Politics and Government | Council on Foreign Relations

Heads of State and Government

John Magufuli, Tanzania’s COVID-Denying President, Dies

Nolan Quinn is a research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa Program. President John Magufuli's death at sixty-one years of age followed a familiar pattern among Africa’s putat…

Blog Post by Guest Blogger for Africa in Transition March 18, 2021 Africa in Transition
Democracy

The EU and Venezuela: More Bad Advice

The "European Democracy Hub" urges "sidelining" democracy in Venezuela

Blog Post by Elliott Abrams March 18, 2021 Pressure Points
Elections and Voting

Another Israeli Election, U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis, and More

Israel holds its fourth election in two years, the United States faces a mounting migration crisis at its border with Mexico, and Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, meets with regional premiers.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon March 18, 2021 The World Next Week

China

U.S. Relations With China

Since 1949, U.S.-China relations have evolved from tense standoffs to a complex mix of intensifying diplomacy, growing international rivalry, and increasingly intertwined economies.

Timeline by CFR.org Editors March 17, 2021
Democracy

Democracy Tested: Democratic Crises in U.S. History, With Suzanne Mettler

In this special series of The President’s Inbox on the future of democracy, James M. Lindsay speaks with experts to discuss whether and where democratic governance is faltering around the world. This week, Suzanne Mettler, John L. Senior professor of American Institutions in the Government Department at Cornell University, places the current crisis of American democracy in historical perspective. This episode is part of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay and Suzanne Mettler March 16, 2021 The President's Inbox
Central America

Making Anti-Corruption Reforms Stick in the Northern Triangle

The Biden administration made a bold commitment to support the region’s prosecutors in their fight against impunity. But corrupt courts, business associations, and legislatures could derail the progress if they are not reformed in time.

Blog Post by Guest Blogger for Latin America's Moment March 12, 2021 Latin America's Moment
Senegal

Senegal's Democracy Faces a Crisis of Public Trust

Senegal is easy to admire. It’s long been one of Africa’s most stable democracies, where vigorous debate and dissent are part of peaceful democratic discourse. It has maintained its security and ter…

Blog Post by Michelle Gavin March 12, 2021 Africa Program
Heads of State and Government

Tanzanian President Magufuli’s Veneer of Omniscience in Critical Condition

Nolan Quinn is a research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa Program. A story published yesterday in Kenyan newspaper the Nation suggests—though does not confirm—that Tanzanian…

Blog Post by Guest Blogger for Africa in Transition March 11, 2021 Africa in Transition
Japan

Constitutional Change in Japan

Japan's constitutional debate is about not simply the document's past but also the nation's ability to respond to twenty-first-century challenges.

Interactive by Sheila A. Smith March 11, 2021
Democracy

Democracy Tested: The Global Democratic Recession, With Yascha Mounk

In this special series of The President’s Inbox on the future of democracy, James M. Lindsay speaks with experts to discuss whether and where democratic governance is faltering around the world. This week, Yascha Mounk, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the signs of a worldwide democratic recession. This episode is part of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy.

Podcast with James M. Lindsay and Yascha Mounk March 9, 2021 The President's Inbox
Democracy

Democracy Is Down, but Not Out

Fewer than 20 percent of the globe’s inhabitants now live in a “free” country today. What might be done to reverse the autocratic tide?

Blog Post by Stewart M. Patrick March 8, 2021 The Internationalist
Territorial Disputes

Diplomatic Dithering Over Western Sahara Bodes Ill for Other African Disputes

Francesca Eremeeva is a research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Middle East Program. Nolan Quinn is a research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa Program. O…

Blog Post by Guest Blogger for Africa in Transition March 4, 2021 Africa in Transition
Nigeria

Mass Kidnapping in Nigeria Captures International Attention—Again

On February 27, "bandits" attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State and kidnapped some three hundred girls. Government reaction was predictable: search-and-rescue missi…

Blog Post by John Campbell March 3, 2021 Africa in Transition
Religion

Nigeria's Catholic Bishops: "The Nation is Falling Apart"

Against an immediate backdrop of escalating mass kidnappings, jihadi resurgence, growing separatist sentiment in the old Biafra, and conflict over water and land that often assumes a religious and et…

Blog Post by John Campbell March 2, 2021 Africa in Transition
United States

Biden’s Foreign Policy for the Middle Class Takes Shape

Biden's first major foreign policy address drew the curtain on the disastrous Trump era, emphasizing the nation’s strength at home determines its success abroad—and vice versa.

by Stewart M. Patrick February 22, 2021 International Institutions and Global Governance Program