World Politics Review

World Politics Review In-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs. interests. We are likewise unbeholden to any partisan affiliation or party allegiance.

OUR MISSION
World Politics Review publishes in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs to help our readers identify and make sense of the events and trends shaping our world. Guided by a commitment to integrity, quality and intellectual honesty, we serve as a forum for creative ideas about how to tackle the world’s most important challenges. OUR APPROACH
WPR seeks to strike a balance betw

een the two dominant schools of international relations, realism and liberal internationalism, combining an effort to see the world as it is with a preference for diplomacy and multilateralism in support of a rules- and norms-based global order. We pay particular attention to important but undercovered stories as well as underexamined aspects of the news making headlines, and cover often-ignored corners of the world independently of whether and how they affect U.S. OUR INDEPENDENCE
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The guest list for Russia’s annual Victory Day parade showed that Putin is not totally isolated. It also highlighted the...
05/09/2025

The guest list for Russia’s annual Victory Day parade showed that Putin is not totally isolated. It also highlighted the limits of his global support.

Read more in today’s Daily Review:

The guest list for Russia’s annual Victory Day parade showed that Putin is not totally isolated. It also highlighted the limits of his global support.

When Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November, it was clear that his victory was not an isolated event....
05/08/2025

When Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November, it was clear that his victory was not an isolated event. The world was in the midst of a populist authoritarian trend that has eroded democracies across the globe for several decades.

But the election of a man with visible autocratic leanings in the world’s most powerful country was unlike the democratic backsliding that preceded it elsewhere. The US, for all its flaws, has acted as a beacon of democracy for other countries since its founding in the 18th century.

As columnist Frida Ghitis writes, the question then was what impact Trump’s victory would have on the anti-democratic trend sweeping the world. Three months into his presidency, the answers are starting to emerge.

Trump won reelection in the midst of a global anti-democratic slide. Alarm over his second-term policies may just tap the brakes on that trend.

This week, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his security Cabinet has authorized a new plan to eradicate Hama...
05/08/2025

This week, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his security Cabinet has authorized a new plan to eradicate Hamas and its system of underground tunnels in Gaza, involving the mobilization of tens of thousands of reserves and the occupation of large swathes of the territory.

In many ways, the return to massive military operations in Gaza after the recent brief but relatively successful ceasefire reflects the shift in Israel’s regional security calculus to what amounts to a permanent war footing.

As Francisco Serrano writes, Israel’s current belligerence, fueled by hubris and the unquestioning support of US Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, is no longer about countering the threat from militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, or even about returning Israeli hostages from Gaza.

Israel is shifting to a permanent war footing, framing its military operations as existential. But Israel’s wars today have little to do with survival.

Joseph Nye passed away at a time when the political winds appear to be turning against his ideas. That does not discredi...
05/08/2025

Joseph Nye passed away at a time when the political winds appear to be turning against his ideas. That does not discredit them.

Read more in today’s Daily Review, which also includes links to Nye’s past contributions to WPR:

Joseph Nye passed away at a time when the political winds appear to be turning against his ideas. That does not discredit them.

The recent abolishment of Poland’s last remaining “LGBT-free zone” is an important victory for the scores of activists a...
05/07/2025

The recent abolishment of Poland’s last remaining “LGBT-free zone” is an important victory for the scores of activists and human rights defenders who resisted the discriminatory campaigns championed by the illiberal Law and Justice, or P*S, party, which governed the country until the end of 2023. Yet while this moment offers hope, it would be premature to declare victory.

The ultra-conservative threat to tolerance and inclusivity remains deeply embedded in Poland’s political landscape. And now, with a presidential election set for May 18 and P*S’ candidate polling second in what could be a close two-round contest, Poland’s liberal trajectory remains precarious despite this “good news” headline, columnist Amanda Coakley writes.

After nearly a decade under the illiberal P*S party, Poland now appears to be pivoting back to liberal democracy. It’s still too early to declare victory.

When armed police prevented the arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on April 23, it marked the latest escalation...
05/07/2025

When armed police prevented the arrest of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on April 23, it marked the latest escalation in a growing crisis afflicting Bosnia, one that some warn could be an existential test for the fragile country. How could police themselves prevent an arrest? The answer lies in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s notoriously complicated governing system, the result of the 1995 Dayton Agreement and its subsequent amendments.

Despite its complexity and deep flaws, the Dayton system has persisted for three decades. Arguably, it has preserved peace at the price of functionality. Now, Dodik—the president of the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, which he has frequently suggested should secede from Bosnia—threatens to tear even this system to the ground, with potentially drastic consequences, Andrew MacDowall reports.

