Domestic Politics Archive

In a region rife with seemingly unsolvable conflicts, one budding relationship is demonstrating that not all hope is lost in the Middle East: Once implacable enemies, Turkey and the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq are forging ever-closer political and economic ties, independent of the Iraqi central government in Baghdad. The Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish relationship is blossoming despite the failure of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “Kurdish initiative,” an effort to mend relations with Turkey’s domestic Kurdish minority, who account for some 20 percent of the Turkish population. The world’s largest ethnic group without an independent state of its own, […]

Almost a year ago to the day, members of the Honduran military physically removed then-President Manuel Zelaya from the presidential palace, stripping him of the presidency and forcing him into exile in Costa Rica. In spite of massive international attention and multilateral efforts in the days and months that followed, reconciliation — both domestically and internationally — remains elusive. The region continues to be divided over current President Porfirio Lobo’s legitimacy, to the point that on a recent return flight from Peru, Lobo’s plane had to bypass Ecuadorian airspace because the Ecuadorian government still refuses to recognize his presidency. Arguing […]

Perhaps the most surprising feature of the protracted crisis in Kyrgyzstan is what has not happened: Neither of Eurasia’s two preeminent regional security institutions, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), have coordinated a military intervention in that country. The mass protests, deaths, and refugee crisis involving perhaps 1 million people has represented one of the most acute challenges to Eurasian stability in the history of either organization, both of which were founded almost a decade ago. In mid-June 2010, the Kyrgyz interim authorities even directly appealed for Russian military intervention on their behalf, but […]

China’s spreading labor unrest is rightfully portrayed in the Western press as an immense challenge to that country’s status as the “world’s factory floor.” But to Beijing’s bosses, it’s likewise a tool for addressing rising income inequality, which is why the Communist Party has remained most reticent to address it head on. Such a hands-off approach carries additional dangers, however, the most prominent being that, once emerging labor activists get a taste for pressing their collective demands, China’s political leaders could find themselves riding a Solidarnosc-like trade-union tiger that’s not easily tamed. China has long suffered isolated sparks of labor […]

The expectations of a nation will weigh heavily on Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s shoulders as he is sworn in as the Philippines’ 15th president on June 30. Aquino was elected with a convincing 42 percent of the vote in the May 30 election, the biggest electoral mandate in the country’s history. The question he faces now is, Can he deliver? Aquino seems to be doing most things right, but doubts remain as to whether he will be willing or able to push through the reforms the country needs. In a country renowned for its scandals, the 51-year-old bachelor is seen as […]

BUJUMBURA, Burundi — For the capital of a country just years removed civil war, this steamy lakeside city is surprisingly cosmopolitan. Though Burundi, according to IMF statistics, has the lowest per capita GDP in the world, no one would guess from Bujumbura’s celebrated nightclubs or its colonial era Art Deco buildings. In the hills that rise from the plain of the city center, shantytowns have been razed to make room for McMansion-style houses, reflecting a growing middle class that’s also on display at the city’s lakeside. There, on a recent Sunday, throngs of urban Burundians, ex-pats and international travelers lounged […]

MEXICO CITY — Ten years ago, Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN) swept to power on an agenda of change, ousting the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after 71 years of uninterrupted rule. The PAN agenda included more jobs, 7 percent economic growth and honest government — a departure from the PRI, which had presided over a political system oiled by corruption and patronage. A decade later, removing the PRI from power on the federal level remains the party’s greatest accomplishment. Much of the center-right party’s agenda has gone unfulfilled, and the PAN has largely failed to establish itself as a party […]

When Roza Otunbayeva came to power at the head of the Kyrgyz interim government in April, she knew that the road ahead was going to be tough. Her program of constitutional reform, new elections, and a jump-start for the country’s stagnating economy would have been difficult even in less uncertain times. But since the spring, Otunbayeva has been faced with a spate of riots, murders, violent clashes and burning villages in the south of the country, culminating in the flight of an estimated 400,000 Uzbeks and the death of more than 2,000 Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in violent riots over the […]

