Q & A Archive

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced today he is seeking to establish a new security dialogue with Indonesia in an effort to repair a bilateral relationship damaged by recent spying revelations. In an email interview, Richard Chauvel, senior lecturer at the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Victoria University, discussed the security relationship between Australia and Indonesia. WPR: What are the main areas of overlap in security interests between Indonesia and Australia? Richard Chauvel: Indonesia remains Australia’s most important regional relationship. Indonesia shapes Australia’s strategic environment. The air and sea approaches to Australia are through the Indonesian archipelago as […]

Over the weekend the U.S.-led international negotiating team and Iran concluded an interim agreement in Geneva intended to verifiably limit Iran’s nuclear program in return for a partial relaxation of international economic pressure. The agreed upon “Joint Plan of Action” covers the next six months while the sides attempt to negotiate a comprehensive final agreement that would resolve the question of Iran’s nuclear status. While President Barack Obama said in a statement following the finalization of the agreement that the Iranian people have a chance at “rejoining the international community,” the nuclear issue is hardly the only obstacle to a […]

Last week, Serbia signed a military cooperation agreement with Russia. In an email interview, Jim Seroka, professor at Auburn University and former visiting professor of national security studies at the U.S. Air War College who has written extensively on the Western Balkans, explained the state of Serbia’s armed forces. WPR: What is the current state of Serbia’s defense forces? Jim Seroka: The Serbian armed forces today have shrunk considerably in size and capabilities since 2000 and no longer represent a security threat to Serbia’s neighbors. In 2000, Serbia-Montenegro had more than 100,000 military personnel, 1,500 main battle tanks and 192 […]

On Nov. 8, Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines. The storm, known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, was one of the largest typhoons on record, with estimates of the dead in the thousands and of the displaced in the millions. The United States acted quickly to help its ally, but some senior lawmakers and military officials worry that in the age of sequestration U.S. capabilities to carry out such operations in the future may deteriorate. The U.S. response in the Philippines has been “rapid and decisive,” according to Renato DeCastro of De La Salle University in Manila. He explained […]

This month, thousands of anti-government protesters have rallied in the Thai capital Bangkok, at first turning out against a bill that would have offered amnesty to deposed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but continuing to protest after the bill was defeated. In an email interview, Duncan McCargo, professor of Southeast Asian politics at University of Leeds, explained what’s driving Thailand’s recent protests and their likely effects on Thai politics. WPR: What do Thailand’s recent protests mean for the stability of the government under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra? Duncan McCargo: Thailand has a long tradition of political rallies and protests; street […]

Representatives of the Colombian government and the FARC guerilla group announced on Nov. 6 in Havana that they had reached an agreement that could allow FARC leaders to participate in Colombian politics. The precise details of the agreement have not been disclosed, and the two sides have agreed that it would not go into effect until a final peace settlement has been reached. Nevertheless, according to Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, the peace process is moving along reasonably well, and the two sides both may have “gotten past the point of no return” toward reaching a […]

A few days after sitting across from an Iranian delegation in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is facing another daunting interlocutor as he buys time for the administration’s diplomatic approach: the U.S. Congress. Kerry made the case for a pause in additional sanctions at an off-the-record Senate Banking Committee briefing on Wednesday. Although the exact details have not been publicly disclosed of last week’s negotiations between Iran and the U.S.—in coordination with the other members of the Security Council and Germany—the proposed agreement reportedly contains some form of sanctions relief for Iran and other inducements in return for […]

China is moving to ease restrictions on its one-child policy, Chinese policymakers announced Friday. The new rules will allow parents who are themselves only children to have two children. Therese Hesketh told WPR in August that changes to the policy were seen in China as inevitable: The policy has achieved its original goal of reducing population growth and lifting many out of poverty. It has also become an anachronism as freedoms have increased in many areas of life; as growing wealth means many can afford the fines; and as China becomes a key player in the global community and can […]

