Our latest political reviews.

Annapolis: The Leader-less Summit

A collection of unpopular heads of government will try to address peace in the Middle East.
Gabriela Perdomo – It’s been seven years since the last Palestinian intifada brought back the prospect of peace in the Middle East back to ground zero. Just months before, a meeting sponsored by then United States president Bill Clinton had failed to broker a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. With a summit on the conflict coming up this month in Annapolis, Maryland, there are fears a new failure could trigger another dark chapter of violence in the troubled region.
November 16, 2007

Pervez Musharraf’s Double Fault

State of emergency follows broken promise to abandon military life.
Mario Canseco - Yesterday, less than 48 hours after issuing an unexpected state of emergency, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf dismissed rumours about his alleged house arrest by saying he was due to play tennis later in the day. It is hard to assess what went through the mind of the political leader when he tossed the ball up before striking his first serve of the match. It is evident that most of the country did not enjoy as carefree an afternoon.
November 06, 2007

The Philippines after Joseph Estrada

Not entirely a different place
Gabriela Perdomo - This decade will probably be remembered in the Philippines for one thing: widespread corruption. And a man who could well be described as its symbol was just bestowed state clemency on his charges for plunder. With the pardon granted to former president Joseph Estrada, a long story with great political implications for the Philippines ends—but not with it, alas, an era of institutionalized corruption.
October 25, 2007

Chávez and Uribe: Two Sides of the Same Coin

The leaders of Venezuela and Colombia are more similar than they would like to admit.
Gabriela Perdomo - One is a left-wing, self-proclaimed revolutionary and the other one won his first presidential election promising a tough hand on armed Marxist guerrillas. One has become Washington’s newest foe, and the other one is considered the United States’ closest ally in Latin America. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his Colombian counterpart, Álvaro Uribe, are antonyms by definition. But many similarities—mostly negatives—between the two leaders lie beneath the surface.
October 12, 2007

Ukraine Needs a New Electoral Reform

The proportional representation system only exacerbated current political divisions.
Mario Canseco - Ukrainian voters will renew the Supreme Council tomorrow, in an election that is meant to put an end to a year of accusations, complaints and volatility. Judging by the latest results of voting intention polls, neither of the two main political forces will secure a clear mandate, and the difficulties are bound to continue.
September 29, 2007

Exhausting Democracy in Ecuador

Another election looms for a country that has been in a constant state of transition for more than a decade.
Gabriela Perdomo - They’ve seen eight presidents in ten years; they’ve ousted three of them; they’ve elected lawmakers to accompany those failed governments time and again, only to be disappointed at the end of each term; and now they’ve been called to believe in the system once more on Sept. 30, when Ecuadorians are expected to elect 130 representatives for a Constituent Assembly. How much longer until people in the Andean country are fed up with the democratic system?
September 21, 2007

Australia: Is the End of the Howard Era Near?

And what, exactly, has it meant for the country?
Gabriela Perdomo - With an election looming just around the corner of Australia’s winter, Aussies have started to ask the obligatory questions. Will this spring see the end of John Howard’s 11 years in the prime minister’s office? Will he retire now that he has reached the age of 68? Or, could the opposition’s Kevin Rudd—more popular than him—possibly win the ballot?
September 06, 2007

Thailand’s Voting Show

Thais adopt a new Constitution, implicitly accepting the military rulers that drafted it. Is it over for Thailand's democracy?
Gabriela Perdomo - Last Sunday, more than 23 million voters in Thailand participated in the country's first-ever referendum on a new Constitution and gave their blessing to the new charter, just as the military junta governing the country—and the one that drafted the Constitution—had expected.
August 23, 2007

The Democratic Comedy of Kazakhstan

The former Soviet republic's legislative election disappoints, again.
Mario Canseco - Yesterday, Kazakhstan became the latest country to test the implementation of a proportional representation system in its legislative elections.
August 19, 2007

The Stable Ms. Merkel

Germany's chancellor has maintained the coalition government in perfect order since taking office. Will it last?
Gabriela Perdomo - She is a star in the international community and a well-respected politician at home. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor and leader of a grand coalition of conservative and left-leaning parties, is arguably one of the most important politicians of our time.
August 08, 2007

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