Political Geography: - CIAO Search Results

301. Ethnic Conflicts in Ghana: Colonial Legacy and Elite Mobilisation

Author:: Beenish Ayub
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: This research paper examines the relationship between ethnic conflicts in Africa and their roots in the colonial legacy and elite mobilisation, focusing on the case study of Ghana by taking into account the regions of Dagbon and Bawku as examples. It examines how the dynamics of ethnic tensions in the post-colonial age have been influenced by the colonial past of Africa, which was marked by arbitrary borders, dividing policies, and preferential treatment of particular ethnic groups. The paper also looks into how Ghana’s political elites use ethnic tensions for personal advantage, escalating disputes and impeding national unity. This study intends to provide a thorough knowledge of the complex interaction between colonial legacies, elite mobilisation, and ethnic conflicts in Ghana and Africa by analysing historical documents, academic writings, and empirical data.
Topic:: Ethnic Conflict, Elites, Mobilization, and Post-Colonial
Political Geography:: Africa and Ghana

302. Africa Through the Lens of Chaos and Complexity

Author:: Fernando Jorge Cardoso and José Manuel Félix Ribeiro
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:: Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:: Africa cannot be looked at as a big country. The Continent is politically organised into 54 states, which are very diverse entities with different histories within and without their borders. Almost all these states are multinational - multiethnic places with different regions, and when emergency or crisis situations arise, people’s “sense of belonging” is usually in the family, in the tribe, in the language, or in the religious group, not in “the state”. However, notwithstanding this reality, many analyses and positions are still based on neo-realist readings, assuming the existence of rationalities that do not exist or are not strong enough to understand the dominant realities. The article applies some of the tools of the Complexity theory to look at the current African situation and politics.
Topic:: Development, Politics, and Complexity
Political Geography:: Africa

303. Lowering the Cost of Capital for Climate and SDG Finance in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs)

Author:: Jeffrey Sachs, Lisa Sachs, Ana Maria Camelo Vega, and Bradford M. Willis
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:: Today, the world’s fastest-growing economies face the steepest borrowing costs — even for clean energy projects with solid fundamentals. This is not a function of global capital scarcity. Trillions are available. The problem lies in systemic barriers that prevent capital from flowing to where it’s most urgently needed. The high cost of capital in EMDEs not only undermines critical financing for the energy transition and sustainable development; it also limits the ability for US- and EU-based financial institutions to invest in and finance projects in EMDEs, despite institutional and stakeholder appetite and interest for transition finance. This paper provides a holistic diagnosis of the structural forces inflating the cost of capital in EMDEs – including sovereign credit ratings, investor risk perceptions, development finance mandates, and regulatory norms – and it outlines ten actionable solutions to unlock long-term, affordable finance for climate and sustainable development – at the speed and scale required by both global goals and national ambitions. Each of the proposed approaches deserves careful discussion, consideration, and exploration; they are presented in this paper as a roadmap for discussion, including in the context of relevant global discussions on financing climate action and sustainable development, including the UN Financing for Development Agenda, the UNFCCC COP process, and the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group.
Topic:: Development, Emerging Markets, Climate Finance, Sustainable Development Goals, and Capital
Political Geography:: Global Focus

304. Distinguishing Among Climate Change-Related Risks

Author:: Lisa Sachs, Denise Hearn, Matt Goldklang, and Perrine Toledano
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Abstract:: Understanding the diverse types of climate change-related risks is crucial for developing effective strategies to address the global climate crisis. A holistic yet disaggregated approach allows for a comprehensive view of the challenges while enabling targeted responses from various stakeholders. This document outlines three main categories of climate-related risks: planetary, economic, and financial, detailing their relevance to various stakeholders, timeframes, and potential response strategies. This short brief aims to disentangle the complex nature of risk discussions for productive discourse and appropriate risk management approaches for different stakeholders. In practice, discussions related to assessing and responding to climate change risk have conflated categories of risk, confusing discussions and undermining the effectiveness of related strategies. We hope this brief can bring clarity and rigor to analyses of risk and support constructive discussion among policymakers, financial institutions, social sector actors, and the public. We plan to follow this short briefing with a longer report including more detailed analysis, integrating feedback to these initial ideas.
Topic:: Climate Change, Finance, Economy, Investment, Risk, and Sustainability
Political Geography:: Global Focus

305. Pakistan Security Report 2024: An Abridged Version

Author:: Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS)
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS)
Abstract:: Marking a 70% increase from the previous year, Pakistan experienced a total of 521 terrorist attacks in 2024. This intensified wave of terrorism claimed 852 lives, reflecting a 23% rise compared to the terrorism-related fatalities recorded the year before. Another 1,092 people were injured in these attacks recorded during the year. Although terrorist attacks were recorded in all four provinces and the federal capital in 2024, over 95% of them were concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. In 2024, a significant increase in militant fatalities was observed during operational strikes conducted by security forces in Pakistan. Compared to 373 militants killed in such operations in 2023, the number rose to 621 in 2024, marking a rise of over 66%. Overall, security forces and law enforcement agencies carried out 158 anti-militant operations in 2024, which was a 22% increase from the previous year. These are some of the key findings from Pakistan Security Report 2024, prepared and released by Pak Institute for Peace Studies.
Topic:: Security, Terrorism, Law Enforcement, and Counter-terrorism
Political Geography:: Pakistan and South Asia

