive season may be over, but if you still have any leftover champagne lying about, pop the cork. This column, Diplomatic Fallout, is five years old today. Or, to be more precise, five years and a day: The first edition appeared on Jan. 7, 2013. Since then, occasionally pausing for bouts of paternity leave and public holidays, I have churned out just over 200 pieces—very roughly 200,000 words—for World Politics Review. That’s about the same as Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” in terms of the quantity of words involved, if not necessarily the quality. The column has at times strayed […]

Afghanistan has some of the richest mineral deposits in the world, but extracting them has proven difficult amid years of instability and war. There were modest signs of improvement in 2017, most notably the Afghan government’s ability to manage and report its earnings from mining royalties and taxes, which it couldn’t do much at all a few years ago. But challenges remain to attract more meaningful foreign investment and capitalize on the country’s resources. The Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum reported earning approximately $86 million in revenues in 2017, $19 million more than it reported earning in 2016. Yet […]

The first year of the Trump administration might not have brought a wholesale transformation of American strategy, but it has set the stage for one. The coming months will show whether this was a reversible detour from the course America has followed for the past 70 years, or the beginning of the end of the post-World War II world order. Much is at stake in this very dangerous time. Since the defeat of the Axis powers in 1945, the United States has equated its national interests with a system of global order that attempted to minimize armed conflict and promote […]

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 the ongoing protests in Iran. For the Report, Trish Lorenz talks with Peter Dörrie about how Portugal’s center-left governing coalition has bucked European trends since assuming power in 2015, by softening austerity measures without disrupting the country’s economic recovery. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines, as well as what you’ve seen on WPR, please think about supporting our work by subscribing. We’re currently offering a 25 percent discount on the first year of an annual subscription […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. The inauguration of George Weah as Liberia’s next president is still more than two weeks away, but already the former soccer star is trying to mitigate one of the challenges that bedeviled his predecessor, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. When Sirleaf took office in January 2006, she had to contend with what were, in retrospect, perhaps impossibly high expectations for what her administration could achieve. Emerging from more than 10 years of civil conflict that, by many estimates, killed hundreds of […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about press freedom and safety in various countries around the world. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli media has seen a disturbing trend of increased political interference. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, faces a growing list of political scandals, including his attempts to manipulate the Israeli media and interfere with press coverage. In one case, Netanyahu is alleged to have offered the owner of the popular newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Arnon Mozes, a deal for more positive coverage in exchange for curbing the circulation of one of its competitors. In […]

As the first anniversary of his inauguration approaches, U.S. President Donald Trump has shown no sign of altering his provocative and destabilizing approach to diplomacy. His unpredictability and inflammatory rhetoric have spread confusion about the White House’s intentions in many cases, while diverting attention from the substance of Trump’s policies in others. In this special report, WPR has collected 10 articles assessing how Trump has broken with the traditions of the U.S. foreign policy establishment and where his “America First” agenda has had the biggest impact. Purchase this special report as a Kindle e-book. More Bark Than Bite Trump May […]

On Dec. 26, Brazil’s government stripped Venezuela’s top diplomat in Brasilia, Gerardo Antonio Delgado Maldonado, of his credentials and kicked him out of the country. The expulsion, which came in retaliation for a similar move from Caracas, is the latest setback in badly deteriorated ties between the former South American partners. In an email interview, Peter Hakim, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, explains what is behind the breakdown in relations, and what regional governments are doing in response to the ongoing crisis in Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro. WPR: Why did Brazil expel Venezuela’s top diplomat […]

John Ondawame greatly admired the independence struggle in East Timor, especially its ability to win active support from people in Europe, the United States and Australia. But the exiled former fighter, activist and spokesman for West Papuans also longed for the world to take notice of the plight of his people and to see the shared contours of the two conflicts—two ethnically distinct regions of Indonesia longing to break free. Ondawame did not live to see his dream of West Papua’s independence fulfilled; he died in 2014. But it is more difficult than ever for the Indonesian government to keep […]

After a tumultuous year of political upheaval and economic turmoil in Latin America, 2018 promises to bring a measure of clarity as voters in some of the region’s biggest, most important countries go to the polls. But as the new year begins, the prevailing mood from Sao Paolo to Mexico City is one of uncertainty, with an unprecedented range of possible outcomes. This year, voters will choose presidents in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Paraguay and Costa Rica. Venezuela will also hold a presidential election, or so says President Nicolas Maduro. What is remarkable in the elections in the first three— Brazil, […]

The protests that have sprung up in cities across Iran over the past week have taken many observers by surprise. It was no secret that the underwhelming and unevenly distributed economic gains from the lifting of international sanctions after the 2015 nuclear deal had led to widespread discontent. But there was no catalyzing event to explain the public demonstrations on display this week, which are rare in Iran. For now, the protests raise more questions than they answer, beginning with what the protesters want and who—if anyone—is organizing and leading them. The first spontaneous demonstrations focused on economic grievances. But […]

HONG KONG—There are few winners from the crisis in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, where thousands of ethnic Rohingyas have lost their lives in an ongoing military crackdown and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced. But one exception is China, whose diplomats have skillfully exploited the turmoil to advance Beijing’s interests. In August, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an insurgent group claiming to represent Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, attacked a series of security installations, provoking a murderous reaction from the military. Doctors Without Borders reported that at least 6,700 Rohingyas were killed in the first month of violence, while over […]