As Greece teeters on the edge of bankruptcy without a state leader, citizens are living in a vacuum of political posturing. The European Union is turning the screw and from the White House a veiled warning for the country to, “move as quickly as possible to fulfil its commitments.”
No credible international affairs specialist would contend that the 2012 presidential election will hinge on U.S. foreign policy, given the state of the U.S. economy and the widespread social anger that one sees bubbling up across the country. What’s more, Americans — if not Beltway partisan pundits — have achieved a certain sense of consensus on foreign policy under President Barack Obama, whose leadership has displayed a palpable “give them what they want” dynamic that reflects his desire to keep overseas issues on the back burner while he focuses on domestic ones. That last part should not be mistaken for […]
The leaders of Greece’s two biggest parties are due to resume talks to agree on who should be the country’s new prime minister, after reaching a historic power-sharing deal to push through a massive financial rescue deal to prevent imminent bankruptcy.
Thailand’s worst flood crisis in decades has spawned a political battle now threatening the fragile government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who came to power this summer as the nation’s first female prime minister. Prior to the flooding, Yingluck’s election appeared to represent a long-awaited respite from the paralysis that has defined Thai politics in recent years — a paralysis that often resulted in violent clashes between the “Red Shirt” supporters of Yingluck’s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and nationalist “Yellow Shirts” in central Bangkok. However, the natural disaster, and particularly the fight over how best to respond to […]
The governments that emerge in the aftermath of the uprisings in the Middle East will face a challenge as daunting as any faced by the men who ruled for decades before them: They must urgently improve living standards for the millions who now demand change — and they must do it in the wake of unrest that has caused already-dismal economic conditions to worsen even more. Despite the loud calls for democracy and freedom, the real engine of the Arab revolts has not been philosophical or political. Above all, the popular revolutions have been motivated by a pressing need for […]
After a campaign plagued by corruption allegations and violence — 41 candidates were murdered during recent months — the outcome of Colombia’s municipal elections last weekend paints the picture of a nation polarized between left-leaning pragmatists in urban centers and conservative elites clinging to countryside power. Perhaps most striking was the rise of Gustavo Petro, a former leftist guerilla, who was elected mayor of Bogota after running on an outspokenly “anti-corruption” platform. Petro’s victory, which comes on the heels of an intense public-works corruption scandal that landed the Colombian capital’s former mayor, Samuel Moreno, in jail in September, is particularly […]
The recent emergence of former TV presenter and democracy activist Buthaina Kemal as an outspoken female candidate for the Egyptian presidency is triggering discussion among international observers about the status of women in the nation’s political future. According to Valerie M. Hudson, a World Politics Review contributor and political scientist at Brigham Young University in Utah, Kemal’s candidacy is a vital pronouncement that “women do not intend to be kicked to the side of the road in Egyptian politics.” While her chances of winning may be minuscule, the very fact that Kemal is running represents “a push-back against a male […]