November 24, 2015
Europe and EurasiaIn September 2014 the European Central Bank lowered its deposit rate to an all-time low of -0.2 percent, after which ECB President Mario Draghi declared that rates were “now at the lower bound.” W…
July 12, 2018
IsraelOnce upon a time, the Socialist International was an extraordinary organization. Founded in 1951 as a successor to various prior socialist groups, it was staunchly democratic and anti-Communist, and …
December 26, 2017
AmericasIn 2018, nearly two out of every three Latin Americans will head to the polls to elect new leaders, and the fight against corruption will be high on their agenda. The surge to throw the bums out coul…
December 28, 2017
United StatesI wrote yesterday about ten Americans who died in 2017 who helped shape U.S. foreign policy during their lifetimes. But Americans are not the only ones who influence world affairs. Below are ten worl…
June 27, 2017
South AmericaScholars of Latin America spent much of the first decade of this century discussing the causes and consequences of the region's turn to the left, under Venezuela's Chávez, Argentina's Kirchners, Braz…
June 2, 2017
BrazilWith all of the turbulence in Brazil, observers can be forgiven for ignoring a potentially paradigm-shattering initiative that picked up speed last month: reducing politicians’ court privileges. So…
February 8, 2013
Politics and GovernmentThe World Next Week podcast is up. Bob McMahon and I discussed President Obama’s State of the Union address, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi’s speech to the Spanish parliament, and…
December 15, 2016
AmericasHalf of the eighteen nations of Central and South America will hold presidential elections over the next two years.[1] The number of elections is not unprecedented, but the degree of uncertainty is, …
October 18, 2016
AmericasIn my piece published in the November/December 2016 issue of Foreign Affairs, I lay out the economic and political characteristics of populism, analyze why it is receding in Latin America today, and …
August 17, 2015
CubaSecretary of State Kerry traveled to Havana to raise the flag at the U.S. Embassy there last week. As has been noted here in this blog and in many news articles and columns, no dissidents or human ri…