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1. Are greater global controls needed on the Internet to better combat terrorism?
2. Will Shinzo Abe succeed in modifying Article IX of the Japanese Constitution by the end of his tenure in office?
3. Should the international community be concerned over China’s disregard of a Hague tribunal decision concerning the South China Sea?
4. Would the creation of a common passport zone across Africa enhance the continent’s economic status?
5. What needs to be done to resolve Mexico’s teacher protests?
6. How should Pakistani officials respond to the death of Qandeel Baloch?
7. What should be Theresa May’s top priority?
8. Should the UN send more peacekeepers to South Sudan?
9. Will Turkey’s failed coup allow Erdogan to further consolidate power?
10. What changes need to be made to French counter-terror efforts?
For the last thirty-two years Turkey has been in conflict with Kurdish separatists. These separatists, of which the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is most prominent, desire to create an autonomous Kurdish republic, arguing that Turkey represses Kurdish culture. In fact, the Kurds are the world’s largest ethnic group that lacks a state, with peoples scattered across Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria. Since 1984, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 20,000 soldiers and civilians and although some Turkish governments have attempted to solve the conflict, either to create more domestic stability or win favor with the European Union (EU), the conflict has resumed due to disputes over Turkey’s handling of the Islamic State and the Turkish government’s crackdown on Kurdish activists. Human Rights Watch has criticized both sides for violating the rights of civilians and combatants, and ending the conflict is in the Turkish government’s best interest for the sake of its international reputation and economy.
For the past decade and a half, leftist politicians in Latin America were elected at a higher rate than their conservative counterparts. These leftist leaders, which included Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Brazil’s Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, all campaigned on promises of enlarging the welfare structures of their respective states and some, including Chavez and Morales, made moves to nationalize elements of the national economy to better distribute resource wealth to their people. However, falling global demand for commodities, in addition to corruption scandals and poor policy decisions, have created a gradual backlash against leftist leaders in the region. Whereas once it was great to rail against “neoliberal” economic policies and American influence, voters in Latin America have begun to give free market, conservative leaders an audience due to economic downturns, anxieties about the fiscal soundness of some Latin American nations, and shortages of vital consumer goods (notably in Venezuela).
Although the Cold War has been over with for decades one of its proxy conflicts persists. The Korean Peninsula today remains divided between a democratic, capitalist South Korea and a totalitarian, communist North Korea, with both sides technically still at war since an armistice ended the Korean War from 1950-1953. The United States still bases more than 30,000 troops in South Korea, anticipating a North Korean attack due to threats made by current and past leaders, notably King Jong-un and his father Kim Jong-il. What makes North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric concerning is that it has enhanced its nuclear capabilities since the 1990s. The international community has worked to punish the North for this activity, but the regime has persisted and analysts worry that its missile technology is steadily improving, with some worrying that one day the North might have the ability to target Hawaii, Alaska, or the West Coast of the United States. Nevertheless, are worries about North Korea, a regime that struggles to feed its own people, justified? It is not uncommon for extempers to make such calculations in rounds concerning East Asia or foreign policy and that is what this topic brief will attempt to help with.