It is one of the world’s most tragic ironies that the most detrimental impacts of climate change will accrue to the countries that have had only a minor role in bringing them about. The Southeast Asia…
Venezuela: A Textbook Case of How Socialism Breeds Dictatorship
With the largest oil reserves in the world, Venezuela was once the wealthiest nation in Latin America. But today, it is experiencing a historic economic collapse that has forced over 2.3 million citiz…
Our Unbridled ‘Protector’: The U.S. Intelligence Community
This November, the Central Intelligence Agency was forced to release a 90 page document. They did so begrudgingly, because in this document were the detailed reports of decades of experimentation on p…
Is Justice Bought?
CRIMINAL You’re a drug dealer who’s just been busted for possession with intent to distribute. You started dealing in college to help pay for tuition and promised you would stop after graduation. Bea…
The Crisis of the African National Congress: The Coming Intraparty Conflict
Upon assuming the South African presidency, Nelson Mandela proclaimed, “The time for the healing of the wounds has come.” At the time, South Africans hoped that the end of apartheid would also bring a…
The Twisted Path of Kenyan Politics
Kenyans queueing to vote, on 8 August 2017, anticipated the standard sequence of events – some bribery and dishonesty at polling stations, aggressive police officers assaulting journalists, and heated…
România: Fixing a Broken Record
On January 18th 2017, thousands of Romanians swarmed the streets in anger to oppose their government’s reported plans to adopt an emergency law, which would decriminalize forms of corruption if the da…
Uncle Sam Wants Your Rubles
Good morning, Americans. Or shall I say, доброе утро! Doesn’t it make you feel warm and fuzzy inside to know that since Donald Trump was elected President on November 8, five dozen Russian bill…
The Long Road To Peace In Central America
Can Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador Band Together to Banish the Gangs? In November 2016, the three Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador announced the establishment o…
The Third Time’s Not the Charm: Corruption in Somalia’s Election
On February 8th, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was elected President of Somalia, defeating the incumbent Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. This was the culmination of the third election cycle since 2009. In 1991, th…
The Park Administration and the Fragility of South-Korean Democracy
Park Geun-Hye, the 11th President of South Korea. Democracy is fragile. In many countries, it took years—most often decades—of struggle to achieve transparent rule of the people. It requires hundreds …
Bolivarianism: A Fanfare for the Common Man?
Hugo Chávez clapping in front of a portrait of Simón Bolívar Not long ago, Venezuela sought to brand itself as a leader, a resurgent power eager to lead the escape from U.S. imperialism towards true L…
South Africa: Demographics and the One-Party State
A voter shows her inked thumb after voting in South Africa’s municipal elections For the party that led South Africa out of Apartheid, a monopoly on the future of South Africa has long been assured — …
Modi’s 500 Rupee Solution for Ending Corruption
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over screens in an unscheduled television address on the evening of November 8th and announced the invalidation by midnight of the 500 and 1000 rupee bills, cu…
The Decline of Mugabe and the Political Surge in Zimbabwe: What is to be, or not to be in the post-Mugabe era?
After years of authoritarian rule in Zimbabwe, it looks as though the tide is set to change. Political tension in Zimbabwe was demonstrated in a recent ten-hour long meeting of the country’s ruling pa…
The Indonesia Experiment
Analyzing the tension between political popularity and economic growth in Indonesia. Indonesia, as some scholars such as Professor Steven Fish of UC Berkeley and Professor Danielle Lussier of Grinell …
#VaiaDilma: President Rousseff’s Trust Deficit
Less than five months after voting President Dilma Rousseff into office last October, the Brazilian people have demanded her impeachment. On March 15th, 2015, approximately one million Brazilians, wea…
The Fall of John Kitzhaber
On February 18th, amid allegations that his wife was inappropriately paid by clean energy companies, Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon resigned. The entire affair was a bizarre series of ev…