Though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won the latest general election, their loss of an absolute legislative majority looks a lot like defeat, while the resurgent opposition’s defeat looks a lot like victory. That is good news for Indian democracy.
Fed up with endemic corruption, inequality, and dysfunctional politics, many young people across the West are drawn to far-right politics. If center-left and progressive parties cannot win back the youth vote, extremists like Donald Trump could get their chance to destroy the norms and institutions that allow democracy to function.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s landslide victory in this week’s presidential election raises significant concerns about the future of Mexico’s young democracy. If she pursues outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s electoral and judicial reforms, she will effectively eliminate Mexico’s remaining checks and balances.
As voters head to the polls to elect a new European Parliament, many observers fear that far-right parties will unite to destroy the European Union from within. While that outcome seems unlikely, the continued mainstreaming of the far right means that these parties will almost surely wield significant policy influence.
We are entering a period of deteriorating US-China relations, with each side backed by its own allies and operating in its own international forums. While the precise impact of the changing geopolitical balance remains unknown, it is clearly becoming an impediment to addressing humanity’s most pressing problems.
With US think tanks having already drawn up plans for instituting an authoritarian government under a second Donald Trump administration, the stakes in the year's presidential election are difficult to overstate. Around the world, "strongmen" are turning democratic institutions on themselves and learning from each other.
While the United States recently warned that Palestine is facing fiscal collapse, few informed observers are surprised that the Gaza war’s economic fallout has spread to the West Bank. The G7 and the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee must help the Palestinian economy tap international financial assistance like any other developing country.
The new US tariffs President Joe Biden's administration has imposed on imports from China will not create jobs in America, support green technologies, or promote human rights. Adopted in a fit of panic, all they will do is help him lose this year's election to Donald Trump, adding to growing fears about the future of democracy.
Despite its initial success, the European Union’s Green Deal must be updated to account for today’s shifting geopolitical landscape and rapidly escalating climate crisis. To remain competitive, EU member states must ramp up their decarbonization efforts, protect biodiversity, and ensure a just energy transition.
With major central banks poised to cut interest rates in the not-too-distant future, regulators should start getting ahead of the foreseeable risks to financial markets and the real economy. At a time when asset prices are already elevated, lower borrowing costs will invite even more leverage and speculation.