306. The Two Faces of American Freedom with Aziz Rana (Episode 28)

Author:: Aziz Rana and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: Let’s take stock of the American experience within the global history of colonialism – specifically by examining the intertwined relationship in U.S. constitutional practice between internal accounts of freedom and external projects of power and expansion. This episode reinterprets American political traditions from the colonial period to modern times by placing race, immigration, and national security in the context of shifting notions of empire and citizenship. Host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) addresses these issues with “The Two Faces of American Freedom (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978...) ” author and Boston College Law Professor Aziz Rana (https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/law...) .
Topic:: National Security, Race, History, Immigration, Constitution, and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

307. Displacement and Erasure in Palestine: The Politics of Hope with Noa Shaindlinger

Author:: Noa Shaindlinger
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: The lecture explores the ways in which Palestinians negotiate physical and symbolic erasures by producing their own archives and historical narratives. With a focus on the city of Jaffa and its displaced Palestinian population, Professor Noa Shaindlinger argues that the Israeli state ‘buried’ histories of mass expulsions and spatial appropriations.
Topic:: History, Displacement, Settler Colonialism, Palestinians, Erasure, and Hope
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

308. Islamophobia, Race and Global Politics with Nazia Kazi (Episode 27)

Author:: Nazia Kazi and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: This week’s episode offers a powerful introduction to the scope of Islamophobia in the United States. The legacy of Barack Obama and the mainstream media’s typically negative portrayals of Muslims offer incisive examples into the vast impact of Islamophobia – connected to the long history of racism – both within the borders of the United States, and as a matter of foreign policy and global politics. Host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) addresses these issues with “Islamophobia, Race and Global Politics (https://www.amazon.com/Islamophobia-R...) ” author and Stockton University Professor Nazia Kazi (https://drnaziakazi.com/) .
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Race, Islamophobia, and Global Politics
Political Geography:: Global Focus and United States of America

309. Hate Crimes, Terrorism and the Framing of White Supremacist Violence with Shirin Sinnar (Episode 26)

Author:: Shirin Sinnar and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: In the face of pervasive racial violence in American society, the effort to address and subdue white supremacist extremism has been underserved by the framing of “hate crimes,” and the movement to re-frame these events as domestic terrorism, as these terms do not meet the heavy task of eliminating the perpetuation of institutional oppression.
Topic:: Security, Terrorism, White Supremacy, Racism, Hate Crimes, and Domestic Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States of America and North America

310. What Lies Ahead for Syria: A Conversation with Dr. Omar Dahi (Episode 25)

Author:: Omar Dahi and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: A complex array of domestic, regional, and international factors contributed to the rise of Hafez Al Assad as president of Syria in 1970 and the ultimate demise of his son, Bashar Al Assad on December 8, 2024 – thirteen years after the Syrian people unsuccessfully rose up peacefully as part of the regional phenomena commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Located at the center of geopolitical competition between Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, the nation of Syria will continue to play an instrumental role in regional politics, which in turn impacts U.S. interests in the oil-rich Middle East.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Arab Spring, Syrian War, Bashar al-Assad, Post-Conflict, and Regional Politics
Political Geography:: Middle East and Syria

311. ICC Investigation of Biden Administration Officials for Aiding Israeli War Crimes with Sarah Leah Whitson

Author:: Sarah Whitson and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: In January of 2025, the human rights organization, Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) (https://dawnmena.org/) , made a formal request with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate former U.S. officials President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for their accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. With the support of ICC-registered lawyers and other war crimes experts, the submission details a pattern of deliberate and purposeful decisions by these officials to provide military, political, and public support to facilitate Israeli crimes in Gaza; this support included at least $17.9 billion of weapons transfers, intelligence sharing, targeting assistance, diplomatic protection, and official endorsement of Israeli crimes, despite knowledge of how such support had and would substantially enable grave abuses. Join host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) in conversation with Sarah Leah Whitson (https://dawnmena.org/experts/sarah-le...) , executive director of DAWN, about the key facts and law supporting the request for the International Criminal Court to investigate Biden officials for aiding and abetting Israeli War Crimes in Gaza.
Topic:: International Law, War Crimes, International Criminal Court (ICC), and Joe Biden
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and United States of America

312. Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir of Surviving India's Caste System with Yashica Dutt

Author:: Yashica Dutt
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: Born into a “formerly untouchable manual-scavenging family in small-town India,” Yashica Dutt was taught from a young age to not appear “Dalit looking.” Although prejudice against Dalits, who compose 25% of the population, has been illegal since 1950, caste-ism in India is alive and well. Blending her personal history with extensive research and reporting, Dutt provides an incriminating analysis of caste’s influence in India over everything from entertainment to judicial systems and how this discrimination has carried over to US institutions.
Topic:: Minorities, Discrimination, Institutions, Judiciary, and Caste
Political Geography:: South Asia, India, and United States of America

313. Race and Empire: Legal Theory Within, Through and Across National Borders with Asli Bali

Author:: Asli Bâli and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: In the Global South, the possibility of a post-imperial reality self-determined by former subjects of the empire has been undermined by the dominant Western narrative that centers “humanitarian initiatives, politics of counterterrorism, and migration control”. Host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) will speak with expert, advocate and Law Professor Dr. Asli U. Bali to deconstruct the mainstream narrative that portrays the international system and its dominant actors as benevolent agents of humanitarianism in regions like Libya.
Topic:: Imperialism, Race, Global South, Self-Determination, International System, and Post-Colonial
Political Geography:: Global Focus and United States of America

314. Silencing Dissent:The Islamophobia Industry's Assault on Academic Freedom

Author:: Mobashra Tazamal and Nader Hashemi
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: The few academic centers in the United States focused on combating Islamophobia are under attack by special interest groups and politicians opposed to equality of speech, knowledge production, and rights for Muslims. Experts will discuss the origins and harms arising from the Islamophobia industry's assault on academic freedom.
Topic:: Freedom of Expression, Islamophobia, Knowledge Production, Academic Freedom, and Muslims
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

