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Global Notebook, Europe
Saving Spain's Economy

After the Portuguese government requested a bailout from the European Union, many argued that Spain would be next in line. Although recent reforms led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero provide reason to be optimistic about Spain’s economy, they have come at a high political cost. In fact, Zapatero has announced that he will not run for a third term as Prime Minister to keep his party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), in power; however, current polls indicate that the PSOE will lose the next election anyway. Despite this weak standing, Zapatero is determined to continue pushing forward controversial economic reforms. 

By Jonatan Lemus  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Asia Pacific
No Revolution Here

In late February, dozens of helium-filled balloons drifted on southerly winds into North Korea. The seemingly innocuous incident drew a fierce response from Pyongyang, as North Korean officials threatened to target and kill those responsible for releasing the balloons.

By Kristine Lee  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Americas
Democratic Dishonesty

President Cristina Fernández Kirchner has reason to be optimistic. The first female president of Argentina is very likely to be competing for reelection in October and the latest opinion polls show that she is significantly more popular than her political rivals. Although the President’s popularity has taken dips in the past and her political career has seen its share of scandal, the government has been able to quickly recover its levels of popular approval. In 2009, President Kirchner achieved only slightly more than 30 percent approval in opinion polls; however, in a more recent Ipsos-Mora y Araújo poll, 65 percent of those interviewed described the presidential image as “good,” or even “very good.”

By Maria Shen  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Middle East
Shifting Loyalties

The recent uprising in Libya has highlighted Muammar Qaddafi’s expert ability to manipulate tribal rivalries to maintain his grip on power. In Qaddafi’s early days as leader,  he tried his best to build a unified national identity that trumped tribal sentiments; however, when Qaddafi’s popularity declined at the national level, he realized that manipulating tribal loyalties was his best hope for remaining in power. Following a coup attempt in 1993 staged by military leaders in the Warfalla tribe (Libya’s largest), Qaddafi started emphasizing tribal loyalty as a major identifying factor for Libyans. He then cemented his hold on power by setting rival tribes against each other, rewarding those loyal to him with political appointments and excluding those that opposed him.

By Richard Baxley  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Middle East
Licensed to Kill

The image of hundreds of Syrian women, carrying white cloths and olive branches in a protest against the government’s mass arrests of the men of their village in April, was indeed powerful. There, in the town of Baida, the women had seemed to be political equals of their men in the way they stood up, side by side, for their cause. Yet such seeming equality proves only to be an illusion for most Syrian women in their domestic lives. In fact, gender discrimination in Syrian law serves to institutionalize the social and cultural stigmas associated with sexual abuse, honor crimes, and divorce.

By Melissa Barber, Nancy Xie  |  January 12, 2012  |  1
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Global Notebook, Asia Pacific
Mirage or Reality?

With a harsh legal system that is hostile to governmental opposition, Malaysia is known as one of Asia’s most politically conservative countries. However, it may soon retire from this position of dubious honor, given Prime Minister Najib Razak’s recently announced plans to revolutionize Malaysia’s political climate. With political reform following so swiftly after Najib’s  succession of economic reforms last year, political activists and leaders of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance have been willing to offer praise, though their appreciation is tempered by wariness. Najib has built a reputation for grand gestures while in office, and one cannot assume the purity of his intentions.

By Catherine Yang  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Europe
Pressing for Change

On September 24, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev announced that he would step aside for his mentor and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to reclaim the presidency in 2012. Since he first took over the presidency in 2000 from Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics. With exceptional political finesse, Putin has systematically marginalized all opposition and built up the powerful United Russia Party. As it stands now, Russia can hardly be considered democratic. United Russia holds 315 of the 450 seats in the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, making Russia effectively a one-party state. Corruption abounds because government officials are not held accountable for their actions as long as they maintain their standing with United Russia.

By Timothy Hopper  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Americas
The Chavez Paradox

In June, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, traveled to Cuba for emergency surgery. A month later, the announcement that he was undergoing cancer treatment threw the apparent hegemony of his revolution into disarray and began to cast doubts on the future of his radical social agenda. Since then, updates concerning his health have been scarce, leading to rife speculation as to the exact nature of his illness and his political future. As Venezuela faces its greatest period of political uncertainty in close to a decade, the debate over the influence of 21st century Latin American socialism and its emblematic leader rages more intensely than it ever has.

By Alex Durand  |  January 12, 2012
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Africa, Global Notebook
Trading Up

During its half-century since independence, Nigeria has gained a reputation for inefficient use of its natural resources and a weak government system of patronage and high corruption. However, with the democratic election of previously de-facto President Goodluck Jonathan, experts believe that the country will finally be able to take off in growth. According to the economist Jeffrey Sachs, Nigeria has the potential to join the BRIC countries, turning it into BRINC (Brazil, Russia, India, Nigeria, China) by the end of the decade. Despite the country’s reforms since the death of the dictator Sani Abacha in 1998, it has been slow to develop its core infrastructure, with funds allocated for public projects often lining the pockets of government officials.

By Meng Chen  |  January 12, 2012
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Global Notebook, Middle East
Big Brother Politics

As Egypt moves from the euphoria of revolution to the less heady questions of timetables, candidates, and elections, the Arab world’s oldest and dominant Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, is again stepping into the Egyptian political and global media limelight. The country’s military rulers have just announced that voting for the People’s Assembly will begin on November 28 of this year, marking the first parliamentary elections since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak. Amid fears that the vote would divide Islamist parties and youth secular groups, however, the Muslim Brotherhood appears confident in its role in the transition process from military to civilian rule.

By Lena Bae  |  January 12, 2012
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