For African populations and governments, the uncertainty and instability on display in both the U.K. and Chinese political systems highlight the bankruptcy of two competing visions of governance that have been held out as models to ensure better development outcomes. Now, it seems like no one system is applicable in Africa.
Since June, a series of strikes by railway workers represent the U.K.’s largest industrial action in decades. Long dormant, British trade unions are hitting their stride again, and the leadership and grassroots members are mobilized. Yet their resurgence poses a peculiar set of challenges for both of the U.K.’s dominant parties.
In June, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of a “heightened threat environment” ahead of the midterm congressional elections. In the months since then, terrorism analysts have continued to express concern that the country could suffer a spasm of political violence tied to the elections on Nov. 8.
Efforts by the Biden administration to accelerate its quiet diplomacy with Venezuela have already produced some breakthroughs. But the greater challenge comes next, as Washington tries to leverage sanctions to incentivize Caracas to allow greater space for the opposition to compete in the 2024 presidential election.
One key priority for children’s advocacy groups is the prohibition of child labor. But as World Children’s Day approaches this year, it’s worth examining whether children need to be protected from work, or whether it would be better to set regulations that empower child workers, rather than prohibiting it altogether.
Sweden’s September elections ushered in a new government that promptly mothballed the country’s “feminist foreign policy” adopted in 2014. This unfortunate development, however, is an opportunity for everyone interested in promoting gender equality globally to rethink what a feminist foreign policy can and must do.
The highest-level negotiations between the two sides in Ethiopia’s civil war began last week in South Africa, amid low expectations they will end the two-year war. Nevertheless, the African Union-led talks have been extended, suggesting that, if both sides are not ready to stop fighting, neither are they ready to stop talking.
Since taking office in May, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has sought to follow through on campaign promises to reorient the country’s foreign policy, including with the U.S., China and Japan. But if Yoon and his advisers were correct in their premises, they were naive about how this promised reorientation would work in practice.