Q & A Archive

Panama’s seven presidential candidates are wrapping up their campaigns ahead of the country’s election on Sunday. In an email interview, Orlando J. Pérez, a professor in the Department of Political Science at Central Michigan University who has done field research in Panama, explained the country’s electoral landscape. WPR: What are the major domestic issues at stake in Panama’s presidential election? Orlando J. Pérez: The electoral campaign has been framed around the dynamic of continuity versus change. The government has touted social spending, infrastructure investments and economic growth. The government candidate, Jose Domingo Arias, has campaigned on continuing and expanding President […]

Launching a new round of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians last July, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry set a deadline for the two sides to reach a peace deal within nine months. Today, that deadline is passing with the sides seemingly no closer to resolving their long-running dispute. Israel suspended the negotiations last Thursday, after rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas announced that they would form a unity government in the coming weeks. The move to form a unity government presented perhaps the final complication to the United States’ recent push for peace. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel […]

Earlier this month Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov resigned unexpectedly after only 18 months in the post. In an email interview, Anthony Bowyer, senior program manager for the Caucasus and Central Asia at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, explained what led to Kazakhstan’s cabinet reshuffle. WPR: What was the context of the sudden replacement of Kazakhstan’s prime minister earlier this month? Anthony Bowyer: The main reasons for Akhmetov’s resignation had to do with the state of the economy. There were significant issues with the state budget, scandals surrounding taxes on automobiles and real estate, problems with the pension fund […]

In an increasingly crowded and contested western Pacific, navies from more than 20 countries—including the United States, China, Japan, India and Russia—want to make sure that incidents at sea don’t unintentionally escalate to broader conflict. This week, they agreed on a Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium held in Beijing. In a statement, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert, who attended the symposium, clarified that CUES “is not legally binding, but is an agreement upon which the participating nations have a standardized protocol of safety procedures, basic communications and basic […]

This month, Israel launched a new surveillance satellite reportedly aimed at monitoring Iran’s nuclear program. In an email interview, Deganit Paikowsky, a senior researcher the Yuval Neeman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security and an adjunct lecturer at the Security Studies Program at Tel Aviv University, explained the evolution and objectives of Israel’s space program. WPR: What is the background of Israel’s space program, and how has it evolved recently? Deganit Paikowsky: Israel has a long and successful legacy in space, having developed robust and competitive space industries and applications for national and commercial use. The Israeli Space Agency (ISA) […]

The 20th anniversary of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide this month was marked by the re-emergence of tensions between France and Rwanda, after Rwandan President Paul Kagame claimed that France bore some responsibility for the genocide.* In an email interview, Bruno Charbonneau, associate professor of political science at Laurentian University and the director of the Center for Peace and Humanitarian Missions Studies at Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada, explained the continuing tensions in France-Rwanda ties. WPR: To what extent have France and Rwanda succeeded at repairing ties in the past few years? Bruno Charbonneau: The two sides were talking, but the […]

Three decades after the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act, the United States continues to augment Taiwan’s military capabilities—recent discussions have raised the possibility of the U.S. helping Taiwan to acquire U.S.-made frigates and a new indigenous type of diesel submarines. But China’s rising military capabilities place the island in an increasingly vulnerable position. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would authorize the sale of four Perry-class frigates to Taiwan. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ed Royce, called Taiwan “a beacon of hope and democracy in a part of the world that still yearns for the basic […]

Early this month, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina announced he was considering a plan to legalize the production of marijuana and opium poppies in the country. In an email interview, Adriana Beltran, a senior associate for citizen security at the Washington Office on Latin America who specializes in Guatemala, explained how drug legalization might affect levels of violence in Guatemala. WPR: Who are the main actors driving insecurity in Guatemala, and what are their primary activities? Adriana Beltran: Violence in Guatemala comes from many sources. Organized criminal organizations are one of the main drivers of violence. Their members include former […]