315. Post-Colonial Legality and Human Rights with Abdullahi An-Naim (Episode 31)

Author:: Abdullahi An-Naim and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: Autonomy and self-determination for all individuals cannot be realized and sustained unless true within every person. Enslavement and dehumanization remain true of citizens of imperial nations so long as they remain true for colonized peoples. This week’s episode explores the contradictions between stated commitments to human rights and actions in Western and post-colonial societies. Host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) addresses these issues with Emory University School of Law Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (https://law.emory.edu/faculty/faculty...) .
Topic:: Human Rights, Imperialism, Self-Determination, and Post-Colonial
Political Geography:: Global Focus

316. The Last Plantation: Racism and Resistance in the Halls of Congress with James Jones (3/25/25)

Author:: James Jones
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: Federal lawmakers, congressional employees, and political journalists have labeled Congress the "Last Plantation." Professor James Jones examines the careers, experiences, and activism of Black congressional staffers, demonstrating how lawmakers have maintained a racialized workplace.
Topic:: Domestic Politics, Racism, and Congress
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

317. Race, Women and the Global War on Terror with Sherene Razack (Episode 30)

Author:: Sherene Razack
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: This episode of the Race and Rights podcast features Professor Sherene Razack (https://gender.ucla.edu/person/sheren...) discuss how racialized Muslim bodies and gender are constructed by global white supremacy that produces and sustains networks, affinities and ideas in the so-called Global War on Terror. Sherene Razack (https://gender.ucla.edu/person/sheren...) is a Distinguished Professor and the Penny Kanner Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and author of the Nothing Has to Make Sense: Upholding White Supremacy through Anti-Muslim Racism (https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/nothing...) (University of Minnesota 2022).
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Race, Women, Islamophobia, War on Terror, and White Supremacy
Political Geography:: Global Focus and United States of America

318. The Question of Palestine and Zionism’s Internal Debates After 1948 with Dr. Zachary Foster

Author:: Zachary Foster
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: A Teach In focused on the debates between the Zionist right and the Zionist left, Israel's Judaization programs, and its policies of displacement, land confiscation and Jewish supremacy in historic Palestine.
Topic:: Zionism, Displacement, Settler Colonialism, Right-Wing Politics, and Judaization
Political Geography:: Middle East and Palestine

319. Syria and Seismic Shifts in Middle East Politics with Bassam Haddad (Episode 29)

Author:: Sahar Aziz and Bassam Haddad
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: Syria's complex history and politics led to the overthrow of Bashar Al Assad on December 8, 2024 – as unexpected as the Arab Spring revolutions that gripped the Middle East thirteen years earlier. Located at the center of regional competition, the nation of Syria will continue to experience foreign intervention from its neighbors, as well as the United States. Meanwhile, the millions of Syrian refugees outside the country are gradually returning to rebuild their homeland. Host Sahar Aziz (https://law.rutgers.edu/bio/sa1356) speaks with Professor Bassam Haddad (https://schar.gmu.edu/profiles/bhaddad) about the origins of Syria’s uprising in 2011 that culminated in the overthrow of the Assad regime in 2024, the current uncertainty of Syria in regional politics, and what to expect in U.S. Middle East policy under the second Trump administration.
Topic:: Syrian War, Foreign Interference, Bashar al-Assad, and Regional Politics
Political Geography:: Middle East and Syria

320. In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story with Dr. Ghada Karmi

Author:: Ghada Karmi
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:: Ghada Karmi speaks about the loss of her home in Jerusalem when she was a child, and what a life in exile has meant for someone longing to turn back the clock and return to that time and place. Running through her story are themes of displacement, loss of belonging, and a split identity - familiar to all those who have been evicted from their homeland.
Topic:: Displacement, Identity, Belonging, Exile, and Palestinians
Political Geography:: Middle East, Palestine, and Jerusalem

321. 50-30: From the Fall of Saigon to U.S. Political Participation

Author:: Duy Linh Tu, Lan Cao, and Hoi Trinh
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: Duy Linh Tu, Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia Journalism School, moderates a discussion with Lan Cao of the Chapman University School of Law and Hoi Trinh, Executive Director, Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment, that traces the arc of Vietnamese American political engagement over the past 50 years. Co-hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Columbia Journalism School, this program was part of the three-day series "50-30: From War to Peace in Vietnam and the United States," held at Columbia University from April 30 – May 2, 2025.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Vietnam War, and Political Engagement
Political Geography:: Vietnam, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States of America

322. 50-30: New Histories of the Republic of Vietnam and the South Vietnamese Diaspora

Author:: Edward Miller, Mai Elliott, Sean Fear, and Adrienne Le
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: The Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI) launches its three-day series of programs commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the 30th anniversary of U.S.-Vietnam reconciliation with a panel discussion chaired by WEAI Director Lien-Hang Nguyen. Participants include: Moderator: Edward Miller, Dartmouth College Speakers: Mai Elliott, Pomona College (emeritus) Sean Fear, Leeds University Adrienne Le, Columbia University Lien-Hang Nguyen; John Phan, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures; and Duy Linh Tu, Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism, all deliver opening remarks prior to the panel. (The panel begins at 10:50.) Co-hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Columbia Journalism School, this program was part of the three-day series "50-30: From War to Peace in Vietnam and the United States," held at Columbia University from April 30 – May 2, 2025.
Topic:: Diaspora, History, and Vietnam War
Political Geography:: Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and South Vietnam

