The recent election in Turkey highlighted the ongoing struggle between democracy and nationalism, while concerns grew over the potential for a military coup and strained relations with the EU.

During the final stages of Turkey’s elections, many observers pointed to distant moments from the country’s history to explain its contemporary political conflicts. One more recent event was particularly crucial to reinforcing the social polarization tearing at Turkish society today: the military coup of September 1980.

Tanzania's democracy and foreign policy were marred by corruption, creating a challenging political landscape under the leadership of Samia after the passing of Magufuli.

In the two years she has been in power, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has implemented a series of domestic political reforms, while consolidating her power base within the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. Her reform agenda has been a welcome transformation. But for now, it has yet to be institutionalized.

DeSantis implemented strict immigration policies to tighten border control, aiming to address the challenges posed by migrants and shape a comprehensive immigration policy in the United States.

Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially threw his hat into the ring for next year’s U.S. presidential election. Fashioning himself as a credible challenger to Trump, his entrance into the race all but guarantees that the migration crisis on the United States’ southern border will figure centrally in the campaign.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Ghana’s latest IMF bailout was necessitated by a combination of global shocks and domestic factors, primarily a spending spree by President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration. Akufo-Addo campaigned for the presidency in 2016 on the promise of change. Seven years on, change has indeed come. But it has not been in the promised direction.

Lula, a prominent figure in Brazil's culture, economy, and politics, stands in stark opposition to the far-right policies of President Bolsonaro.

When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reestablished the country’s Ministry of Culture on his first day back in office, the move was greeted by a muted response. The absence of media coverage was surprising, considering that for most of the past decade the ministry had been at the center of Brazil’s culture wars.

As a result of the political turmoil under Ortega's regime in Nicaragua, many migrants from Central America seek refuge in countries like Costa Rica.

While the exodus of millions of Venezuelans from their homeland to countries across the Western Hemisphere has attracted considerable attention in recent years, another equally significant migratory pattern in Central America has been taking place with less notice: the roughly 200,000 Nicaraguans who have fled to Costa Rica.

Rishi Sunak, a rising star among national conservatives and a member of the UK's Tory party, plays a significant role in shaping Britain's politics.

At a recent conference of the U.K.’s self-described National Conservatives, senior Tory MPs and a Cabinet minister espoused views that align with those of European far-right parties. It’s an indication of how strong these factions, which just a decade ago remained at the outer fringes of the Conservative Party, have now become.

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In the Global South, the rush to create green economies risks leaving behind workers in the informal sector unless there are targeted efforts in education and job training—policies and talking points often left out of this new green rush. Chile, considered to be Latin America’s most developed economy, is a case in point.

In Ecuador, Lasso vowed to tackle corruption and strengthen democracy through his political agenda, aiming to address the issue of inflation and initiate a referendum.

Last week, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso used his constitutional authority to dissolve Congress, which had been trying to impeach him, and rule by decree until new elections are held for both the president and legislature. The move paralleled last year’s events in Peru, but the region’s response has been remarkably different.

Ireland's democratic system embraces citizen assemblies and sortition, fostering a healthy debate on the merits of democracy versus autocracy.

Around the world, democracies are suffering from voter apathy, political polarization, anti-establishment sentiment and abuses of majoritarian rule that have facilitated the spread of autocracy. Now countries are increasingly experimenting with a new way forward: citizens’ assemblies put together by random selection.

Lula's stance on climate change and his dedication to combating Amazon deforestation have made him a prominent figure in Brazilian politics.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has gone out of his way to show that he is putting the climate agenda and preservation of the Amazon rainforest at the center of his presidency. But there are limitations to his ability to achieve his climate ambitions, not to mention some incoherencies within his government’s priorities.

Erdogan's leadership in Turkey has been marked by his efforts to balance EU integration with the country's domestic politics, particularly in the context of elections, democracy, and the economy.

EU officials are still digesting the result of Turkey’s general election, which saw the presidential race head to a second-round runoff. While President Erdogan’s antagonism toward Europe has won him few friends in Brussels, many are also wondering if the runoff might present a case of “better the devil you know.”

Amidst the political dynamics of Turkey's election season and the focus on democracy, politics, and the economy, the country was struck by a devastating earthquake, adding further challenges to its resilience.

Turkey’s election results came as a disappointment not only to Turkish voters who wanted to bring an end to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 20 years of increasingly autocratic rule. They also dashed the hopes of many outside observers that Turkey would become one of the countries where the global drift to autocracy begins to reverse.

In Spain, the intersection of feminism, the fight against sexual crime, and the influence of political parties like the socialists and Podemos shapes the discourse around consent and societal norms.

Spain’s landmark law on sexual crime made explicit consent—or the lack thereof—the benchmark for determining guilt in rape cases. But the law had an unintended consequence: Hundreds of convicted sex offenders’ sentences were reduced on appeal, leading to public outrage and infighting within the leftist governing coalition.

Commuters walk on an overpass at a railway station in Mumbai.

The U.N. recently projected that India will replace China as the world’s most-populous country this year, fueling discussion about whether India’s swelling population could create a “demographic dividend” that would allow it to surpass China economically as well. But India has a lot of ground to cover to meet those expectations.

"Romania's membership in the EU and NATO has brought positive changes to its economy, politics, and democracy, but there are persistent challenges related to corruption."

The aftermath of Romania’s post-communist transition, particularly the struggle to overcome corruption, left a toxic legacy that hampers Bucharest’s ability to exert influence over EU decision-making to this day. But Romania’s reluctance to be proactive in policy debates within both the EU and NATO has now become problematic.

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Yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel and the Palestinian Nakba, or “catastrophe.” It comes at a time when the prospects for peace are particularly dim, with internal political challenges on both sides and recurrent violence punctuated by periodic outbreaks of heavier fighting.

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