Domestic Politics Archive

TOKYO — Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) knew that this weekend’s general election was going to be tough. But despite consistently dismal polling, many members likely didn’t expect quite the pummeling they took. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) on Sunday romped to a landslide win, taking more than 300 seats in the 480-seat House of Representatives. The victory brought more than 50 years of almost uninterrupted rule by the LDP to a dramatic end, and has left the DPJ not only holding power for the first time, but also as the biggest party in both houses of […]

Get a .pdf version of this report. Since gaining its independence from the Soviet Union, Poland has looked to play an active role in the regional security environment. Two interrelated foreign policy spheres preoccupy Polish policymakers. First is the country’s Atlanticism, incorporating NATO membership and a close relationship with the United States. Second is the country’s European Union membership. Since having successfully acceded to NATO (1999) and the EU (2004), Poland has been expected to take up its share of the security and defense burden. In consideration of its new security responsibilities, the Polish armed forces as well as Polish […]

Tension between Muslims and Buddhists in Thailand’sdeep south have escalated in the wake of a recent Mosque shooting. MarkOltmanns reports for World Politics Review.

The small piece of land on the eastern Mediterranean known as the Gaza strip has seen its share of violence over the decades, with a series of conflicts fought along its narrow alley ways and on its sandy beaches. The latest round of fighting, gun battles that left two dozen men dead last weekend in a mosque in southern Gaza , opened yet another chapter in Gaza ‘s troubled history. Unlike other recent clashes, the fighting this time did not pit Israelis against Palestinians. It did not involve loyalists of the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas competing for power. […]

There is tremendous buzz about Afghanistan’s elections. Open up any op-ed page, and you can find countless articles about votes and democracy and Karzai not instantly winning, and whatever else. But what I don’t get is why anyone cares.Democratic elections usually rest on a few basic principles: a free and fair vote, an uncoerced selection of candidates, and an agreement by all parties to abide by the results. Afghanistan doesn’t quite qualify for any of these. *Take the idea of a free and fair vote. Pajhwok, an internationally-funded independent Afghan news service, has an entire news page set aside for […]

MEXICO CITY — Francisco Morelos Borja, the Michoacan president of the governing National Action Party (PAN) shifted from side to side, nervously looking at his aides and then the door of the nondescript restaurant in the town of Quiroga. “If you don’t open the door to [the drug traffickers], no problem. The difficulty comes when you open the door and have relations with them,” he said during our interview back in November 2007. “I can only make sure [members of the PAN] don’t open the door. . . . Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.” Nearly two years on, and […]

The convergence last week of Secretary Clinton’s trip to East Africa and the arrest in Australia of four men with links to the Somali al-Shabab movement on terrorism charges serves to highlight al-Shabab’s emergence as an extremist threat. While Secretary Clinton’s support of the Somali Transitional Government may delay al-Shabab’s rise, 18 years of failed statehood suggest that it is time for the United States and its allies to fundamentally reassess their policy towards Somalia. Instead of focusing exclusively on the powerless transitional government, Western nations should recognize and support existing institutions in Somalia to halt the advance of al-Shabab […]

Fatah, the party that dominates the Palestinian Authority, just held its first official gathering in 20 years andsome reportsclaimed the conference produced a strong commitment to peace and reconciliation within a rejuvenated organization. The reality is not quite as rosy. The Fatah that emerged from this event has a chance of strengthening its standing against Hamas, and there is a possibility, however remote, that some of the new faces in the leadership can start the scrubbing required to clean up the party’s reputation as a den of corrupt politicians living the high life on international aid — a reputation highlighted […]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities have stepped up border surveillance as more and more potential immigrants and refugees flee war-torn Central Asia and the Middle East, arriving here in search of passage onward to third countries like Australia. Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Tamils from Sri Lanka, Bangladeshis and even some Africans are finding Malaysia an attractive destination. On arrival, most are automatically granted a three-month tourist visa. The influx puts Malaysian authorities in a difficult spot. According to Malaysian law, an Afghan arriving by airplane has committed no offense. But when a cluster of Afghans touch down at KL International, […]