323. 50-30: Lessons from the U.S.-Vietnam Reconciliation: Roadmap for the World

Author:: Wafaa El-Sadr, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Paige Arthur, Dany Dinh Quy, and Adam Tooze
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: Commemorating 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and the 30th anniversary of the U.S.-Vietnam rapprochement, members of Columbia Global and Vietnam's former representative at the United Nations reflect on potential lessons for the rest of the world in the two countries' gradual reconciliation. Chair: Wafaa El-Sadr, Executive Vice President of Columbia Global Moderator: Jean-Marie Guehenno, Director of the Kent Global Leadership Program on Conflict Resolution, SIPA Speakers: Paige Arthur, Director of Global Programming, Columbia Global Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, former Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations Adam Tooze, Chair of the Committee on Global Thought; Director of the European Institute; Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History Hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and co-sponsored by Columbia Global, this program was part of the three-day series "50-30: From War to Peace in Vietnam and the United States," held at Columbia University from April 30 through May 2, 2025.
Topic:: Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Reconciliation, Vietnam War, and Rapprochement
Political Geography:: Vietnam, North America, Southeast Asia, and United States of America

324. 50-30: Conversations Left Unsettled — Healing the Wounds of War in Vietnam Through the Arts

Author:: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Tony Bui
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, this conversation among poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai; photographer Peter Steinhauer; and film director Tony Bui explores how the arts can reassess troubled legacies, foster dialogue, and build bridges for new generations. Speakers: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, poet and author Peter Steinhauer, photographer Moderator: Tony Bui, filmmaker; Artist in Residence, Weatherhead East Asian Institute; Adjunct Professor, School of the Arts This program was part of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute's three-day series "50-30: From War to Peace in Vietnam and the United States," held at Columbia University from April 30 through May 2, 2025.
Topic:: Arts, Reconciliation, Vietnam War, and Dialogue
Political Geography:: Vietnam and Southeast Asia

325. Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development

Author:: Angus Lockyer
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: On April 13, Osaka opened its third and Japan's sixth international exhibition, or expo. This talk draws on a new book to sketch how the latest exhibition emerges from more than a century and a half of exhibitionism, which has included over 1,000 expos in Japan. This history offers a useful, corrective lens on standard accounts of both spectacle and modern Japanese development. Angus Lockyer has taught Japanese, East Asian, and global history in North Carolina and London. "Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development" was published by Cambridge University Press earlier this year. "Japan: A History in Objects," based on the collection of the British Museum, will come out in 2026. Lockyer currently lives in Rhode Island and teaches at RISD. Hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
Topic:: Development, History, and Museums
Political Geography:: Japan and Asia

326. Precarious Geographies: Migrant Labor in China’s Network Production

Author:: Na Fu
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: As industrial production decentralizes, rural China has become a new hub for networked manufacturing, blurring the boundaries between factory and home. Migrant workers are returning to their hometowns to set up workshop-style facilities, driven by labor shortages, infrastructure improvements, and digital connectivity. Na Fu's study examines how mobility, once seen as a path to opportunity, now reinforces labor precarity, reshaping spatial and economic relations under China’s evolving network production system. Na Fu holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the New School for Social Research and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at China Initiative at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Her research explores the intersections of digital labor, political economy, and smart production, focusing on how technological advancements reinforce social inequities and drive resource extraction in industrial transformations. This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
Topic:: Economics, Manufacturing, Migrant Workers, and Production
Political Geography:: China and Asia

327. Left to Live and Die: Resource Security and the Biopolitics of Land Stockpiling in China

Author:: Ross Doll
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: February 27, 2025 — Beginning in 2007 the Chinese state used liberalizing policy and funding to encourage the expansion of large-scale grain farming. Despite this support, many of the new farms have financially struggled and folded. Drawing on Foucauldian biopolitics and resource security literature, Ross Doll argues that with modernized agriculture the state primarily sought to create not commercial farms but redundant farming infrastructure, which it needed to buffer its growing reliance on food imports while abiding by the global trade regulations needed to sustain its urban export manufacturing economy. Ross Doll is a lecturer in the UC-Berkeley Blum Center for Developing Economies. He researches agrarian change in Asia drawing on political ecology, cultural geography, and resilience ecology. Based on longterm ethnography, his current research considers the origins and influence of contemporary state-led agricultural modernization in the Yangzi Delta region of China, focusing on food security, landscape, and rural politics. Dr. Doll teaches courses on the geographies of natural resources, global and Asian development, and global poverty. He holds a PhD in Geography and a MA in China Studies from the University of Washington. This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and co-sponsored by China Center for Social Policy.
Topic:: Agriculture, Manufacturing, Imports, Farming, Biopolitics, Political Ecology, and Resources
Political Geography:: China and Asia

328. From the Country to the City, Life Today in Chengdu

Author:: Ning Yuan
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: Ning Yuan is the author of several widely circulated works of fiction, owns a bookstore in Chengdu, has a clothing line made of natural fibers, and has led in the redevelopment of a village in Sichuan that was devastated by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Ning Yuan will introduce her various activities as described above and relate them to her observations on Chinese society, especially in Chengdu and environs.
Topic:: Development, Rural, and Cities
Political Geography:: China and Asia