One of the Obama administration’s biggest foreign policy gambles, the agreement to rid Syria of its chemical weapons in the midst of that country’s civil war, is behind schedule but still making progress. Despite tensions over Ukraine and the outcome of the Syrian civil war itself, the United States, Russia and others appear to be maintaining cooperation on the issue. On Monday, the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)—the Netherlands-based international organization responsible for ensuring compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention—announced in a statement that the Syrian government had delivered two additional shipments of chemicals to the port city […]

On a 10-day trip through Asia that ended last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel sought to build military ties with allies and partners involved in the U.S. rebalance to the region. He also reached out to China, the presumptive main U.S. competitor in the region, and announced the need for a “new model” of military-to-military relations between the two nations. As with other aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, military ties between the two countries are underdeveloped, and China remains wary of U.S. intentions. But the Obama administration, which has its own worries about China, appears to believe that […]

This month, four Iranian border guards were freed two months after being kidnapped and allegedly taken into Pakistan by an Iran-based Sunni militant group. In an email interview, Isaac Kfir, a senior researcher at Syracuse University’s Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism and a visiting assistant professor of law and international relations, explained the state of Iran-Pakistan relations. WPR: What has been the recent trajectory of the Iran-Pakistan security relationship, particularly regarding their shared border? Isaac Kfir: Iran and Pakistan work together on some issues and compete on others. The two countries have good cooperation on drug interdiction, as both […]

A panel discussion on Thursday organized by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the New York University School of Law discussed options for U.S. policy toward Uganda, after relations were ruffled by a new Ugandan law signed in February that imposes harsh legal penalties, including life sentences, for homosexual acts. As the U.S. moves forward with its promised review of its relationship with Uganda, the question is whether the Obama administration can produce an effective response to the new law or if the U.S. will be boxed into a narrow response that feeds perceptions of American imperialism. […]

Russian actions toward Ukraine have injected new urgency, and partisan vitriol, into the debate over U.S. plans to deploy ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems in Europe. Missile defense has been a locus of intense ideological divisions since the announcement of Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983. Although the issue has receded somewhat in recent years, statements from some GOP lawmakers indicate it may once again become a prominent source of partisan tension. But beneath the surface, many of the most fundamental issues relating to U.S. missile defense plans appear to have become politically uncontroversial, even as technical experts continue […]

Late last month, Venezuela’s government arrested three generals of the country’s air force, accusing them of plotting a coup. In an email interview, Harold Trinkunas, senior fellow and director of the Latin America Initiative in the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy program, explained the state of Venezuela’s civil-military relations. WPR: What has been the overall state of civil-military relations in Venezuela in recent years? Harold Trinkunas: In recent years, civil-military relations in Venezuela have become progressively less institutionalized and more politicized. After he was elected in 1998, President Hugo Chavez, a former army officer, took a particular interest in military affairs, […]

Australia has provided ships to the international search effort for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 which is taking place in part in Australia’s vast maritime domain. In an email interview, Sam Bateman, professorial research fellow at the Australian National Center for Ocean Resources at the University of Wollongong in Australia and senior fellow in the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, explained how Australia secures these waters. WPR: What are the key goals of Australia’s maritime security strategy? Sam Bateman: The key goals of Australia’s maritime security […]

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosted defense ministers from 10 ASEAN members last week. The informal meeting in Hawaii was the first of its kind, and it came at a time when the United States is trying to build the partnerships necessary for its Asia rebalance strategy. Ian Storey of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore explains in an email that while ASEAN defense ministers have previously met with their U.S. and Chinese counterparts, last week’s meeting was “the first time they have done so outside the region.” A meeting between ASEAN defense ministers and the Chinese defense […]

Last month, Serbia held parliamentary elections in which the conservative and pro-EU Progressive party won a decisive majority in the legislature. In an email interview, Marlene Spoerri, U.N. officer at Independent Diplomat who has done research on democracy promotion and post-conflict statebuilding in the Western Balkans, explained what led to the victory and what comes next. WPR: What factors led to the Progressive party’s decisive victory in Serbia’s parliamentary elections? Marlene Spoerri: A number of factors contributed to the Progressive party’s victory in the March 2014 parliamentary elections. The first is the party’s pro-EU, center-right platform. Since it was formed […]