Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
With an unprecedented number of absentee ballots expected to be cast, key states unprepared to handle the influx, a post office accused of political machinations, and misinformation rife, polls suggest that many Americans will not view the outcome as legitimate, whoever wins.
There is a wide gap between the Washington policy establishment and the citizens it is meant to serve. It’s time to reconnect U.S. foreign policy to the needs of America’s middle class.
The United States needs a great renewal of its diplomatic capacity, balancing America’s ambitions with the limits of what is possible, and rooting reform in the people who animate U.S. diplomacy.
China’s failure to commit to reforms to move toward fairer conditions for European firms in the Chinese market, China’s actions in Hong Kong, and its increasing militarization of man-made islands in the South China Sea hardly deserve a fete.
The roots of polarisation in these countries run deep, usually dating back to at least the first half of the 20th century and the formation of modern nation-states
Political violence in democracies often seems spontaneous: an angry mob launching a pogrom, a lone shooter assassinating a president. But in fact, the crisis has usually been building for years, and the risk factors are well known. The United States is now walking the last steps on that path.
Democracy is in desperate need of renewed international support. The pandemic adds to the challenge but may provide a window of opportunity.
Latin America faces a critical test: Can it overcome economic crisis without sinking into democratic dysfunction?
Can technology still be a force for democratic renewal and change?
Building gender-equal democracies requires both political representation and economic justice.