Mexican state police stand guard near the entrance of Rancho del Sol, near Vista Hermosa, Mexico, May 22, 2015 (AP photo by Refugio Ruiz).

On May 1, the first day of a military-led operation meant to restore peace in a region wracked by recent drug-related violence, Mexico’s western state of Jalisco suffered one of the deadliest days in its recent history. Across the region, a bold new criminal gang known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel reportedly shot down a military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, set 11 banks and 19 gas stations on fire and used flaming vehicles to put up at least 39 roadblocks. The attacks, apparently carried out by the group to prevent the capture of its leader, killed 15 people, […]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chairs a Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee meeting, Ramallah, April 18, 2015 (AP photo by Fadi Arouri).

Earlier this month, a few days after the Holy See finalized a treaty to formally recognize Palestine as a state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited the Vatican, where Pope Francis set off a minor frenzy, including criticism from Israelis, by calling Abbas “an angel of peace.” It wasn’t much of a controversy, in the end, though Israel remains opposed to the Vatican’s official recognition of Palestinian statehood, which is another step in Abbas’ efforts to secure more international recognition of Palestine, even as Israel’s occupation of the West Bank appears more permanent and its blockade of Gaza continues. But Abbas’ […]

Opposition candidate Andrzej Duda celebrates his victory with supporters, as the first exit polls in the presidential runoff voting are announced, Warsaw, Poland, May 24, 2015 (AP photo by Czarek Sokolowski).

The surprise election of Andrzej Duda, a charming, relatively unknown, conservative 43-year-old lawyer, to the Polish presidency Sunday over the popular but low-key incumbent, Bronislaw Komorowski, has sent shock waves through Europe, raising fears of a radical change in the politics, economics and foreign policy of an increasingly important European Union member. The Duda revolution may take months to materialize, since the Polish presidency is not particularly strong and parliamentary elections in the autumn will reveal whether voters return his Law and Justice Party to power for the first time since 2006. Yet the depth of change Duda represents has […]

A worker cuts a diamond, reflecting Botswana’s attempt to control stages of diamond production beyond mining, Gaborone, Botswana, March 18, 2008 (AP photo by Themba Hadebe).

The past year has seen dramatic declines in the prices of global commodities. Between June 2014 and the beginning of this year, crude oil prices fell by 50 percent to around $50 a barrel. Similarly, mineral prices have seen a drastic fall since the peak of the “commodity supercycle” in early 2011. Between then and April of this year, iron ore prices fell by 70 percent, coal prices by 54 percent and copper prices by 40 percent. Many countries dependent on revenues from these commodities have been hit hard. Venezuela is unable to import food and medicine to satisfy the […]

Filipe Nyusi is sworn in as the newly elected Mozambican president, Maputo, Mozambique, Jan. 15, 2015 (AP photo by Ferhat Momade).

Earlier this month, fears of Mozambique sliding back into civil war receded after Afonso Dhlakama—the leader of the rebel group turned political party, the Mozambican National Resistance, known as Renamo—toned down his bellicose rhetoric over last year’s contested election. Dhlakama had disputed the October 2014 results, claiming electoral fraud, and Renamo refused to take up its seats in Parliament, demanding a share of power in the provinces where it won majorities over the longtime ruling Frelimo party. Dhlakama threatened to seize control of the provinces by force. To end the boycott, newly elected President Filipe Nyusi, a member of Frelimo, […]

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn addresses the media, Berlin, Germany, Dec. 3, 2014 (AP photo by Michael Sohn).

There are few political posters to be found on the streets of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, ahead of Sunday’s general elections. Print media coverage is remarkably cryptic. The few debates held on TV have been derided by some Ethiopians as boring and even embarrassing for the opposition, which today is weaker and more divided than it has ever been. Election results seem like a forgone conclusion, with good reason. In 2010, the longtime ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), won 546 out of 547 seats in Parliament. The country’s political context has not changed in the five […]

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet attends a ceremony announcing new Cabinet members at the presidential palace La Moneda, Santiago, Chile, May 11, 2015 (AP photo by Luis Hidalgo).

Images on television and social media of students rampaging through Santiago and Valparaiso and reports of injuries and even deaths were not what Chilean President Michelle Bachelet anticipated when she began her second, nonconsecutive term in office early last year. Elected in a landslide on a platform to institute social reforms, most of all on education, Bachelet has instead faced increasing political turbulence: The left demands rapid, far-reaching action, and the right is growing anxious about her political course. On May 6, she announced that she had asked her entire Cabinet to resign in order to breathe new life into […]

A demonstrator holds up a banner at a ‘We Won’t Pay Campaign’ anti-water charge protest outside the Irish Water headquarters, Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 29, 2014 (Brian Lawless/PA Wire URN:21600475, Press Association via AP Images).

Ground zero in Ireland’s recent economic, political and social history can be traced to the night of Sept. 29, 2008. “The night of the bank guarantee,” as the Irish public came to call it, dramatically changed the country’s course. Before then, Ireland had enjoyed more than a decade of rapid economic growth, emerging from years of poverty to become one of Europe’s most dynamic economies, the so-called “Celtic Tiger.” Between 1990 and 2005, the employed population of Ireland increased from 1.1 million to 1.9 million. Gross domestic product soared, and gross national income per capita doubled between 1990 and 2000 […]

A Repsol plant before a ceremony to inaugurate the completion of a new phase at the Margarita-Huacaya gas refinery in the region of Chaco, southeastern Bolivia, Oct. 1, 2013 (AP photo by Juan Karita).

