All this week panicked Iranians have gathered in throngs outside banks and other financial businesses hoping to buy dollars, as the government seeks to head off a collapse in the… Read more »
The Arab Spring surely satisfies the three criteria for a black swan event: surprising, historically consequential, and rationalized by hindsight, notes the World Bank’s Elena Ianchovichina, author of Eruptions of… Read more »
The violent collapse of the Arab Spring has damaged the cause of liberal politics not just in the Middle East, but around the world. Strongman leaders are back in fashion… Read more »
We have moved from a world of ideological struggles in the 20th century to a world of geopolitical struggles in the 21st—or so goes the conventional wisdom. But technology is… Read more »
Some view Tunisia’s recent demonstrations and the government’s response as a dire warning that the end of the country’s experiment with democracy is near, notes Safwan Masri, the author of… Read more »
Australia has launched a scathing attack on China’s efforts to build influence in the Pacific, accusing Beijing of currying favor with the region’s smaller nations by funneling cash into little-used… Read more »
Ghana has had seven peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections since its transition from military rule in 1992. Successive Ghanaian governments have managed to maintain a fairly stable economy with some… Read more »
Chinese President Xi Jinping may be consolidating his power following the 19th Party Congress, because he believes China is facing its most challenging period, a U.S. analyst said Monday, UPI reports: Andrew… Read more »
When it comes to the Middle East these days, the buzzword in the international community is “stabilization,” as opposed to “transition,” notes Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European… Read more »
Academic and policy communities have often focused their attention on the causes of democratic backsliding at the expense of understanding the process. But far less attention has been paid to the sequencing,… Read more »