In The News

New York Times: Erdoğan’s Victory in Turkey

Carlotta Gall June 25, 2018
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won reelection in Turkey, convincing a slim majority that a strong centralized government and increased controls contribute to security. Critics express concern about increasing authoritarianism for Turkey. The president will oversee a polarized country with fewer checks on his power and “a pliant Parliament, with his conservative party and its allies having won about 53...

BBC: Italy Political Crisis Hits Stock Markets

May 29, 2018
Italy is in political upheaval three months after the election and protracted negotiations between Five Star and League, two parties combined that won 50 percent of the vote. President Sergio Mattarella “vetoed their choice of a eurosceptic economy minister, and appointed former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli as interim prime minister with the task of trying to form a...

New York Times: Summary of US Russia Investigation

Mikayla Bouchard May 17, 2018
US special counsel Robert Mueller and a team of investigators have been at work for a year examining Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. A US Senate committee, also investigating, has released multiple documents. The New York Times presents a timeline summarizing themes of the investigation along with key dates, participants and targets. The investigation focuses on...

Financial Times: Could the Euro’s Italian “Nightmare” Come True?

Mehreen Khan May 15, 2018
More than 10 weeks after its election, Italy’s Five Star Movement and the far-right League struggle to the finishing touches on a ruling coalition, extending negotiations over issues dividing the parties including who will serve as prime minister. Coalition proposals include a reduced income tax, a flat tax, social security payments and a return to old pension rules. Previous governments had...

Atlantic Council: Win for Democracy in Malaysia

Huihui Ooi May 11, 2018
Opposition leader Tun Mahathir Mohamad, 92, is Malaysia’s new prime minister after defeating the incumbent’s Barisan Nasional coalition. “This is the first time since Malaysia’s independence in 1957 that an election has brought about a transfer of power and an end to BN rule in the Muslim-majority nation,” notes Huihui Ooi of the Atlantic Council, adding that the surprise outcome defies an...

The New Yorker: Egypt's Farcical Election

Lauren Bohn April 4, 2018
US President Donald Trump has broken with American diplomatic tradition by welcoming with open arms the current Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, a former general with a spotty human rights record. El-Sisi captured 97 percent of the vote in this year’s election, where only one opponent remained in the race long enough for voters to see his name on the ballot. That lone opponent, Mousa...

The Telegraph: Victory for Eurosceptic, Populist Parties in Italy Election

Nick Squires and Peter Foster March 5, 2018
Italian voters supported anti-establishment, populist and Euroskeptic parties in Sunday’s election, but no party received the required 40 percent for running the government and a coalition will be necessary. Europe’s fourth largest economy is flailing and concern runs high about unrestrained migration. Unofficial results suggest that Five Star Movement lead by capturing about one-third of all...