Economics
G20 Summit in Johannesburg Exposes a Growing Split Over the Global Economic Order
The G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend was supposed to demonstrate the growing influence of the Global South in international economic governance. It was the first G20 leaders’ summit held on African soil, hosted by…
US Government Shutdown Nears an End After Record 40-Day Standoff
The longest federal government shutdown in American history appears finally to be approaching an end. After 40 days without normal government funding, a group of Senate Democrats has joined Republicans behind a compromise that would…
Trump and Xi Reach One-Year Trade Truce After South Korea Summit
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, on 30 October, producing the most significant easing of the US-China trade confrontation since Trump’s return to office. The two governments have agreed to step…
Japan Has Chosen Sanae Takaichi to Lead Its Governing Party. If She Becomes Prime Minister, Japan Will Have Its First Female Leader and One of Its Most Conservative Governments in Years. Why a Country Defined for Decades by Pacifism Is Becoming Much More Comfortable With Power.
Japan is entering a potentially historic political transition. Sanae Takaichi has won the leadership of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, placing her in position to become Japan’s first female prime minister and giving the country…
Madagascar’s Young People Are Protesting Over Water and Electricity. That Sounds Like a Local Infrastructure Problem. It Is Actually a Much Larger Question About What Makes a Government Legitimate.
Madagascar has entered a major political crisis after weeks of youth-led protests against power cuts, water shortages, corruption and poor governance developed into a broader challenge to President Andry Rajoelina’s government. The demonstrations began in…
Moldova Is Voting Between Europe and Russia. Can a Small Democracy Remain Politically Sovereign When Much Larger Powers Can Influence Its Politics Without Crossing Its Border.
Moldovans are voting today in one of the most consequential parliamentary elections in the country’s recent history. President Maia Sandu’s pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) is attempting to retain enough parliamentary power to…
Nepal’s Government Tried to Ban Social Media. Days Later, the Prime Minister Was Gone. The Protests Were Never Really Just About Social Media.
Nepal has just experienced one of the most dramatic political upheavals in South Asia in years. What began with anger over the government’s decision to block major social-media platforms rapidly developed into a much broader…
Xi, Putin and Modi Just Stood Together in China. The Image Matters Because the World Is No Longer Dividing Neatly Into an American Bloc and an Anti-American One.
China has spent the past week making a very deliberate argument about the international system it wants to build. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, Xi Jinping hosted leaders including Vladimir Putin and…
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 Says America Will Help Guarantee Ukraine’s Security. That May Be More Important Than the Territory Ukraine Eventually Loses or Keeps.
The diplomatic atmosphere around Ukraine has changed considerably in only one week. After Donald Trump’s Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington on 18 August accompanied by an unusually powerful…
Trump’s Tariffs Are Becoming Permanent. The World Is Not Returning to the Old Free-Trade System.
Donald Trump’s tariff experiment is beginning to look less like a temporary negotiating tactic and more like the foundation of a new American trade system. On 31 July, Trump signed an executive order setting revised…
Thailand and Cambodia Are Fighting Over Their Border. It Is a Reminder That a Line Drawn More Than a Century Ago Can Still Become More Politically Valuable Than the Land Around It.
Thailand and Cambodia are now experiencing their worst military confrontation in more than a decade. Fighting erupted on 24 July along their disputed frontier and rapidly expanded across several locations, with artillery, rockets and ground…
