Q & A Archive

In a special episode of our Trend Lines podcast, we look back on 2017 through three of our most popular Report interviews. They take us from the state of the liberal world order in the Trump era, to the not-so-United Kingdom after Brexit, to the Horn of Africa, where the ongoing political standoff in the Persian Gulf is spilling over. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines, as well as what you’ve seen on WPR, please think about supporting our work by subscribing. We’re currently offering a 25 percent discount on the first year of an annual subscription […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about press freedom and safety in various countries around the world. In late November, 40 leading radio stations in the West African nation of Guinea suspended their programming in an act of solidarity with another radio station that was closed by the government. The protest was a sign of the growing tension between the government of President Alpha Conde and the Guinean press. In an email interview, Muheeb Saeed, a program officer at the Media Foundation for West Africa, explains what was behind the recent protest, and how press freedom […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Four years after South Sudan’s civil war began, leaders signed yet another cease-fire this week, and diplomats expressed cautious optimism that the agreement represented real progress in ending fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered the largest African refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The cease-fire is due to come into effect Sunday. It was negotiated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, a regional East African bloc, during talks in Ethiopia […]

Last month, the Court of Justice of the European Union, or CJEU, ordered Poland to cease logging activities in the Bialowieza Forest “to avoid serious and irreparable damage to the interests of the European Union.” Though the dispute has received less attention than the ongoing fight over judicial reforms, it is similarly contributing to tension between Warsaw and Brussels. In an email interview, Duncan Liefferink, a political scientist specializing in European environmental politics at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, analyzes the two sides’ positions and explains how EU environmental policy relates to the rights of member states over their […]

Last week, the National Assembly of Gabon passed a bill that would revise the country’s constitution. It did so with as little fanfare as possible. As AFP noted, the news went unmentioned on state media, and the official who confirmed it to the agency declined to give his name. This is perhaps unsurprising given that President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s government has kept the actual substance of the revisions under wraps as well, opting not to make the bill public even though the Cabinet approved it back in September before sending it to lawmakers. Multiple versions have circulated online, but the […]

Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Beijing and met with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, to discuss enhanced trade relations. Talks on a potential free trade agreement failed to advance, but they agreed to continue preliminary discussions. In an email interview, Stewart Beck, president and chief executive of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, discusses the nature of economic ties between Canada and China, the prospects for a free trade agreement in the future, and why Canada is looking to diversify its options as NAFTA’s fate remains up in the air. WRP: Canada and China are […]

On Dec. 10, a coalition of nationalist parties on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica swept elections for the regional assembly, defeating traditional parties and French President Emmanuel Macron’s new centrist movement. Immediately after their victory, the nationalists called for talks with Paris over more autonomy. In an email interview, Andre Fazi, a lecturer in political science at the University of Corsica, discusses the roots of Corsican nationalism and the implications of the nationalists’ electoral triumph both for the island and for France. WPR: What are the main driving forces behind nationalism in Corsica, and how have they evolved in […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about press freedom and safety in various countries around the world. On Dec. 5, Russia designated two U.S. government-funded broadcasters, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as “foreign agents,” under a new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in late November. The moves came in response, Moscow says, to the United States forcing the Russia-backed news broadcaster RT, formerly known as Russia Today, to register as a foreign agent on Nov. 13. U.S. intelligence agencies described RT as “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine” in their assessment earlier this […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. After months of tension and fears of widespread violence, Kenya’s political leadership this week took steps that seemed designed to end the year on a more conciliatory note. In late November, President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term, following a rerun presidential vote that was boycotted by his main opposition rival, Raila Odinga. In the days that followed, Odinga’s political coalition broadcast plans to hold an alternative ceremony inaugurating Odinga as the “people’s president.” On Sunday, […]

Despite announcing a breakthrough in their protracted negotiations over a maritime boundary in August, Australia and East Timor have yet to finalize an agreement that would allow them to move forward on the joint development of an important natural gas field. The delay is in part due to the difficulties of conducting a trilateral negotiation involving the two governments as well as private interests. In an email interview, Bec Strating, a lecturer in the department of politics and philosophy at La Trobe University in Australia focusing on Indonesia and East Timor, which is also known as Timor-Leste, explains the background […]

In late November, the United Nations undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Jean-Pierre La Croix, asked Brazil to contribute troops to the U.N. mission in the Central African Republic. This week, Brazil reportedly agreed to that request. Though it has traditionally eschewed military interventionism, Brazil has assumed an increasingly prominent role in peacekeeping missions in recent years. In an email interview, Kai Michael Kenkel, an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, discusses Brazil’s engagement in peacekeeping operations and how this plays politically at home. WPR: What is the recent history of […]

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo offered opinions on everything from the state of democracy in his country to child marriage and Donald Trump. But of all the topics covered in the 25-minute segment, it was his responses to a series of questions on LGBT rights that seemed to attract the most attention, at least domestically. Ghana’s criminal code outlaws same-sex sexual acts, grouping them under a category of offenses referred to as “unnatural carnal knowledge.” When asked by the interviewer, Jane Dutton, why the law remained on the books, Akufo-Addo said he did not […]

The lifting of international economic sanctions on Iran following the 2015 nuclear agreement opened the doors to what many observers expected to be a rush of foreign investment. Yet lingering restrictions from the United States and the decision in October by the Trump administration to decertify the Iran deal have kept some European firms at bay, while China has exploited opportunities in their absence. In an email interview, Nader Habibi, the Henry J. Leir professor of economics of the Middle East at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies, discusses China’s involvement in Iran before and after the nuclear […]

In late November, after a building fire killed 19 migrant workers in a shantytown on the southern outskirts of Beijing, the city government began forcibly evicting thousands of migrants before razing entire neighborhoods to the ground. The evictions have sparked an outcry from within China and raised questions about the country’s urbanization policies. In an email interview, Mark Frazier, a professor of politics and academic director of the India China Institute at The New School in New York, explains what is driving the evictions and how they fit into China’s broader urbanization policies. WPR: Why is the Beijing city government […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Since taking office in May, French President Emmanuel Macron has been an enthusiastic champion of the G5 Sahel Joint Force, which brings together soldiers from Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Mali to combat militant groups and drug and human trafficking. His efforts have involved publicly pressuring the United States to do more to support the force; his defense minister, Florence Parly, made the case directly during a visit to Washington in October. But while American officials have pledged […]

On Dec. 4, Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s dynastic Gandhi-Nehru family, submitted forms to take over the leadership of the Indian National Congress party from his mother, Sonia Gandhi. Later this month, he is set to become the sixth member of his family to head the party. Since suffering a defeat in the 2014 elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, Congress’ popularity has fallen to the lowest point in its long and storied history. In an email interview, Sumit Ganguly, a professor of political science and Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University, Bloomington, […]

On Nov. 28, the day Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that attending the event would give him an opportunity to reinforce Israel’s engagement with the continent. “Our intention is to deepen ties with Africa, also by forging links with countries that we do not have diplomatic relations with,” he said before boarding a flight to Nairobi. “I hope by the end of the day I will be able to announce the opening of a new Israeli embassy in an African country.” Netanyahu got what he wanted. Though […]