Avigdor Lieberman: Vindication of the Outsider
One afternoon this winter, at a cafe in central Tel Aviv, I happened to overhear a discussion of politics at a nearby table of older men, convened in their own “parliament.” After cursing both the government’s politicians and the inept opposition, several spoke in praise of Avigdor Lieberman, the former political outsider who speaks Hebrew […]
Suriname’s Hinge Election
Suriname, a small, resource-rich country with a population of 600,000, faces a consequential election in May 2025, when its current president, Chan Santokhi, seeks re-election. Owing to limited polling data, the outcome remains uncertain. But these elections will be pivotal for the country’s economic reform agenda and oil prospects and thus its economic future, as highlighted […]
Quo Vadis Germany: Is It Ready for an Era of Great Power Conflict?
The German term Zeitenwende, or historic turning point, entered the American political lexicon three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022. On that day, Chancellor Olaf Scholz convoked a special session of the Bundestag and employed this term to underscore the need for a dramatic change in Germany’s foreign and national security […]
Democracy in Poland
Poland’s democratic transition is proving to be turbulent and challenging. The liberal center-right government led by Donald Tusk took office on December 13, 2023, after eight years of rule by “Law and Justice,” a nationalist right-wing party. The new government’s reform efforts face the kind of domestic opposition that may pose the biggest threat to […]
Even Before the Guns Fall Silent: Israel’s Political Debates Reawaken
As 2024 began, the Israeli war effort in the Gaza Strip changed in nature (see Israel Shifts Tactics in Gaza), with the focus shifting to the battles in the central and southern areas and to special forces operations against Hamas’ immense tunnel system. But the hostage situation remained unresolved, with 136 still held according to […]
A Libertarian Shakes Up Argentina
Promising libertarian economic shock therapy and a new foreign policy, President Javier Milei is taking Argentina’s political scene by storm. A Mandate for Change With an eleven-percentage point electoral victory on November 19, President Milei claims a mandate for radical change. His inauguration speech on December 10 broke with a tradition of addressing the legislature. […]
Israel’s Divided Government, the Palestinians, and the US
The November 2022 elections in Israel gave the present coalition a clear majority of 64 out of 120 members of the Knesset. The coalition intended to produce a government with a firm rightwing ideological orientation. At long last, Likud party loyalists cheered, we don’t need to compromise with centrist or left-leaning partners. >> Insight from […]
The Leaderless Protest Movement in Israel
Since December 2022, every Saturday evening after Shabbat, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated against the judicial reform proposals of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government. Former generals and judges, economists, journalists, hi-tech professionals, medical workers, shopkeepers, young students and their grandparents who fought in the War of Independence, native-born Israelis and recent immigrants, and Arab […]
Not Much Left
Israeli election results of the past 30 years illustrate the dramatic decline of Israel’s formerly ruling left. In the 1992 elections, under the leadership of the late Yitzhak Rabin, the Labor Party won 44 seats (out of 120) in the Knesset, and his Meretz partner (led by its late leader, the sharp and acerbic Yossi […]
The Seismic Effects of the War in Ukraine
A dangerous, uncertain transition to a different global system may lie ahead, due to structural and economic reasons, which bring the impact of the war to practically every doorstep worldwide.
