Q & A Archive

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on countries’ risk exposure, contribution and response to climate change. The Dutch parliament voted last week to cut the Netherland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030, a move that requires closing the country’s five remaining coal-fired power plants. In an email interview, Pier Vellinga, a professor at the University of Wageningen, discusses the Netherland’s climate change policy. WPR: What is the Netherlands’ risk exposure to climate change, what effects of climate change are already apparent, and what sorts of adaptation approaches will it have to adopt or […]

If it is hard to grasp the scale of devastation in rebel-held Aleppo this week, given the past four years of bitter warfare in Syria’s largest city, consider this detail from Liz Sly and Louisa Loveluck’s reporting in The Washington Post. With no electricity, “families huddle together in the dark” at night, when the bombings are the worst, “gathered in one room so that they don’t die alone, listening to the roar of the jets and waiting for the bombs to fall.” Taking shelter on the lower floors of apartment buildings, “entire families sleep in one room, because they prefer […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. The head of Iran’s space agency announced plans last month to launch three satellites into orbit within the next year: the Doutsi earth-observation satellite, the Tolou remote sensing satellite and the Aat Sat telecommunications satellite. In an email interview, John B. Sheldon, the chairman and president of ThorGroup GmbH, a Swiss-based consulting company, and publisher and editor of SpaceWatch Middle East, discusses Iran’s space program. WPR: What are Iran’s space capabilities, in terms of its space-industrial complex, and what are […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. A recent report showed that white New Zealanders were more likely to be given a warning by police officers for minor crimes than indigenous Maori, who are more likely to be charged. Advocates say the report confirms the bias of the justice system in New Zealand. In an email interview, Margaret Mutu, a professor of Maori studies at the University of Auckland, discusses Maori rights in New Zealand. WPR: What is the legal status […]

Corruption and falling commodities prices have many in Suriname worried that their country is turning into the next Venezuela. Businesses are closing; inflation is rising; and the economy is predicted to contract by 2 percent this year. In an email interview, Robert Looney, distinguished professor in the department of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, discusses the economic crisis in Suriname. WPR: What factors are behind the recent economic turmoil in Suriname? Robert Looney: Suriname’s economy has never been able to break out of the boom-and-bust cycle that afflicts many resource-producing developing countries. The country is almost totally […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. A group of grandmothers on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, are using their influence in their village to promote modern health care and medicine in a bid to improve women’s health, a plan that nongovernmental organizations hope can be replicated across the country. In an email interview, Hawa Ba, the head of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa’s Senegal country office, discusses women’s rights in Senegal. WPR: What is the current status […]

In a story that reads like a crime thriller, The New York Times’ Rukmini Callimachi and Lorenzo Tondo reported last week on new routes for smuggling hashish from Morocco to Europe that raise suspicions about whether the self-proclaimed Islamic State is profiting off the drug trade. The hashish routes wind their way across the eastern Mediterranean through Libya, a roundabout passage that avoids the usual short run—often on small boats and even jet skis—across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain. There are two reasons for the new route, Callimachi and Tondo write: more police surveillance along the Spanish coast in […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on countries’ risk exposure, contribution and response to climate change. According to a recently released report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, climate change will lead to more frequent and severe droughts in the Caribbean region, already home to seven of the world’s most water-stressed countries. That will in turn affect agriculture, with the risk of food shortages. In an email interview, Carlos Fuller, the international and regional liaison officer at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, discusses the region’s climate change policy. WPR: What is the […]

Protesters have taken to the streets in Chile to demand that the country’s pension system, which was privatized in 1981 during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, be reformed or scrapped all together. In an email interview, Jennifer Pribble, an associate professor of political science and international studies at the University of Richmond, discusses Chile’s pension system and the prospects for its reform. WPR: How is Chile’s pension system currently organized, and what problems is it now facing? Jennifer Pribble: In 1981, during Pinochet’s dictatorship, Chile privatized its pension system, eliminating the pay-as-you-go system for all except the military. Under the […]

Libya’s crude oil production has increased by more than 70 percent since August, to 450,000 barrels per day, as several oil fields resumed output and the port of Ras Lanuf reopened for the first time since 2014. In an email interview, Matthew Reed, the vice president of Foreign Reports, Inc., a Washington-based consulting firm focused on Middle East politics and world oil markets, discusses Libya’s oil industry. WPR: What is the state of Libya’s oil industry and its infrastructure? Matthew Reed: Libya’s oil sector is making a tenuous comeback. Production jumped to 450,000 barrels per day following the reopening of […]

Pressure has been mounting on the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, and its former president, Jose-Manuel Barroso, since he recently took a job with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. Many are calling for Barroso’s commission pension to be revoked and for EU ethics rules to be made stronger. In an email interview, Daniel Freund, the head of advocacy for EU integrity at Transparency International, discusses the EU’s ethics rules. WPR: What is the role of the European ombudsman, and what recourse does the ombudsman’s office have when faced with issues of ethics, corruption and abuses of […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on countries’ risk exposure, contribution and response to climate change. As the European Union faces pressure to quickly ratify the Paris Agreement, Poland has said it will only do so if it is given special concessions for its coal-based power sector, which the government plans on continuing to use for many years. In an email interview, Karolina Jankowska, an independent researcher on climate and energy policy and the author of a chapter in the forthcoming book “The European Union in International Climate Change Politics,” discusses Poland’s climate change policy. […]

In recent years, Egypt, Israel and Cyprus have all discovered huge natural gas fields off their coasts, raising export potential and perhaps the prospects for better political ties in the region through new energy partnerships. At least this is the scenario that the United States is hoping for. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s envoy on energy affairs, Amos Hochstein, told Bloomberg that “we’re just beginning to open the spigots of what is the potential for the broader region.” That is already evident in the improved ties between Israel and Turkey after their June rapprochement, motivated by gas […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould recently told a gathering of British Columbia Cabinet members and indigenous leaders that Canada will adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but that Canada cannot incorporate it “word for word” into law, which has prompted widespread criticism across the indigenous community. In an email interview, Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, the head of the native studies department at the University of Manitoba, discusses indigenous rights in Canada. […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. Last month, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced plans for a network of radar and optical telescopes that will track foreign satellites as well as space debris, which it hopes will be fully functional by 2022. In an email interview, Yuichiro Nagai, a researcher at the Policy Alternatives Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, discusses Japan’s space policy. WPR: What are Japan’s space capabilities, in terms of its space-industrial complex, and who are its major international partners, in terms […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the legal status and socio-economic conditions of indigenous peoples in a range of countries. In July, footage was made public of guards at a juvenile detention center in Australia’s Northern Territory using hoods, restraints and tear gas on aboriginal children, in what could be a violation of the U.N. treaty barring torture. In an email interview, Libby Porter, a principal research fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, discusses indigenous rights in Australia. WPR: What is the legal status of Australia’s indigenous peoples, and what are the key issues […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. Last week, Sweden’s minority center-left government announced that it plans to propose legislation that will require 40 percent of all corporate board members to be women by 2019, with fines for companies that fail to comply, despite the fact the center-right opposition has said it will vote against the measure. In an email interview, Ann Numhauser-Henning, a professor at Lund University, discusses gender equality in Sweden. WPR: To what degree is Sweden’s reputation as […]