Governance
Lula Won Brazil by 1.8 Percentage Points. Winning the Country Will Be Harder.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will return to the Brazilian presidency twelve years after leaving office. In last Sunday’s runoff, Lula received 60,345,999 votes, or 50.90% of valid ballots, against Jair Bolsonaro’s 58,206,354 votes, or…
Liz Truss Lasted 44 Days. Britain May Be Politically Chaotic Without Being Institutionally Unstable.
Her premiership lasted 44 days, making it the shortest in British history. She entered office promising a fundamental change in economic policy based around lower taxation and faster growth. Her government’s mini-budget then triggered severe…
Britain Buried Its Queen. It Is Also Deciding What Her Seventy Years Meant.
On Monday, Britain held the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey. Around two thousand people attended the service, including presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and representatives from countries across the world. Archbishop of…
One in Five Swedish Voters Chose a Party the Political Establishment Once Refused to Work With.
Sweden’s election has produced a change of government, but the politician most responsible for changing Swedish politics may not become prime minister. After an extraordinarily close count, the bloc of right-wing parties finished with 176…
Britain Changed Its Prime Minister on Tuesday and Its Monarch on Thursday. The State Barely Stopped Moving.
On Tuesday, Liz Truss travelled to Balmoral and was formally appointed prime minister after winning the Conservative Party leadership contest against Rishi Sunak. Boris Johnson’s premiership, which began with an enormous parliamentary majority in 2019…
Chile Wanted a New Constitution. It Just Rejected the One It Was Given.
Two years ago, Chileans voted overwhelmingly to replace their constitution. Tonight, they have overwhelmingly rejected the constitution written to replace it. The margin is not close. With almost all polling stations counted, 61.86% have voted…
Pakistan Is Under Water. Who Is Responsible for a Disaster No One Government Caused?
Pakistan declared a national emergency this week as extraordinary monsoon rains and flooding continued across large parts of the country. More than a thousand people have reportedly died since the monsoon began, including hundreds of…
Kenya’s Election Is Disputed Again. This Time, the Most Important Battle May Happen in Court.
Kenya has a president-elect, at least according to the official result announced on Monday. William Ruto, the current deputy president, was declared the winner of the 9 August election with 50.49% of the vote, narrowly…
The FBI Searched a Former President’s Home. That Should Be Both Normal and Extraordinary.
On Monday, FBI agents searched Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. By Friday, a federal judge had unsealed the search warrant and an inventory of material seized from the property, showing that investigators removed…
Sri Lanka Has Chosen a New President. Almost Nobody Voted for Him.
On Wednesday, parliament elected Ranil Wickremesinghe to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential term. Wickremesinghe received 134 votes, defeating Dullas Alahapperuma, who received 82, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who received three. Constitutionally, the process…
America Is Investigating January 6. The Riot May Not Be the Most Important Part.
More than seventeen months after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol, Americans watched the first prime-time public hearing of the House committee investigating January 6 on Thursday night. The images remain extraordinary…
Britain Is Celebrating 70 Years of a Queen Nobody Elected. Why Does That Still Work?
Queen Elizabeth II has now been monarch for seventy years. She inherited the throne in 1952 because her father was king. She has never faced an election, cannot be voted out and occupies an office…
