Domestic Politics Archive

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, speaks with associate editors Karina Piser and Robbie Corey-Boulet about French President Emmanuel Macron’s agenda, from reforms in France and strengthening Europe to security in West Africa—and how Donald Trump’s Bastille Day visit to Paris fits into it. If you’d like to sign up for the beta version of WPR’s Africa-only subscription, you can do so here. It’s free for the first two months. And 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. […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. The recent vote by German MPs to legalize same-sex marriage was seen as an example of the law catching up with public opinion. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was certain same-sex marriage would be approved, voted against it herself, leaving people guessing as to whether her vote reflected her values or was a strategic calculation. In an email interview, Dr. Beate Küpper, social psychologist on the Faculty of Social Services at the Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in […]

MEXICO CITY—Over two days in mid-June, more than 300 journalists gathered in Mexico City to discuss how to respond to the murder of 33 of their colleagues in the past five years. Last year, Mexico was the third-most dangerous country in the world for journalists, according to the NGO Reporters Without Borders. Nine reporters were killed in unrelated incidents across the country. With no fewer than seven journalists murdered so far this year, 2017 is almost certain to surpass that figure. The reporters in Mexico City launched an initiative known as the Journalists’ Agenda to push the government to participate […]

Austria’s democracy, for decades one of the most stable political systems in Europe, is entering a new period of uncertainty. The balance between left and right—developed after its experiences with authoritarianism in the 1930s and seven years of totalitarian Nazi rule—is probably coming to an end. The tradition of power-sharing arrangements between two major parties that has defined Austria for most of its postwar history seems to have lost its appeal. Snap parliamentary elections, scheduled for October, could be a decisive turning point for Austrian politics. This does not mean that the country’s liberal democracy is in danger. Rather, Austria’s […]

Just moments after he was sworn in as Mongolia’s fifth democratically elected president earlier this week, Khaltmaa Battulga turned his attention to international affairs. Having just won the second-round runoff, the business tycoon-turned-president met with Russian, Chinese and Japanese delegations in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. Diplomacy is one of the most important responsibilities assigned to the Mongolian president by the country’s constitution. Managing foreign relations with Mongolia’s immediate neighbors, while also building on his predecessor’s legacy of heightened visibility beyond Northeast Asia, will be a central challenge for Battulga. Battulga succeeded Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, who served two terms as president and whose […]

One year after a coup attempt in Turkey, liberals are scrambling to defend what’s left of the country’s democracy. They are up against an increasingly assertive government campaign to dismantle many of the institutions and practices that had made Turkey the world’s freest, most open and democratic Muslim state. Liberal leaders, with massive popular support, have launched what looks like a make-or-break effort against steep odds. On Sunday, more than a million people turned out in Istanbul, joining tens of thousands who had braved brutal heat to take part in a 250-mile, three-week march from the capital Ankara. The participants […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. Argentina has moved rapidly from a country that used to ban LGBT organizations to a global champion of the community. Favorable conditions and savvy strategies have helped fuel the embrace of LGBT rights in Argentina. Since becoming the first Latin American country to approve gay marriage in 2010, Argentina has continued to be a leader on LGBT issues, moving forward with an expansion of transgender rights at home while pushing for LGBT rights generally on the world stage. […]

What a difference a few months can make in British politics. In early May, a confident Prime Minister Theresa May looked well on her way to securing a much bigger majority for her Conservative Party in the House of Commons on a platform of “strong and steady leadership” and a promise to deliver on Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party looked out of touch with the real concerns of most British people and seemed destined for electoral oblivion. So the shock result of a hung parliament after the U.K. general election on June 8 not only transformed the British political landscape, […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on social welfare policies in various countries around the world. Food subsidies have long been a critical component of the social safety net in India. In 2017-2018, such subsidies will cost the government more than $20 billion. While some policymakers and experts have pushed for alternatives in promoting food security, proposed changes are highly contentious politically. In an email interview, Kavery Ganguly, an independent consultant on agriculture policy based in Mumbai, explains what the current system does well, where it could be improved and the obstacles to reform. WPR: […]

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been doing real diplomacy lately, from the G-20 summit to his personal mediation mission to the Persian Gulf. At the same time, there’s progress to report on his ambitious project to transform the State Department into a more focused and efficient institution. After a rocky start that saw him either sidelined by the White House or out of step with it on major issues, Tillerson has been looking more and more like a normal secretary of state in recent days. At the G-20 summit and the high-profile bilateral meetings that took place in […]

Italy’s center-right parties performed impressively in last month’s local elections, prompting former Prime Minister and Democratic Party head Matteo Renzi to acknowledge that the polls “could have gone better” for his center-left formation. But turnout was just 46 percent, according to Reuters, and there were questions as to whether the results are predictive of how the various parties will fare in next year’s general elections. In an email interview, Mark Gilbert, a professor of international history at Johns Hopkins University-SAIS Europe, describes the factors that fueled the center-right’s success and the issues that are most important to Italian voters. WPR: […]

European progressives are feeling cautiously optimistic. Last year, in the shadow of the United Kingdom’s shock referendum vote for Brexit and then the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, many in Europe were fearful of a so-called contagion effect. With looming elections in the Netherlands and Austria, European leaders braced for their own populist backlash against liberalism, the European Union and international free trade. Inspired by Trump and against the backdrop of a pan-European refugee crisis, populist nationalists seemed poised to reimpose themselves onto the political agenda. Once again, a major crisis loomed on the horizon […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and associate editor Karina Piser discuss Donald Trump’s second trip to Europe and his much-anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. For the Report, David Hutt talks with Peter Dörrie about Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s tactics to hold onto power and the state of the country’s political opposition in advance of next year’s general elections. If you’d like to sign up for the beta version of WPR’s Africa-only subscription, you can do so here. It’s free for the first two months. And if you like what you hear on […]

Belgrade, SERBIA—Nearly a decade after its disputed declaration of independence and on the heels of a snap election last month, Kosovo is sending mixed signals to the world. Where some see a radical leftist surge that will force Kosovo’s neighbors and the international community to take notice, others see a further fraying of the West’s influence. And while some see progress toward the creation of a more functional state, for others the result of the June 18 election fundamentally confirms the status quo, for better or worse. The left-wing Levizja Vetevendosje, or Movement for Self-Determination, emerged as the largest single […]

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Israel this week, he marked a major turning point in global diplomacy. Like other pivotal moments in world affairs, the first visit to Israel by an Indian prime minister was the culmination of a long process. But it underscores a series of geopolitical trends that have reshaped the Middle East, making it almost unrecognizable from barely a decade ago and presaging more far-reaching changes ahead. Modi was welcomed in Israel with an effusiveness reserved for few global leaders. At the arrival ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him, “We’ve been waiting for […]

In December, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress will elect a new party leader to succeed beleaguered President Jacob Zuma and lead the party into national elections in 2019. Within the ANC, the campaign to replace Zuma officially has not started. But, in effect, it has been underway since the beginning of the year, with political maneuvering and jockeying behind the scenes. This is a product of the ANC’s arcane internal procedures, a hangover from its years of exile when members viewed elections for party positions with suspicion and preferred so-called consensus candidates in order to avoid “disunity.” The fiction […]

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—“It’s easy to understand Cambodian politics,” said Vanna, a 45-year-old shop owner in Phnom Penh, as he waited for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to begin its last campaign rally before the June 4 local elections. Some 90,000 candidates would be competing to represent the country’s 1,646 communes in the voting two days later. “The government does not care about us poor people. It only cares about power.” That morning, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which has been in power for four decades, held a much larger and better-organized rally in Phnom Penh, the capital, […]