Milorad Dodik, the leader of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated region, is using the politics of brinksmanship, while doubling down on his secession threats.

India struck several sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir overnight, raising fears that the crisis will esc...
05/07/2025

India struck several sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir overnight, raising fears that the crisis will escalate into full-blown conflict.

Read our analysis of the news in today’s Daily Review:

India struck several sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir overnight, raising fears that the crisis will escalate into full-blown conflict.

After Myanmar was struck by a powerful earthquake on March 28, the leader of the country’s military junta, Gen. Min Aung...
05/06/2025

After Myanmar was struck by a powerful earthquake on March 28, the leader of the country’s military junta, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, issued a rare call for international aid. Teams of rescue workers were sent from across the region, with the bulk of support provided by China, India and Myanmar’s fellow member states of the regional bloc ASEAN.

Previous military juntas in Myanmar have been known to refuse foreign help after disasters. It therefore came as a surprise to some that this inward-looking regime, which toppled the democratically elected government in a 2021 coup, should issue such a plea.

Certainly the vast scale of devastation from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake played a role. Yet as Michael Hart writes, there was arguably more than that prompting the call for help: The earthquake struck at a time when the junta was seeking legitimacy and recognition from abroad to shore up its fragile rule, after years of military losses at the hands of resistance forces.

An earthquake in March devastated Myanmar. It also provided the military junta an opportunity to shore up its regional relations after years of isolation.

Over the past week, international opprobrium against US President Donald Trump’s deportations of Venezuelan immigrants f...
05/06/2025

Over the past week, international opprobrium against US President Donald Trump’s deportations of Venezuelan immigrants from the US to El Salvador’s mega-prison has gathered force. On Tuesday, a network of civil society organizations called on the UN to denounce Trump’s agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to indefinitely detain the deportees. And on Wednesday, a coalition of 20 high-level UN experts also released a statement condemning the deportations and calling on the US and El Salvador to reverse the policy.

Yet these condemnations could be made much stronger if backed up by international criminal law instead of largely unenforceable human rights standards. Columnist Charli Carpenter argues that international rights groups should mobilize UN member states to build an international criminal case against Trump by referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.

The nature of the U.S.-El Salvador deportation scheme means that Trump could be indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Friedrich Merz’s failure to secure the parliamentary majority needed to become German chancellor on his first attempt su...
05/06/2025

Friedrich Merz’s failure to secure the parliamentary majority needed to become German chancellor on his first attempt suggests his coalition may be even more fragile than assumed.

Read more in today’s Daily Review:

Friedrich Merz’s failure to initially secure the votes needed to become German chancellor suggests his coalition may be even more fragile than assumed.

It’s been nearly a year to the day since Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah shut down the country’s National A...
05/05/2025

It’s been nearly a year to the day since Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Sabah shut down the country’s National Assembly and suspended parts of the constitution for up to four years.

Kuwait was once known for its semi-autonomous parliament and relative democratic norms compared to the other Gulf Cooperation Council member states. But since last May, the country’s ruling family and royal-appointed Cabinet have centralized power, with the emir seeking to take the country’s economic future into his own hands.

As Jonathan Fenton-Harvey writes, Kuwait’s shift toward authoritarianism has been overshadowed by the wider momentous developments in the Middle East in 2024. But now it is using political centralization to play economic catch-up with the more prominent transformations of its GCC neighbors over the past decade.

Believing Kuwait has fallen behind its Gulf peers, the ruling family has curbed democracy and taken the country’s economic future in its own hands.

Holding a sword once owned by independence hero Simon Bolivar, Colombian President Gustavo Petro used the May 1 holiday ...
05/05/2025

Holding a sword once owned by independence hero Simon Bolivar, Colombian President Gustavo Petro used the May 1 holiday last week to officially announce his referendum for labor reforms.

With the Congress having killed his labor reform bill in early 2025, Petro believes taking the issue directly to the voters is a win-win gambit for him: Either it will score him a big policy victory now or it will set the political stage for his side to do well in the 2026 election, which Petro cannot contest due to constitutional term limits.

The dozen questions Petro announced still face roadblocks in Congress and the courts before they can go to voters. But Petro relishes the fight to come with the other institutions, seeing it as fuel he can use to rally support for himself and his proposals. However, as occurred two years ago when he initially launched his labor reform proposal, drama within Petro’s Cabinet once again threatens to derail his reform agenda, columnist James Bosworth writes.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is pushing for a referendum on labor reforms that should be popular. Drama in his Cabinet is threatening to derail it.

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