BOGOTÁ — If the opinion polls are any indication, Colombians will vote for continuity rather than change as the country elects its president in run-off voting on Sunday. Barring a major surprise, Juan Manuel Santos, former defense minister and heir-apparent to the hardline polices of outgoing conservative President Alvaro Uribe, is poised to become the next Colombian president. The latest polls give Santos a seemingly insurmountable lead of 66 percent to 27 percent, over his rival and two-time Bogotá mayor, Antanus Mockus. During first-round voting last month, Santos won nearly 47 percent of the vote, just shy of an outright […]

With a smile, a wave and an exhortation to Kenya’s 38 million people that they alone controlled their future, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden left Nairobi on June 10 to represent the United States at the opening of the World Cup in South Africa. Reform is good, he said, and a planned vote on August 4 to overhaul the independence-era constitution is in the country’s best interest. “As you prepare to write a new history for your nation, resist those who try and divide you based on ethnicity, or religion, or region and above all, fear,” Biden said. His admonishments […]

DENPASAR, Indonesia — Six weeks after violent standoffs between Thailand’s Red Shirt opposition and government forces left 89 people dead and roughly 2,000 wounded, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva seems to have learned little from the recent past and is wasting another chance to work toward a stable reconciliation in the crisis-plagued country. The last such opportunity arose in April 2009, after the Red Shirts’ protests turned violent for the first time. The subsequent crackdown resulted in 25 people killed, including five soldiers, and more than 800 others wounded. Then, too, Abhisit promised to resolve animosity between rival groups and foster […]

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has become commonplace to write of a new “Great Game” in Central Asia, pitting Russia, China, and NATO countries led by the U.S in a race for influence and access to the region’s energy and other resources. But despite all the worries about the potential for international conflict, the distinctive feature of the current crisis in Kyrgyzstan is the reluctance of all the major powers to intervene there. The riots in southern Kyrgyzstan, which first broke out Thursday, have now left hundreds of dead and thousands of injured, according to the latest […]

The World Cup, which began on Friday, comes at a time when South Africa, regarded in some circles as a first-world country in a third-world continent, has been on a steady slide in all aspects of its national identity.Over and above all the sporting and cultural benefits that come with hosting the world’s most-lucrative sporting event, South Africa hopes to use the accompanying high profile to mend its increasingly fractious politics, a deteriorating economy and a social system that is becoming more dysfunctional. In its first decade after apartheid, South Africa rode high on a wave of international goodwill, thanks […]

One year ago, the Iranian people shocked their rulers, and their rulers, in turn, horrified the world. When the Iranian regime announced an implausible landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just hours after polls closed on the country’s June 12 presidential election, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Iranians spontaneously poured onto the streets. The regime responded with brutality, and the course of Iranian history was suddenly put into play. One year ago, it looked as though the ruling regime stood inches away from a gaping precipice. Experts all but proved (.pdf) that the government stole the elections, and the […]

One week later, the repercussions of the tragically botched Israeli commando raid on the Gaza aid flotilla spearheaded by a Turkish NGO continue to reverberate worldwide. Much of the raid’s fallout has played out in the realm of foreign affairs, particularly regarding its impact on the already sorry state of Turkish-Israeli relations, as well as on Washington’s plans in the Middle East. But the flotilla incident and Ankara’s response to it also has a very strong domestic component. The domestic political context relates to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s desire to fend off political attacks from both Islamist […]

KATMANDU, Nepal — Nepal’s ruling coalition inked a compromise deal with the opposition Maoists to extend the term of the Constituent Assembly (CA), which also functions as the interim Parliament, on the verge of its expiration on Friday. While the standoff was prolonged by a narrow power struggle between the two blocs, observers can take comfort in the fact that both sides ultimately heeded the popular mood demanding stability. The CA was elected in 2008 and mandated to write a new constitution to finalize the country’s transition from a theocratic monarchy to a secular democracy. Its tenure was due to […]

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds itself, yet again, in the midst of a major diplomatic crisis. In the wake of the disastrous May 31 raid on the Mavi Marmara — part of the flotilla that sought to break the blockade of Hamas-run Gaza — the country has unsurprisingly come under furious diplomatic fire. So far, though, personal criticism of Netanyahu’s leadership has not become the primary focus of the attacks, as international charges have targeted the country, rather than its leader. The diplomatic disaster, however, presents Israeli opposition politicians with an opportunity, and a most delicate […]