Analyses
Myanmar’s Struggle for Freedom Three Years After the Military Coup
Kristina Kironska 22 February 2024
Three years after the failed military coup in Myanmar, there is genuine hope within the country for democratic resistance. By the end of 2023 and into the beginning of 2024, Myanmar reached a turning point, with significant successes achieved by the revolutionary movement, particularly on the battlefield. For the first time since the coup, there is a growing possibility that the resistance movement may prevail against the military dictatorship.
  • Understanding the Stakes in Taiwan’s 2024 Elections
    Alessandra Tommasi 12 January 2024
    Most people in Taiwan support maintaining the status quo in the island’s political dispute with mainland China for now (28.6 percent) or indefinitely (32.1 percent). Less than 8 percent support either unification with the PRC as soon as possible or maintaining the status quo while moving toward unification. Nearly 63 percent of the population feels “Taiwanese” and an even larger majority (84.3 percent) opposes a “one country, two systems” model, especially after Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong. Given these data, and that the PRC views the island as a “rogue” province and has vowed to eventually bring it back under control – not excluding military intervention – it is no surprise that mainland affairs and the relations with China are absolutely key to Taiwan’s upcoming elections.
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    Entrenching Extremism: The Taliban’s Radicalization
    Agenda in Afghanistan
    Ali Kosha 11 January 2024
    Afghanistan is the only country in the world where women and girls are completely banned from education and from working in most sectors, including NGOs. While the restrictions on women and girls have rightly received some international attention, an important aspect of the Taliban’s oppressive regime that has not received enough attention is their systematic indoctrination of boys, and more recently young girls in some provinces, through the education system.
  • Qatar’s Role in the Hamas-Israel Crisis:
    Diplomatic Triumph or Double Dealing?
    Claudia De Martino 10 January 2024
    Qatar is a small Gulf state that has recently returned to the spotlight as a mediator in the hostage crisis between Hamas and Israel. This is due to its good relations with both Washington and Tel Aviv, as well as its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood movements in the Arab world. Doha serves as the main sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region. To date, Qatar has successfully facilitated the only prisoner exchange between Israel and Gaza, resulting in the release of 121 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian political prisoners. In addition, a seven-day truce was achieved, which benefited Hamas and facilitated the entry of much-needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. However, Doha remains an unscrupulous player in international relations, detached from the logic of inter-state loyalty and multilateral alliances, and continues to act as a free agent (or, if anything, aligned with Erdogan’s Turkey), lacking any normative approach in the international community.
  • Looking Ahead: 2024 Prospects for the Visegrad Group
    Fabio Turco 22 December 2023
    2023 saw a major shakeup in Central and Eastern Europe. Two elections reshuffled the board in the Viségrad group, where Viktor Orban’s Hungary now remains the only constant for the last ten years. Let’s take a look at what happened and what the prospects are for the coming year. The biggest turnaround comes from the region’s most important country, Poland. Elections on 15 October saw the end of the conservative, nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, which was replaced by a center-liberal-progressive coalition led by Donald Tusk. His return to government – he previously served as prime minister from 2007 to 2014 – marks a 360-degree turn in Warsaw’s politics, which is re-aligning with Brussels after eight years of troubled relations.
  • When the Music is Stopped: the Disappearance of Festivals
    and the Strangulation of Public Space in Turkey
    T. Deniz Erkmen 21 December 2023
    In the summer of 2023, an ominous phenomenon spread like wildfire from province to province in Turkey: the cancellation of music festivals and concerts. Just days before they were supposed to take place and generally at the request of public authorities such as mayors or governors, concerts and entire festivals were cancelled one by one. These repeated and continuous acts of cancellation, which started in the summer of 2022 and continued in 2023, generally do not make it to the international news.
  • Mainstreaming and Normalization of the Far-Right:
    Wind of Change Before the 2024 European Elections?
    Selcen Öner 19 December 2023
    Although the far-right parties mostly hold Eurosceptic positions, especially before the 2019 European elections, most of them changed their rhetoric and began to emphasize that they would seek more influence within the EU institutions, aiming to transform the EU into a “Europe of nations.” These parties use the European level to increase their visibility and legitimacy by being part of a political group in the European Parliament (EP). In addition to these, we have seen the normalization of far-right-center-right coalitions. Meanwhile, there has been a radicalization of the mainstream, particularly center-right parties. These political trends at the national level may also have implications at the European level, which could be reflected in the upcoming European elections in 2024.
  • Ireland and the Dilemma of Right-Wing Violence in a Liberal Democracy
    Seán Golden 6 December 2023
    In the 1920s, the incipient democratic government of the newly independent Irish state managed to disarm the guerrilla forces that had fought the War of Independence by offering them the chance to become members of the new Irish police force in return for surrendering their weapons, thereby guaranteeing the state’s monopoly on violence. This means that Ireland is now faced with the dilemma of how to respond to right-wing violence while respecting the values of liberty.
  • The Domino Effect: How Niger’s Coup Echoes Regional Instability
    Kamal Tasiu Abdullahi 27 November 2023
    The recent coup in Niger, which took place on July 26, 2023, is just the latest episode in a series of events that have sent shockwaves through the region and left governments and international actors scrambling to respond. Niger, a country that experienced a relatively fair democratic transition in 2021 with the election of Mohamed Bazoum as president, has once again descended into chaos.
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