TORONTO — Canada is regarded as a refugee’s paradise. Indeed, the federal government never misses an opportunity to tout the country’s ever increasing immigrant population, thanks to annual record-breaking admittance of foreigners. Last year, 519,722 newcomers were admitted, a 21 percent increase from the previous year’s 429,649. This has been the trend since the turn of the millennium, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. However, a breakdown of the numbers reveals that 247,202 of those admitted last year were landed immigrants, 193,061 were temporary foreign workers and 79,459 were foreign students. Refugee numbers are rarely included in the annual statistics. […]

MELBOURNE, Australia — It’s mid-week on a chilly Melbourne morning, and from halfway across the world in London, a call comes in to the Asylum Seeker Resource Center (ASRC). On the other end of the line is a nervous Afghan woman. Pamela Curr, campaign coordinator at the ASRC picks up the message as she arrives for work: Another boat has been seized off Ashmore Reef and diverted to Christmas Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There, the 70-odd Afghans on board will have their claims for asylum processed. Among them is the cousin of the caller from London, […]

TOKYO — After more than half a century of virtually uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japanese voters look poised to opt for a change. With dismal approval ratings and a series of local election losses — most recently in bellwether Tokyo — to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Prime Minister Taro Aso finally dissolved the House of Representatives on July 21, with an early general election now scheduled for Aug. 30. Some say Aso acted now, rather than wait for an obligatory election later in the fall, in large part to resist growing calls to […]

The American defense community has properly reacted with nonchalance to the appearance of two Russian nuclear-powered submarines off the U.S. East Coast. Neither the submarines nor the rest of the Russian Navy presently represent a major threat to the United States. In a formal statement, the U.S. Northern Command confirmed the subs’ unusual presence, but pointed out they remained outside U.S. territorial waters and engaged in legally permissible transit and other non-threatening activities. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell later explained that, “So long as they are operating in international waters, as, frankly, we do around the world, and are behaving in […]

CANBERRA, Australia — Almost 1,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters so far this year, often risking their lives to make the trip in old and decrepit boats. Their sheer numbers — four times more than for all of 2008 — have left authorities worried, almost to the point of panic. The spike in arrivals follows the election of Kevin Rudd as Australian prime minister 18 months ago. Upon taking office, Rudd and his Australian Labor Party immediately canceled the immigration policy of his conservative predecessor, John Howard. Known as the Pacific Solution, Howard’s policy diverted asylum seekers arriving […]

NEW DELHI — Two weeks after issuing a joint statement in Egypt that was welcomed around the world as a much-needed step towards narrowing their differences through dialogue, India and Pakistan have returned to their previously stated, belligerent positions. The two neighbours, whose history of conflict goes back over six decades, have backed off from the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation witnessed after the Mumbai terror attacks last November. But fresh questions are being raised here about Pakistan’s resolve in acting against terror groups active against India. The U.S. has helped keep the peace between the two countries in the past. After the […]

Half a century ago, Latin America experienced golpes, or military coups, on a regular basis. In a pattern that varied little across the continent, citizens would simply wake up one morning to the sound of gunfire near the presidential palace. Before long, a military man would head a new regime. Always, he had acted “for the good of the country.” Through varying degrees of repression, he would quickly push aside the opposition, install his cronies in positions of influence and personal enrichment, shut down opposition media, and take control of all the country’s levers of power. Today that style of […]

The Spanish government has accused the Basque terrorist group ETA of responsibility for back-to-back bombings last week that killed two people and injured more than 50 others. The bloody attacks came as ETA — short for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Fatherland and Freedom — marked the 50th anniversary of its founding. Analysts say ETA, which has been considerably weakened in recent years by aggressive counterterrorist police sweeps in Spain and France, hopes the bombings will not only boost sinking morale among its followers, but also force the Spanish government back to the negotiating table. The latest attack, which killed […]