329. Public Expectations of Government Responses to Security Contingencies Around Japan

Author:: Satoshi Machidori, Harukata Takenaka, Amy Catalinac, and Kenneth McElwain
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: In this workshop, scholars Satoshi Machidori and Harukata Takenaka speak on Japanese public attitudes toward possible geopolitical contingencies in the light of changing international environment in East Asia. Their new, large-scale survey experiment examines voter assessments of possible government responses to security crises, including a possible Taiwan contingency. The report also analyzes how perceptions of shared ethnicity may affect public reactions to a hypothetical threat from a democratic regime, expanding the research on the relationship between ethnicity and democratic peace. This research is part of a multi-year study project by ROLES (Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology Open Laboratory for Emergence Strategies, University of Tokyo). Speakers: Satoshi Machidori, Professor of Political Science, Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University, Japan Harukata Takenaka, Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies = GRIPS, Japan Discussant: Amy Catalinac, Associate Professor of Politics, NYU Moderator: Kenneth Mori McElwain, Visiting Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Columbia University Hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and co-sponsored by China and the World Program and APEC Study Center.
Topic:: Security, Public Opinion, Geopolitics, and Ethnicity
Political Geography:: Japan and Asia

330. Ronnie C. Chan: The Past, Present, and Future of U.S.-China Relations

Author:: Ronnie C. Chan and Lien-Hang Nguyen
Publication Date:: 12-2025
Content Type:: Video
Institution:: Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:: December 2, 2024 — Ronnie C. Chan, Honorary Chair of Hang Lung Properties and Chair Emeritus of the Asia Society, speaks with Lien-Hang Nguyen, Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, about the implications of the 2024 U.S. presidential election for the future of U.S.-China relations and global stability. Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong and University Professor Jeffrey Sachs contribute introductory remarks.
Topic:: Bilateral Relations, Elections, and Political stability
Political Geography:: China, Asia, North America, and United States of America

331. Reforming Iran’s Energy Policy: Strategies for Sustainability, Subsidies, and Global Integration

Author:: Behdad Gilzad Kohan and Hamid Dahouei
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: Iran’s energy sector, rich in natural gifts and brimming with potential, struggles to realize its promise due to systemic inefficiencies, heavy dependence on fossil fuels, outdated infrastructure, and the weight of international sanctions. These challenges plague Iran with recurring energy crises, including seasonal energy shortages, environmental degradation, and socio-economic discontent. This article investigates the root causes of Iran’s energy challenges and offers a comprehensive analysis of the critical deficiencies of Iranian energy policies. Based on these insights, the article proposes a strategic roadmap with immediate, medium-term, and long-term policy recommendations to stabilize the sector, most critical of which include subsidy reforms, ambitious renewable energy integration, and energy efficiency improvements. The proposed reforms emphasize the importance of transparent governance, targeted investments, and stakeholder engagement to achieve meaningful change. By aligning its energy policies with global sustainability trends and addressing domestic inefficiencies, Iran can transform its energy sector into a model of innovation and equity.
Topic:: Sanctions, Reform, Fossil Fuels, Sustainability, Subsidies, and Energy Sector
Political Geography:: Iran and Middle East

332. Superstorm Sandy and Coastal Corralling in New York City

Author:: Ari Lippi
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: On October 29, 2012, a cyclone and a tropical storm fused under an inauspicious full moon off the Atlantic Northwest of the US to create Hurricane Sandy. It beelined toward the New York City metropolitan area at high tide and became the most destructive and costly hurricane in the City’s history; costing NYC $19 billion in in damages, 43 deaths and the absence of electricity and heat for around two million people. While the impacts were widespread, the neighborhoods of Coney Island and the Rockaways experienced widely disparate impacts which magnified the underlying social vulnerabilities among low-income racialized and ethicized populations. This paper positions Hurricane Sandy as a locus of interrogation to question how discriminatory policies excised low-income and socially vulnerable populations to the environmentally vulnerable lands of Coney Island and the Rockaways at the time of Sandy, and what injustices preceded the event and were engendered as a result. To answer these questions, this paper will examine the sequence of displacement and place-making over time that created channels for populations with existing social vulnerabilities to be thrust into environmentally risky coastal areas in New York City. Ultimately, the process, which I name coastal corralling, created the conditions for the little-discussed post-storm disaster and environmental injustices in Coney Island and the Rockaways, producing chronic issues that continue to persist over a decade after the storm.
Topic:: Natural Disasters, Crisis Management, Hurricane, and Hurricane Sandy
Political Geography:: New York, North America, and United States of America

333. White Homeowners’ Racialized Opposition to Affordable Housing Development

Author:: Jose Luis Gandara
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: I investigate the effects of the race of the perceived beneficiaries of an affordable housing development on white homeowners’ support for the project, using an online survey experiment with 520 participants. I find that priming respondents to believe a nearby proposed project’s residents will likely be Black significantly increases opposition compared to the white prime. However, the effect is moderated by respondents’ racial attitudes, such that self-reported racially sensitive individuals instead become more supportive when led to believe a project’s residents will be Black. Despite racial cues increasing opposition, respondents do not express different concerns with development in a racialized context. These results suggest that race is a central factor driving attitudes toward affordable housing; however, racially motivated public commenters mask their concerns behind those ostensibly unrelated to race. Policymakers concerned with advancing equity while addressing the housing crisis may reconsider public comment’s role informing them of the public’s preferences toward development.
Topic:: Racism, Equity, and Affordable Housing
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

