The growing popular discontent over China’s “zero COVID” restrictions has now erupted into public protests in cities across the country. The unrest comes in response to a number of unrelated tragic incidents that have brought to the surface tensions surrounding lockdown-driven economic precarity among Chinese citizens.
In Uganda, climate change is leading to longer dry seasons, lowering crop yields and threatening the livelihoods of farmers and pastoralists. A surge in violent cattle rustling at the height of planting season exacerbated the situation. Now competition over increasingly limited natural resources could potentially lead to more conflict.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s effort to project an image of a politically monolithic society has been remarkably successful in shaping how Europeans have come to view China. But as protests against China’s “zero COVID” policy spread, it’s clear that EU policymakers have been operating under a false stereotype of the country.
Much of the world looked on with consternation as Xi Jinping began his third term as president of China and leader of the Chinese Communist Party in October. Xi’s ironclad grasp on power has crucial implications for how the CCP will respond to critical domestic challenges, which in turn will affect China’s foreign policy.
This fall, same-sex couples in Cuba won a significant victory, culminating an uphill struggle decades in the making: A referendum on a new Families Code expanded their legal recognition, granting them equal access to marriage, adoption and surrogacy. Despite the referendum victory, though, Cuban families still need more from the state.
The initial inability of many in the West to fully grasp the scale of what is now unfolding in Iran is the product of three dynamics that reflect deeper problems with how the EU and U.S. engage with the wider world. To avoid repeating those mistakes, the West needs to mitigate such distortions of perceptions and policy.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met in Manila over the weekend with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, whose visit was meant to show Washington’s high-level support for its Southeast Asian ally. But if security issues were front and center during Harris’ visit, the question of human rights was also on the agenda.
Whether or not Donald Trump is on the way out as the leader of the Republican Party remains to be seen. But the policy views he espoused first as a candidate in 2016 and then as president from 2017 to 2021 are not. This will be especially evident when it comes to the cornerstone of “Trumpism”: opposition to immigration.
With the stakes set high in its recent presidential election and amid predictions of election-related violence, Brazil’s electoral system stood out remarkably for treating democracy with the urgency and care it deserves. What can other democracies around the world learn from how Brazil handled its information landscape and voting?
As Sri Lanka tries to regain its footing after its economic collapse this year, legislators have introduced changes to the constitution, limiting the power of what was a dominant presidency. The question is whether Sri Lanka will be able to implement more wide-ranging reforms needed to prevent another disaster in the future.
The U.N. COP27 Climate Change Summit has entered its final week, but the agenda for the remainder of the conference threatens to be overshadowed by concerns over Egypt’s poor human rights record, especially because of the restrictions Egyptian authorities have placed on the participation of civil society groups at the summit.
Pakistan has become embroiled in a political stalemate, as Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s followers have resumed their march on Islamabad ahead of a change in military leadership that is set to be contentious. The question at the heart of the crisis is whether there’s any way out that doesn’t lead to unrest and violence.
The return of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister has raised the question of whether he will revisit Israel’s neutrality over the war in Ukraine. But he is unlikely to, for a simple reason: Israel fears that aligning against Russia in Ukraine would curtail its freedom to operate against Iranian forces and proxies in Syria.
The new Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu is anticipated to be different than its predecessors due to the likely inclusion of two ultra-nationalist and Jewish supremacist parties. That will present a challenge to the U.S., in terms of the new government’s more unsavory figures and the policies it is expected to implement.
In June, the Zondo Commission submitted the final volume of its report on state capture, which laid bare the scale of corruption presided over by the ruling African National Congress throughout the 2009-2018 presidency of Jacob Zuma. In doing so, it also placed a number of uncomfortable issues in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s inbox.
The midterm congressional elections, like most in the U.S., came down to the domestic issues that voters care most about, namely their pocketbooks. But while the domestic impact of the elections will be most immediate, the midterms nevertheless do matter for U.S. foreign policy and global affairs more generally.
Ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, many observers warned that Jair Bolsonaro was following Donald Trump’s playbook from 2020, sowing the seeds of doubt in the election process in order to claim it was rigged afterward. But instead, he accepted the loss. So were red-flag alarmists wrong to argue that Brazilian democracy was in danger?