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Ukraine suffered a brutal winter. Russia lobbed missiles at civilian and energy infrastructure, attempting to terrorise the population and cut off the green shoots of economic growth. It had some [...]

UKRAINE'S WAR is raging on two fronts. On the 1,000km battlefront its armies are attacking the Russians' deep defences. At the same time, on the home front Ukraine is defining [...]

'We're in one hell of a mess,' declared Chris Patten, a former Conservative minister and establishment grandee, ruing the state of the nation. Inflation, slow economic growth and cack-handed monetary [...]

Theresa May, a former prime minister, was an underappreciated wordsmith. 'Brexit means Brexit' was magisterial in its circularity. 'No deal is better than a bad deal' stuck around long after [...]

A dose of competence goes a long way in British politics. Last week the budget provided a welcome contrast to its chaotic predecessor. This week Boris Johnson's blustering testimony to [...]

Other countries have managed to reform. Italy must not give up P AUL GINSBORG, a leading British historian of post-war Italy who died earlier this year, once wrote that, 'If [...]

Much to protest about Political instability has repeatedly hamstrung reform efforts I N FEW COUNTRIES can there be as much disdain for the political class as in Italy, not least [...]

The microphonic president The president is set to enact a sloppy and ominous new constitution I N A PAST life Kais Saied might have flunked himself for turning in such [...]

Many Saudis are seething at Muhammad bin Salman's reforms. Can they do anything about them? O N DECEMBER 30TH the authorities in Saudi Arabia stuck notices to the shrines in [...]

The Tories have got the wrong idea about why government isn't working THE YEAR was 1976 and revolution was in the air. Punk was destroying orthodoxies in the music business. [...]

Italians want fewer, better politicians IT IS NOT often that voters get a chance to cut politicians down to size. But on September 20th-21st, Italy's did--and they seized the opportunity [...]

Soldiers have toppled the president. Now what? MALIANS ARE no strangers to coups d'état. In 1991 the armed forces stepped in after sustained protests against Moussa Traoré, the dictator who [...]

Suppose France's president manages to transform his country and his continent FOR as long as anybody could remember, the French president had given his annual Bastille Day address in front [...]

The former British colony should be a place to experiment with political reform, not stifle it WHEN Britain handed Hong Kong back to China 20 years ago, many politicians in [...]

Aung San Suu Kyi is squandering the opportunity she spent 25 years fighting for SHE is the woman who faced down an army. After the military regime in Myanmar refused [...]

In office but not in power Iraq's prime minister has been in power barely a year, but is floundering AT ANY time, Haider al-Abadi would have made an unusual Middle [...]

A curious to-and-fro about China's constitution bodes ill for political reform FOR well over a century, Chinese scholars have been arguing about national constitutions. In the final years of the [...]

The leader of Uttar Pradesh learns how hard it is to change India's politics 'I AM a traditionalist,' says Akhilesh Yadav in his offices in stately Lucknow, capital of Uttar [...]

New rum in old bottles BEFORE winning the Dominican Republic's presidential election in May, Danilo Medina promised to 'continue with what works, fix what is wrong and do what has [...]

A reformed Myanmar could have a big effect on its neighbours THE visit of Aung San Suu Kyi to Thailand this week marked another extraordinary milestone in Myanmar's (so far) [...]

Two big successes, two big failures, and much of the rest hanging in the balance: the government's reforms have a patchy record TWO years ago Britain's first peacetime coalition government [...]

In the sticks, the army's business activities are all too present AFTER two decades spent punishing Myanmar with economic sanctions, now Western countries cannot seem to ditch them fast enough. [...]

Slowly but surely, the president is making her mark on the governmentDURING her first year as Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff was careful not to make changes so big that they [...]

The government in Myanmar continues to spring surprises, mostly hopeful ones IT WAS only the night before her release this week that they told her of her impending freedom. Just [...]

Slow down, says Abu Dhabi's crown prince The Arab awakening is making one of the richest of the Gulf states nervous FOUR months ago some prominent citizens of the United [...]

Two Croatian lawmakers closely linked to their country's bid to join the EU did not seem overly worried about a new French proposal to create an EU monitoring mechanism to [...]

Britain's voting system has its flaws: the reform on offer on May 5th does not fix them 'OUR political system is broken.' That blunt verdict on British democracy is not [...]

Age has at last caught up with the Castros and their revolution. New ideas are emerging slightly faster than new leaders WHEN serious illness forced him to hand over power [...]

The European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) has called on Turkish policy makers to intensify reforms in the country, in a motion for a resolution on Turkey's 2010 progress [...]

However restricted, the first elections in 20 years might just mark the start of something new CHINA will heap praise on Myanmar's elections on November 7th. So long as Aung [...]

The EU executive has welcomed the approval of changes to Turkey's constitution in a national referendum, describing it as a 'step in the right direction'. It warned, however, that it [...]

The EU Court Of Auditors says effectiveness must be improved in the European Commission's justice and home affairs (JHA) projects in the Western Balkans, particularly to make their results sustainable. [...]

The European Commission backs the opening of EU accession negotiations with Macedonia, which has had applicant status since December 2005. In its annual progress report, published on 14 October, the [...]

The much-neglected parliamentary polls in Tonga Tonga goes to the polls this week to elect a new parliament, in a contest that puts a spotlight on the kingdom's uneasy, and [...]

Nicolas Sarkozy's Thatcher moment IN A wintry November 12 years ago, a first-term French president brought weeks of chaos to the streets and paralysis to the railways by trying to [...]

Safety and Rule of Law 'Having a firmly embedded judicial system that is just, effective, accessible to all, administered by competent and independent judges who work independently of political influences [...]

In the space of just a few short weeks, the Cairo-born former head of the Vienna-headquartered International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei has become synonymous with the struggle for political [...]

In contrast to the altruism of the young men and women of the early days of the uprising in Libya, the political opportunism of the mini-Gadaitis who have emerged since, [...]