Democracy
Four Years After the Taliban Returned to Power, Afghanistan Is More Stable and Less Free. That Combination Is Exactly Why the Regime Is Difficult to Understand.
Four years have now passed since the final American military forces left Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, completing a withdrawal that ended twenty years of US-led military involvement and allowed the Taliban to consolidate control…
Trump Has Sent the National Guard Into Los Angeles Against California’s Wishes. The Immigration Debate Is Becoming a Much Larger Argument About Who Actually Controls the State.
Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has produced its first major confrontation between the federal government and one of America’s largest Democratic-controlled states. Federal immigration raids across Los Angeles beginning on Friday triggered protests around detention facilities…
Poland’s Nationalist Candidate Has Won the Presidency by Less Than Two Percentage Points. Europe Should Pay Attention to the 50–50 Country Emerging Across the Continent.
Poland has just completed one of the closest elections in its democratic history. Conservative candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), has defeated Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski in the presidential…
Poland Votes Again Next Week. The Election Is Really About Whether Winning Government Is Enough When Your Opponents Still Control Institutions Capable of Stopping You.
Poland is heading towards an extraordinarily close presidential runoff on 1 June between Warsaw’s liberal mayor Rafał Trzaskowski and conservative historian Karol Nawrocki, after neither candidate won a majority in the first round on 18…
Romania Just Chose a Pro-European President Over the Nationalist Right. But Winning 54–46 Is Not the Same Thing as Defeating the Politics That Produced the 46.
Romania has just completed one of the strangest and most consequential presidential elections in modern European politics. Nicușor Dan, the independent, pro-European mayor of Bucharest, has defeated nationalist George Simion in today’s presidential runoff after…
Trump Wants Interest Rates Lower and Says Powell’s “Termination Cannot Come Fast Enough”. The Bigger Question Is Why Democracies Deliberately Give Unelected Central Bankers So Much Power.
Donald Trump’s confrontation with the Federal Reserve has intensified sharply. After Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned this week that Trump’s tariffs could produce higher inflation and weaker growth, Trump accused him of being too…
Assad Is Gone. Now Syria Faces the Test That Determines Whether a Revolution Becomes a State: Can the Winners Protect the People Associated With the Losers?
Syria’s transition has entered its most dangerous moment since Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus in December. Over the past several days, fighting and sectarian violence have erupted across the country’s Mediterranean coastal region after gunmen associated…
Bashar al-Assad’s Government Has Collapsed. After Thirteen Years of Civil War, the Hardest Question Is Who Actually Owns the Victory.
Syria has undergone one of the most dramatic political collapses of the twenty-first century. On 8 December, rebel forces entered Damascus and Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, ending more than fifty years of rule by…
South Korea’s President Declared Martial Law. Parliament Defeated It Within Hours. This Is What Institutions Are Supposed to Do.
South Korea has just experienced one of the most extraordinary democratic crises in its modern history. Late on 3 December, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, accusing opposition forces of paralysing government and engaging…
Donald Trump Has Won Again. This Time, Calling 2016 an Accident Is No Longer Possible.
Donald Trump has won the 2024 United States presidential election, defeating Vice-President Kamala Harris and completing one of the most extraordinary political returns in American history. Four years after losing the presidency to Joe Biden,…
America Votes in Two Days. Whoever Wins, Nearly Half the Country May Believe Something Fundamental Has Gone Wrong.
Americans vote on Tuesday in an election that remains extraordinarily close. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are competing across a small group of battleground states that will determine whether Democrats retain the presidency or Trump…
Venezuela’s Opposition Says It Won the Election. Its Candidate Has Now Fled the Country. That Is the Difference Between Electoral Victory and State Power.
Venezuela’s political crisis has entered a more dangerous phase. On 2 September, a Venezuelan judge issued an arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, accusing him of conspiracy and other offences connected to…
