Macron and India: Why his visit mattered
On 10 March, French President Emmanuel Macron landed in India for a four-day visit.
Coming off the heels of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rather botched visit to India, this mission was seen as an...
The Irish border continues to cloud Brexit negotiations
Brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and European Union have been fraught by disagreement. However, negotiators publicly agree that a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland should be avoided....
Trade and geopolitics push Japan and China together
It was supposedly a quiet conversation that kicked off a diplomatic thaw.
On the sidelines of the 2017 Asia Pacific Economic Corporation meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke with Chinese...
Spaghetti roads and bullet trains: A history of Zimbabwean elections
In a prescient 2012 paper, Martin Dawson and Tim Kelsall suggested that hopes for better governance in Zimbabwe were nothing short of naïve.
Rather, the authors proposed that “the most powerful elite groups will realise...
Bangladesh road safety protests bring Dhaka to standstill
On 29 July, 2018 two school students were run over by a bus. When asked about the accident at a press conference later that day, the Shipping Minister and Executive President of Bangladesh Road Transport...
US-China Trade War and the Future International Order
The current trade war between the United States and China has become one of the defining features of this year's news cycle. Tariffs have been threatened, then imposed, and economic changes have followed across...
“History will be kind to Theresa May” says former aide Katie Perrior
Theresa May's former Director of Communications, Katie Perrior, described the media as “eating out of the palm of hand” even before she became the leader of the Conservative Party. How has she gone...
Bolivia: Relatives rejoice as ex-president found guilty of civilian massacres
There is an Aymara proverb which artfully invokes the idea that returning to the past can trace a path into the future: 'Qhiparu nayraru uñtas sartañani' - 'Looking back, we will move forward'.
Over 15...
Namibia: African success story or elite propaganda?
On 25 July 2018, Samuel Shali Nghihepa, a sergeant in the Namibian Police Special Reserve Force Division, murdered his ex-girlfriend, Alina Kahehongo, in full view of her colleagues at a local supermarket in Windhoek, Namibia's...
Peace in El Pacifico? Colombia’s Chocó region has its own agenda
On 17 June, Colombia votes in the second round of its presidential election: the first since an historic peace agreement was signed in 2016 and the country emerged from almost half a century of...
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The Plastic War
From the UN in 2017 to the EU in 2018, we have become accustomed to organisations and countries declaring ‘war on plastic...
Populism to Pensions: Love or Hate for Putin’s New Policy?
It has been close to a year since the 2018 March presidential elections in Russia, which saw Vladimir Putin enter his fourth...
2019: Year of the Vegan?
The word ‘vegan’ was coined in 1944, after members of the Leicester Vegetarian Society became frustrated with the group’s refusal to consider...
