Content

UkraineAlert

Nov 3, 2020

Ukrainian local election results reflect country’s decentralized democracy

By Michael Druckman

Ukraine's recent local elections were primarily a referendum on the quality of local governance in the country, and the result was a resounding vote of confidence in the existing municipal authorities.

Elections
Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 2, 2020

Winners and losers of Ukraine’s local elections

By Brian Mefford

Incumbent mayors emerged as the big winners of Ukraine's recent local elections with voters preferring familiar faces to rival candidates representing the country's major national political parties.

Elections
Ukraine

MENASource

Nov 2, 2020

25 years after Rabin’s assassination and Israel resembles its old self

By Shalom Lipner

Much has changed in the world since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, but striking parallels might also be drawn—counter-intuitively, perhaps—between Israel's circumstances around the time of Rabin's death and the prevailing situation in the country today.

Israel
Middle East

MENASource

Nov 2, 2020

The irrefutable logic of numbers and the inevitability of reform in Iraq

By Ahmed Tabaqchali

While, on the surface, the White Paper might appear to be yet another economic reform package in response to a fiscal crisis brought about by falling oil revenues, the lofty goals are likely to be forgotten as soon as rising oil prices rescue the state from its current quagmire.

Iraq
Middle East

GeoTech Cues

Nov 2, 2020

Silicon Valley’s role in foreign policy and what others can learn from it, Part I

By Alexandre Lazarow (Guest Author)

In the last twenty years, one of the United States’ key exports has been the technology coming out of Silicon Valley—and along with it, its particular brand of innovation culture. Unsurprisingly, innovation has risen to the top of policy makers’ agendas around the world. Yet, creating carbon copies of Silicon Valley is not the answer. To compete in the increasingly global innovation arena, countries and companies are writing a new playbook.

Economy & Business
International Markets

UkraineAlert

Nov 1, 2020

Zelenskyy vows to thwart Kremlin counter-revolution

By Anders Åslund

A new ruling by Ukraine's Constitutional Court threatens to dismantle the entire anti-corruption framework established since 2014 and derail years of historic progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

Conflict
Democratic Transitions

New Atlanticist

Oct 31, 2020

Armenia and Azerbaijan should seize chance for peace

By Matthew Bryza

As fighting intensifies, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan would be wise to embrace the political cover their Russian and Turkish counterparts might provide.

Conflict
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

BelarusAlert

Oct 30, 2020

Belarus uprising enters dangerous new phase

By Doug Klain

Events in Belarus continued to escalate this week as pro-democracy protesters attempted to initiate a nationwide general strike and the Lukashenka regime responded with a heavy-handed crackdown.

Belarus
Democratic Transitions

Elections 2020

Oct 30, 2020

Five big questions as America votes: Europe

By Future Europe Initiative

For the past seven decades, Europe has been the United States’ political, economic, and security partner of first resort. Now, as the transatlantic relationship is challenged by internal and external forces, the EU and the United States find themselves at a crossroads in the relationship.

Coronavirus
Digital Policy

Elections 2020

Oct 30, 2020

Either way, this election is a major turning point for our climate future

By Kathy Baughman McLeod

As the nation braces for the presidential election next week, there’s arguably no issue beyond the COVID-19 crisis for which the stakes are higher than climate change policy.

Climate Change & Climate Action
Elections