Q & A Archive

The Democratic Party held its first presidential primary debates this week. As expected, the candidates focused their attacks on President Donald Trump. One of the many contenders, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, even said—to raucous applause in Miami—that Trump was “the biggest threat to the security of the United States.” In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talk about how Trump’s divisive approach to foreign policy could play an outsized role in the Democratic primary and in next year’s presidential election. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines […]

Earlier this month, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made his first trip to neighboring Argentina since taking office. The focus of his visit with President Mauricio Macri was largely on economic issues, as the two presidents discussed ways to deepen trade and investment ties and strengthen Mercosur, the regional trade bloc that also includes Paraguay and Uruguay. But for both Bolsonaro and Macri, their meeting was also an opportunity to advance a positive foreign policy agenda as they both face mounting political challenges at home. In an interview with WPR, Leonardo Bandarra, a research fellow specializing in Latin America at the […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about press freedom and safety in various countries around the world. Earlier this month, authorities in Australia conducted two raids in two days on the offices of the public broadcaster and the home of a prominent journalist over leaked documents, raising concerns about press freedom in the country. The Australian Federal Police searched the offices of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or ABC, apparently in connection with a 2017 series of stories on alleged misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. That raid came only one day after the same agency […]

A new five-party coalition government was formally appointed in Finland earlier this month, led by Prime Minister Antti Rinne. Rinne’s Social Democratic Party narrowly won legislative elections in mid-April with only 17.7 percent of the vote, leading it to partner with four smaller parties to form a left-leaning majority coalition in the Parliament. But the far-right populist Finns Party placed a close second in the elections with 17.5 percent, and it has emerged as the most popular party in Finland in recent public opinion polls. In an email interview with WPR, Teivo Teivainen, a professor of world politics at the […]

Thousands of people gathered in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, earlier this month to protest against a faltering economy and widespread corruption in the government. They blame President George Weah, a former football star who took office last year amid heightened expectations. Since then, corruption has continued to run rampant and economic conditions have only worsened. In an email interview with WPR, Elizabeth Donnelly, deputy head of the Africa Program at Chatham House in London, discusses the recent demonstrations and whether there is anything Weah can do to regain his “man of the people” image. World Politics Review: How significant was the […]

Authorities in Kazakhstan cracked down on a series of large-scale protests before and after a tightly controlled presidential election on June 9, arresting thousands of demonstrators as well as a number of journalists. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, an ally of Kazakhstan’s longtime autocratic leader Nursultan Nazarbeyev, won the election in the first transition of power that the country has seen since it emerged as an independent state following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. But the election was orchestrated to ensure Tokayev’s victory, leading protesters to demand more political openness and civil liberties. In an email interview with WPR, Paul Stronski, […]

Brazil’s highest court officially ruled last week that homophobia and transphobia should be criminalized until Congress passes a law on the subject. The verdict was a much-needed victory for Brazil’s LGBT community, which has faced an increasingly difficult climate under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. In an email interview with WPR, James Green, the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Professor of Latin American History and director of the Brazil Initiative at Brown University, discusses the challenges facing LGBT Brazilians and the significance of the court’s decision. World Politics Review: How has the situation facing LGBT Brazilians changed over the past few years? […]

Around the world, political debates are increasingly being shaped around social and cultural issues rather than questions of policy. The result is a hardening of national discourses in many countries, as well as a shrinking of the space required for compromise. Meanwhile, a new generation of populist leaders is increasingly willing to not only flout democratic norms, but also to use traditional tools of democratic governance to consolidate and expand their own power. In this week’s editors’ discussion episode of the Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein; managing editor, Frederick Deknatel; and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, discuss the emerging […]

When Peter O’Neill resigned in late May after eight years as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, he left behind a troubled legacy of corruption allegations and economic mismanagement. His successor, James Marape, has pledged to take on corruption and make legal changes to ensure that benefits from the impoverished country’s oil and gas reserves are shared more equitably. But at this early stage, it is not yet clear that Marape will follow through on those promises, says Michael Kabuni, a lecturer in political science at the University of Papua New Guinea. In an email interview with WPR, he explains […]

This time last month, the United States and Iran seemed to be headed toward a military conflict. The Trump administration was warning of new and imminent threats emanating from Tehran, evacuating diplomatic personnel from Iraq and deploying military assets to the region, even as some elected officials warned that the threat was being exaggerated. Military tensions have cooled somewhat since then, but Iranians are already on a war footing, as they struggle to make ends meet in an economy that has been brought to its knees by U.S. sanctions. Pressure is mounting on Iran’s political leaders, who this week followed […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of anongoing seriesabout education policy in various countries around the world. Thousands of teachers went on strike and marched for better working conditions in Morocco in recent months. The waves of demonstrations, which occasionally turned violent as police used water cannons to disperse the protesters, have since subsided as teachers have returned to classes. But there is potential for further unrest if the government doesn’t meet the teachers’ key demand: being accorded full civil servant status. In an email interview with WPR, Aboubakr Jamai, dean of the School of Business and International Relations at […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about press freedom and safety in various countries around the world. When the Trump administration announced its decision last month to indict Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for violating the Espionage Act, it argued that it was not targeting journalists for their reporting, since it did not consider Assange a journalist. That did not stop journalists and other commentators from warning of the indictment’s grave consequences for press freedom. In an interview with WPR, Geoffrey Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, discusses […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about education policy in various countries around the world. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Brazil last week to protest President Jair Bolsonaro’s drastic cuts to the country’s education system. The demonstrations were organized in response to the government’s plan to slash discretionary budgets for federal universities by 30 percent. Officials say the cuts are necessary to rein in excessive public spending, but opponents see them as part of a longer-term ideological assault on higher education in Brazil. In an email interview with WPR, Justin Axel-Berg, […]

Many people in the United Kingdom’s coastal fishing communities supported the “Leave” campaign during the 2016 Brexit referendum, since they consider European Union rules that allow other member states’ fishing boats to trawl British waters to be unfair. Now, British politicians committed to Brexit will have to make good on their promises to “take back control” of the U.K.’s rich fisheries. But that will prove difficult and may not even be in the best interest of British fishing communities, says Ben Drakeford, a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. who specializes in fisheries economics. In an […]

France is stepping up its naval activities in the Asia-Pacific. Last month, the French navy conducted joint exercises with the United States, Australian and Indian navies, just weeks after a separate naval drill with India that involved two aircraft carriers. In April, the French frigate Vendemiaire made a rare passage through the strategically important Taiwan Strait. Some observers fear that these maneuvers could heighten tensions with Beijing, but so far, both France and China have worked to prevent that from happening, says Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor of government and international studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. In an email interview […]