Latin America faces difficult choices over hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” as the region looks to expand its nascent shale gas and oil industry. To date, the United States and Canada have outpaced their southern neighbors in unconventional energy production. But Latin America, which holds approximately one-fourth of the world’s recoverable shale oil and gas reserves, appears poised to reap the benefits of the North American shale revolution in the coming decade. The urgency to start drilling might have eased in the short term, with lower energy prices making shale less competitive outside the United States. In the meantime, delays afforded […]

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at a press conference, Mexico City, Mexico, April 27, 2015 (AP photo by Rebecca Blackwell).

As part of its historic overhaul of Mexico’s energy sector, President Enrique Pena Nieto’s government has touted the potential for unprecedented levels of oil, gas and renewable energy investment. Yet Mexico should heed the lessons from other countries in Latin America about the need to engage indigenous communities as it develops and expands its energy sector. Across the region, when that has not happened, ensuing social conflict has disrupted the economy and often irrevocably damaged the relationship among communities, the government and the private sector. In Mexico, a failure to learn from others’ mistakes could put Pena Nieto’s ambitious economic […]

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain welcomes Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama’s choice to be defense secretary, before the panel to consider his nomination, Washington, Feb. 4, 2015 (AP photo by J. Scott Applewhite).

The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Barack Obama to resolve that year’s debt-ceiling crisis, instituted spending caps on the federal discretionary budget, including on defense, a traditional Republican priority. As an incentive for compromise, the legislation also established a lower set of caps that would come into force should Congress fail to reach an agreement on further spending reductions. Failure to respect these limits in any year’s budget appropriations would trigger automatic across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, against which the initial BCA caps would pale in comparison. Defense sequestration, in […]

Volunteer rural vaccination team members with the Gates Foundation travel to a remote village, Bihar, India, Dec. 20, 2010 (Gates Foundation photo).

Last month, India canceled the licenses of 9,000 charities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for failing to declare information about foreign donations. In an email interview, Noshir H. Dadrawala, CEO of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, discussed the relationship between foreign NGOs and the Indian government. WPR: What are some of the common methods India has used to restrict or regulate foreign NGOs’ direct and indirect domestic activity, and how has this evolved recently? Noshir H. Dadrawala: The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 is the most common tool used to regulate foreign NGOs in India. The law governs how certain […]

Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group slogans as they wave the group’s flags in front of the provincial government headquarters, Mosul, Iraq, June 16, 2014 (AP photo).

In seeking to explain the recruiting success of the so-called Islamic State (IS), Western analysts tend to view the group through the lens of its most provocative acts: staged executions, destruction of heritage sites and calls to bring about the “End of Days.” Yet while its Western enemies are preoccupied parsing the allure of its spectacular savagery and zealous apocalyptic ideology, IS is carefully cultivating a parallel appeal to its core Arab constituency, not through shock and awe but through routine and accomplishment. The brand that IS media most regularly markets to inhabitants of IS-controlled territory and supporters is that […]

The tanker “Foscari” arrives in port carrying 562 immigrants, Naples, Italy, May 6, 2015 (Photo by Alessio Paduano/NurPhoto, Sipa via AP Images).

The recent spike in the numbers of migrants trying to reach Europe’s Mediterranean shores, accompanied by media images of fatal capsizings and other tragic scenes of human suffering, has reminded people of the moral as well as the humanitarian and political dimensions of the issue. This week, in response to months of urgent appeals, the European Union drafted recommendations for a quota system to distribute asylum-seekers and other migrants across the EU, to relieve some of the burden on the southern European states of Italy, Malta and Greece. But the debate over these migrants remains divisive and passionate. World media […]

U.S. President Barack Obama greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Washington, May 13, 2015 (AP photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta).

Among the many challenges facing President Barack Obama and U.S. officials meeting with Gulf Arab leaders this week, one has abruptly climbed to near the top of the agenda: taking the measure of the rising star of the Saudi firmament, King Salman’s son Prince Mohammed bin Salman. When the delegates from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—which comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman—gather at the presidential retreat of Camp David for the already troubled summit, U.S. officials will channel a significant portion of their energy toward Prince Mohammed. They will be hoping to develop ties […]

Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, New Delhi, India, April 5, 2015 (AP photo by Manish Swarup).

In the first few months of 2014, people around the world were united in their condemnation of India’s Supreme Court. At the end of 2013, in a case that became known simply as Koushal, the court refused to strike down Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era provision banning “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” The court argued it was the job of Parliament, not judges, to repeal controversial laws and, in doing so, effectively recriminalized non-heterosexual sex. The decision rolled back decades of small but hard-fought gains by India’s legally, socially and culturally marginalized lesbian, gay, […]

Demonstrators climb aboard a military truck as they celebrate what they perceive to be an attempted military coup d’etat, Bujumbura, Burundi, May 13, 2015 (AP photo by Berthier Mugiraneza).

Burundi is in the midst of a deepening political crisis that has many observers worried about the prospects of mass violence. Dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands of people have fled in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare launched a coup attempt against President Pierre Nkurunziza. World Politics Review partnered with the Global Dispatches podcast to produce this interview with WPR contributor Jonathan W. Rosen on the situation in the East African country. Rosen, speaking from Kigali, Rwanda, where he is reporting on the evolving situation, is interviewed by Global Dispatches host Mark Leon […]

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