334. Two Roads to Reform: Marijuana Policy Changes, Arrest Trends, and Racial Disparities in Chicago and Indianapolis

Author:: Mustafa Ali-Smith and Keiana West
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: This paper examines the relationship between marijuana policy changes, arrest trends, and racial disparities in arrests in two major U.S. cities, Indianapolis and Chicago, between 2014 and 2023. Chicago implemented statewide legalization in January 2020, while Indianapolis decriminalized certain marijuana offenses at the county level in September 2019. By analyzing public arrest data from Chicago and the State of Indiana, this research addresses three key questions: whether marijuana-related arrests declined after these policy changes, how racial disparities in arrests changed after these shifts, and how marijuana arrest trends compare with those for other drugs. Our findings reveal significant reductions in marijuana-related arrests in both cities following policy reforms, though the degree of change varied. The results also demonstrate stark racial disparities in marijuana arrest rates both prior to and following policy changes in each city, though racial disparities decreased in both Chicago and Indianapolis following each policy change during the study period. Ultimately, racial disparities in both cities increased again as time after reform passed, signaling the need for policies and practices that sustain decreases in disparities overtime.
Topic:: Law Enforcement, Reform, Marijuana, and Drug Policy
Political Geography:: North America, Chicago, United States of America, and Indianapolis

335. Unlocking India’s Energy Transition: Opportunities, Challenges, and the Role of Cross-Subsidies

Author:: Fatima Mumtaz
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: This paper examines India’s opportunities and challenges in unlocking its clean energy transition. While the country has made significant advancements in expanding its renewable energy capacity, structural inefficiencies within the electricity sector continue to hinder progress. A key barrier is the cross-subsidy pricing mechanism, which charges commercial and industrial users higher electricity tariffs to subsidize power for agricultural and residential consumers. Although originally intended to promote equity, this mechanism has, over time, contributed to mounting debts for power distribution companies, ultimately weakening the financial health of the electricity grid. This paper provides an analysis of the consequences of the cross-subsidy electricity pricing mechanism. It further explores how a phased approach to reforming this pricing structure could offer a viable pathway to address the financial instability of the power distribution companies.
Topic:: Climate Change, Electricity, Renewable Energy, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

336. From Trade to Supply Chain Investments: China’s Three Roles in the Solar Surge of the Gulf Region

Author:: Qi Wang
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: This paper examines China’s evolving role in the solar energy surge of the Gulf region, with a focus on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It identifies three approaches through which China has progressively deepened its participation: (1) large-scale export of solar products, (2) investment and construction of solar power projects, and (3) offshore investment in local solar manufacturing bases in the Gulf. These approaches reflect not only China’s response to ambitious green energy commitments and rising solar demand in the Gulf, but also the strategic efforts of China’s solar industry to address domestic overcapacity under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and mitigate growing trade protectionism. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for China and the Gulf countries to strengthen solar cooperation, tackle trade barriers, and ensure a balanced, transparent, and sustainable energy transition.
Topic:: Investment, Trade, Solar Power, Supply Chains, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:: China, Middle East, Asia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Gulf Nations

337. Beyond the Weapon of War: Rethinking Gendered Narratives of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Author:: Sydney Leigh Smith
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has traditionally been understood as an inevitable byproduct of war, with rape framed as a biologically driven act of sexual gratification committed by men against women. This perception shifted following landmark rulings by the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR), which established sexual violence as a weapon of war. This article critically examines the "weapon of war" framework, which portrays militarized men as strategic perpetrators and women as symbolic victims, arguing that it reproduces harmful gendered identities and oversimplifies the complexities of sexual violence in conflict. The paper first traces the historical evolution of how CRSV has been conceptualized—from a natural consequence of war to a gendered and strategic tool of power—before analyzing the limitations of the weapon of war paradigm. It highlights the framework’s exclusion of male victims, female perpetrators, and diverse motivations for sexual violence—such as opportunism, material gain, and combatant bonding—as well as its failure to account for cases where armed groups refrain from using sexual violence altogether. Drawing on original analysis of over 4,000 redacted ICTR witness testimonies, the article demonstrates how the framework has constrained legal recognition, obscured lived experiences, and reproduced narrow narratives of ethnic hatred and gendered violence. It calls for a reframing of the gendered weapon of war concept to better account for the complexity of CRSV and to promote more inclusive approaches to justice, prevention, and survivor-centered redress.
Topic:: Rape, Sexual Violence, Accountability, Armed Conflict, Gender, and Atrocity Prevention
Political Geography:: Global Focus

338. The Fight Over Gender Equality in South Korea

Author:: Cecilia Hyunjung Mo and Soosun You
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: As more South Korean men perceive marriage as unattainable, their politics disfavor gender equality and reinforce sexism. These attitudes likely make marriage less appealing to women, which in turn fuels backlash among men.
Topic:: Demographics, Survey, Marriage, Gender, and Gender Equality
Political Geography:: Asia and South Korea

339. Forecasting Nuclear Escalation Risks: Cloudy With a Chance of Fallout

Author:: Jamie Kwong, Anna Bartoux, and James M. Acton
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Forecasting—that is, estimating the probability of specified events’ occurring—can contribute to efforts to better understand and address the challenge of managing escalation.
Topic:: Nuclear Weapons, Forecast, Escalation, and Risk Assessment
Political Geography:: Asia, South Korea, North Korea, and United States of America

340. Democratic Recovery After Significant Backsliding: Emergent Lessons

Author:: Thomas Carothers and McKenzie Carrier
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: In a global political landscape marked by twenty years of widespread democratic backsliding, some good news exists: in a handful of countries where leaders significantly undercut democratic norms and institutions, elections have brought to power new leadership with a strong declared commitment to restoring democracy.
Topic:: Democracy, Institutions, Democratic Backsliding, and Global Politics
Political Geography:: Global Focus

341. What the White House and Congress Can Do to Prevent Global Mass Atrocities

Author:: Federica D'Alessandra
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The Unites States has long recognized that preventing and responding to mass atrocities is both a moral responsibility and in its national security interest. Commitment to atrocity prevention and response has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support, and the U.S. government has long been a global leader on the issue. In 2011, the United States was the first country to establish an interagency body dedicated to atrocity prevention. Ever since, each Republican and Democratic administration—with the support of Congress—has taken additional, important steps toward implementing this objective. In 2019, under President Donald Trump, the United States was the first country to enact federal legislation addressing global mass atrocities. The Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act mandates the White House to report annually to Congress on government-led atrocity prevention efforts. Under the act, the second Trump administration will again be required to report to Congress by mid-2025, raising the question: What is in store for the atrocity prevention agenda under Trump 2.0? This paper reviews the atrocity prevention track record of the first Trump administration and other relevant action taken so far in this second term to parse out what efforts to sustain and uphold U.S. atrocity prevention obligations could look like under Trump’s second White House. This paper highlights how a number of steps the administration has already taken, including but not limited to the recently announced reorganization of the U.S. Department of State and the effective dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), unless promptly addressed, will raise dire challenges for the readiness and capacity of the State Department and other relevant agencies tasked with operationalizing U.S. commitments to this end. Accordingly, this paper advances a number of actionable recommendations that both the White House and the U.S. Congress should urgently consider to ensure the administration stands ready and capable to fulfill its obligations under the Elie Wiesel Act and other relevant legislation.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, National Security, and Atrocity Prevention
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

342. Geothermal Energy and U.S. Competitive Advantage: Drill, Baby, Drill

Author:: Robert W. Sweeney and Noah Gordon
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The United States and the rest of the world sit at the intersection of potentially destabilizing trends. Great power competition, climate change, intensifying geopolitical uncertainty, the economy’s potential deglobalization, and the potential massive increase in energy demands arising from artificial intelligence (AI) are creating challenges for U.S. national energy policy. A foremost concern is the vulnerability of energy supply chains to interference from or control by a hostile power. In this dynamic context, U.S. energy policy has evolved significantly in terms of markets, supplies, regulation, and legislation. The country’s success in using fracking technology and exploiting abundant shale reserves have made it the world’s largest producer of hydrocarbons and a major exporter, especially of natural gas.1 Further, as national and international concerns about climate change have grown, U.S. energy policy has become more aligned with transitioning to renewable sources. So far, the focus of clean energy additions has been on wind, solar, and nuclear power. Beginning in the mid-2000s, the United States issued legislation and policies raising renewable energy to the level of industrial policy. Among those were the Energy Policy Act (2005), the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (2021), the CHIPS and Science Act (2022), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (2022). However, geothermal energy—which uses the heat of the earth’s crust for power—has been largely left out of U.S. industrial policy. This is despite the facts that utilizing this source of renewable energy requires some of the same technologies that have made the United States the world’s top oil and gas producer and that geothermal has the potential to provide clean, dispatchable power that does not rely on weather conditions. With U.S. clean firm power demand expected to increase by approximately 700–900 gigawatts by 2050,2 the United States needs to dramatically increase capacity while reducing or eliminating net carbon output and insulating its energy supply from dependence on international supply chains. The question for the country now is: how should public and private resources be directed to provide the United States with an energy system optimized for the current national and international environment? This paper argues that recent advances in geothermal power have made it the technology with superior characteristics for future U.S. energy system development. With its comparative advantages, geothermal power merits an urgent, intense, and dedicated reorientation of U.S. industrial policy, legislation, and resources.
Topic:: Development, Energy Policy, Science and Technology, and Geothermal Power
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

343. Will Kuwait’s Parliamentary Democracy Be Restored, Reformed, or Repudiated?

Author:: Omar Al Jasser and Nathan J. Brown
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Kuwaitis are accustomed to a domestic political scene that sometimes resembles a soap opera with shifting characters and much melodrama but no resolution. For over a generation, fiercely contested parliamentary elections have consistently produced fractured parliaments that clash with individual ministers, leading to confrontation, parliamentary grilling, and dissolutions of cabinets and parliaments that are replaced by new bodies that merely resume the tussle. But on May 10, 2024, the soap opera abruptly came to an end. Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad, the newly enthroned emir, not only dissolved the recently elected parliament but also suspended the body indefinitely, promising a four-year process of constitutional revision. While the step was dramatic, the extent and nature of further change remains unclear. The suspension is forcing all Kuwaiti political actors to direct their attention to portentous long-term issues rather than more ephemeral short-term drama, but so far there is little indication of how the issues will be resolved. The drama of daily crises has often obscured far more significant evolutionary trends. Over the six decades of its existence, the Kuwaiti constitution’s text has not changed, but the way key institutions operate (parliament in particular) and the way they interact (especially cabinet-parliamentary relations) have changed significantly. The suspension of parliament came largely in response to ruler frustrations with this dichotomy and the feeling that parliaments lead to gridlock, grandstanding, and corruption. Has a governing system that seemed to offer so much noise and motion but little movement come to a full stop? Will Kuwait rejoin its neighbors and abandon its experiment with powerful parliaments? Other parliamentary bodies on the Arabian Peninsula are generally more limited in their prerogatives, and elections are either avoided or constrained; notably, Qatar abandoned elections in favor of an appointed assembly six months after the Kuwaiti parliamentary suspension. Or will Kuwait instead simply revert back to its old system after a cooling-off period or in response to popular pressure (as happened twice in the past)? At this point, it is uncertain whether Kuwait’s style of parliamentary democracy will be restored, reformed, or repudiated. Still, the fallout from the emir’s action has deeply affected the rhythm of Kuwaiti politics (and silenced some of the loudest public discussions) without determining the country’s fundamental direction. The path of full autocracy remains open, and the promise of a committee to reform the constitution and pave the way for parliamentary restoration has been ignored to date. But this inaction does not necessarily imply an intention to permanently abolish parliament; rather, it may suggest that reform or restoration is more likely. Regardless, there are currently no clear indications of what changes might be made. So, while the potential for dramatic change exists, Kuwait’s leaders may have simply bought themselves a respite rather than a resolution. Important Kuwaiti political actors seem to be working out their strategies very slowly, meaning that questions will be answered over years, not weeks or months. But in the meantime, the flavor of Kuwaiti politics is shifting in ways that are often unannounced but very consequential for a society accustomed to a feisty and active political life.
Topic:: Reform, Elections, Democracy, and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:: Kuwait and Gulf Nations

344. Double Dealers: Lebanon and the Risks of Captagon Trafficking

Author:: Mohanad Hage Ali
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Lebanon’s financial collapse and the Syrian conflict have allowed for the growth of an illicit economy, giving rise to a new breed of drug traffickers with ties to Lebanese parties and influence in the security forces. To address this, the country must adopt a comprehensive approach.
Topic:: Security, Syrian War, Drug Trafficking, and Captagon
Political Geography:: Middle East, Lebanon, and Syria

345. Rethinking a Political Approach to Nuclear Abolition

Author:: George Perkovich, Fumihiko Yoshida, and Michiru Nishida
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Preventing nuclear war and other existential military threats requires nations today to focus more on politics than on the qualities or quantities of weapons. Yet, many participants in nuclear policy debates do the opposite.
Topic:: Security, Nuclear Weapons, and Military
Political Geography:: Global Focus

346. Reconsidering Sovereignty Amid the Climate Crisis

Author:: Nitya Labh
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The current international order is based on the presumption that our physical geography is fixed and unchanging. However, climate change—in the form of sea level rise and inundation—is shifting international boundaries. The world’s changing geography will force policymakers and legal experts to adapt the concepts of sovereignty, statehood, and citizenship to address the new global environment. This paper focuses its discussion of climate impacts and response policies on the Pacific islands. The changes befalling low-lying islands, like those in the Pacific, are a harbinger of the future that awaits the residents of coastal cities and shorelines on larger land bodies.1 Islands’ experiences of climate change offer insights into the shortcomings of the existing international system and demonstrate the fundamental tension between sovereignty and climate change. Ultimately, the Pacific region serves as an important case study and a critical blueprint for the future of global adaptation and stability. In view of this challenge, policymakers should consider new legal options to address climate-induced boundary changes. These may include the creation of fictitious boundaries, collective sovereignty, hybrid citizenship, and corridors for climate displacement. This paper does not seek to suggest that these new ideas for sovereignty are the only path to resolving the nexus of legal-climate challenges that exist today. Instead, this paper attempts to raise new questions and ideas about how policymakers should think about the international system at a time when anthropogenic climate and environmental change is rearranging its geophysical foundations.
Topic:: Security, Climate Change, Sovereignty, and International Order
Political Geography:: Indo-Pacific

347. De-Peripheralizing Morocco’s East in the Face of Climate Change and Border Securitization

Author:: Yasmine Zarhloule
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The closure of the border between Morocco and Algeria disrupted smuggling networks in the former’s Eastern Region. Moroccan authorities have since striven to develop local infrastructure and create alternative employment there. While these initiatives have maintained stability, the challenges posed by climate change, particularly water scarcity, remain. This underscores the need for Morocco to more thoroughly integrate climate-change adaptation strategies into local and regional planning, while also embracing and protecting indigenous ancestral socioeconomic systems.
Topic:: Climate Change, Water, Border Control, and Securitization
Political Geography:: North Africa and Morocco

348. Ending the New Wars of Attrition: Opportunities for Collective Regional Security in the Middle East

Author:: Amr Hamzawy
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The Middle East’s only viable path toward stability and security lies in fostering dialogue, coordinated initiatives, and joint diplomacy among its influential states.
Topic:: Security, Diplomacy, Armed Conflict, Dialogue, and Regional Stability
Political Geography:: Middle East

349. China Decoupling Beyond the United States: Comparing Germany, Japan, and India

Author:: Joshua Sullivan and Jon Bateman
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Key U.S. partners are moving toward less technological integration with China. But their specific paths diverge significantly based on domestic circumstances and varied relationships with Beijing.
Topic:: International Relations, Science and Technology, Economy, Regional Integration, and Decoupling
Political Geography:: Japan, China, India, Asia, Germany, and United States of America

350. Measuring Changes Caused by Generative Artificial Intelligence: Setting the Foundations

Author:: Samantha Lai, Ben Nimmo, Derek Ruths, and Alicia Wanless
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Informed policy that leads to beneficial change is extremely challenging to develop without being able to measure the material impacts of GenAI.
Topic:: Science and Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Policy, and Generative Models
Political Geography:: Global Focus

351. European Democracy Support Annual Review 2024

Author:: Richard Youngs, Kinga Brudzinska, Zselyke Csaky, Ricardo Farinha, and Ken Godfrey
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: In 2024, a series of elections reinforced EU concerns about the fragility of European democracies. This, coupled with intensifying conflict dynamics and authoritarian trends worldwide, led the EU to focus on protecting democracy at home at the expense of supporting it globally.
Topic:: Civil Society, Authoritarianism, Reform, European Union, Democracy, and Democratic Backsliding
Political Geography:: Europe

352. International Crimes Accountability Matters in Post-Assad Syria

Author:: Federica D'Alessandra
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Syria’s civil war has already changed the global accountability landscape. It could now set the course for the future of post-regime transitions.
Topic:: Syrian War, Accountability, International Crime, and Bashar al-Assad
Political Geography:: