By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
Two weeks after the US president, Joe Biden, signed off on a US$60 billion (£50 billion) package of military aid to Kyiv, the impact on the battlefield has been relatively modest.
According to an assessment by the Washington-based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War on May 6, Russian offensive…
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By Marcel Nagar, Senior Researcher/Lecturer, University of Johannesburg
A public policy works well if it’s a good policy and if it’s carried out well. Politicians make policy and specialist bureaucrats in the public service carry it out. These appointed officials are supposed to follow a strict professional and ethical code of conduct.
Over the past 30 years, South Africa has not had this kind of public service. Public servants have not been able to put into practice the policies designed to end poverty, inequality and unemployment.
My research has centred on the intersection between bureaucracy, democracy and development in Africa under the…
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By Fernanda Canofre
In May 4, 2024 while the world and the rest of Brazil reacted to free Madonna's concert in Rio, "gaúchos" had a night of terror, with people on their roofs, under the rain, waiting to be rescued.
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By Sydney Allen
While the annual Eurovision Song Contest is supposed to be a fun, apolitical event, organizer's decision to allow Israel to participate is drawing controversy and boycotts.
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By Laura
On top of the daily human rights violations, Sudan’s fourth civil war in 70 years is in danger of developing into a major humanitarian crisis.
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By Sydney Allen
South and Southeast Asia roasted in a record-setting heatwave that killed hundreds, forced some governments to close schools, and led to an uptick in health issues.
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By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest a new bill they claim was taken straight from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s playbook.
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By Misha Ketchell, Editor, The Conversation
Back in 1992, US political scientist Francis Fukuyama announced the end of history as a process of evolution and predicted the world would embrace Western liberal democracy.
Democracy’s downward trajectory over the following three decades is best summed up by the character in a Hemingway novel who described the process of going bankrupt as “gradual, then sudden”.
Already in 2024 we have seen several populist and authoritarian leaders across the world succeed by leaning into conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation. Sydney University democracy expert
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Incendiary damage to the Imam al-Kazem school, an IDP gathering site in El Geneina. © 2023 Roots for Human Rights and Monitoring Violations Attacks by the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias in El Geneina, capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, killed at least thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands as refugees.Committing serious violations that targeted the Massalit people and other non-Arab communities with the apparent objective of at least having them permanently leave the region constitutes ethnic cleansing.The United Nations and African Union should…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Protesters gathering to protest Georgia’s “Foreign influence” bill in Tbilisi, Georgia on the night of April 30, 2024. © 2024 Giorgi Gogia/Human Rights Watch (Berlin, May 9, 2024) – The Georgian parliament’s introduction of a bill obliging certain nongovernmental groups and media outlets to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power” threatens fundamental rights in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The bill, under debate since mid-April 2024, prompted harsh criticism from Georgia’s bilateral and international partners and led to some…
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