In response to concerns about cartel involvement, the Mexican military was placed in control of the policing and administrative functions of a major port city in the state of Michoacan earlier this month. In an email interview, Stephen Morris, professor and chair of the political science department at Middle Tennessee University who researches political corruption in Mexico, explained corruption in Mexico’s military. WPR: How affected is the Mexican military by corruption compared to other institutions such as the police? Stephen Morris: Generally, the Mexican military is considered to be less corrupt than other governmental institutions in Mexico, particularly the police. […]

In the wake of reports that the U.S. engaged in extensive spying on allies, Brazil and Germany this month introduced a draft U.N. resolution aimed at limiting such surveillance. In an email interview, Craig Forcese, vice dean and associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, explained the norms governing international spying. WPR: What are the existing treaty requirements concerning whether and how states can spy on one another? Forcese: Put simply, there aren’t any. States have never had much incentive to regulate peacetime spying through treaties. All states spy, and all want to be free to condemn […]

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently met with his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni, in part to advance a proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor. In an email interview, Nimmi Kurian, associate professor at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi and India representative at the India China Institute at the New School in New York, explained the BCIM proposal and its vision for regional integration.* WPR: What is envisioned in the proposed BCIM Economic Corridor? Nimmi Kurian: The BCIM Economic Corridor is a proposal being actively considered by both the governments of India and China to promote subregional cooperation among […]

On Wednesday, an Israeli court found former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman not guilty of corruption, opening the door for him to return to a prominent role in Israeli politics now that he is cleared of the charges of fraud and breach of trust. He is likely to resume his post as foreign minister in the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the short term, however, his return to government is likely to have a bigger impact on Israel’s domestic politics than on its foreign policy. “Netanyahu is far and away viewed by the public as the person who […]

The Philippines was rocked by typhoon Haiyan on Friday—reportedly one of the strongest on record—that is so far estimated to have killed at least three people and caused an unknown amount of damage.* Last month, a similar disaster struck India when the cyclone Phailin hit the country’s east coast from the Bay of Bengal, causing widespread flooding and killing an estimated 14 people. Both incidents are notable for far worse outcomes avoided through careful preparation—the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of citizens in the path of both storms limited their human toll. As Phailin approached in mid-October, India evacuated some […]

This week, the Philippines announced it would investigate reports of worker abuse in Saudi Arabia, while last month, Ethiopia imposed a six-month ban on its workers traveling to Saudia Arabia, citing worsening labor conditions. In an email interview, Zahra Babar, assistant director for research at the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University’s school of foreign service in Qatar, explained efforts to address the conditions of migrant workers in the Persian Gulf states. WPR: What are the main countries of origin for migrant labor in the Gulf states, and what industries do they work in? Zahra Babar: Current […]

After weekend election violence in Kosovo forced polling places to close early and left ballot boxes destroyed, leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are meeting in Brussels today to discuss next steps. At the same time, officials have announced that the elections will be repeated in Mitrovica, the northern Serb-dominated municipality in majority-Albanian Kosovo where the attacks took place. Prime Minister Ivica Dacic of Serbia and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo are meeting to determine how to move forward on a pact that aims to integrate ethnic Serbs with the rest Kosovo. Under the terms of a European Union-mediated agreement […]

The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) took a turn toward peace today as M23 rebels reportedly gave up their 20-month insurgency. The Congolese army, re-engineered after a humiliating defeat by the rebels last year, pushed the M23 out of its remaining strongholds with help from a precedent-setting U.N. intervention brigade and an intensive new focus on the conflict by the U.S. and other international actors. But as Anthony Gambino wrote in a WPR briefing in July, ending the M23’s fight is only one step in a much larger process: The key question now is whether the international community has […]

Late-October elections in the Czech Republic yielded no parliamentary majority for any party. In an email interview, Robert Kron, a senior analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis, explained why the vote was inconclusive and the prospects for coalition negotiations. WPR: What political factors explain the inconclusive parliamentary vote and the Social Democrats’ poor performance? Robert Kron: The resounding failure of the traditionally most prominent political parties—the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Civic Democrats (ODS)—and the striking success of Andrej Babis’ Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement, which will enter parliament for the first time, can be explained by […]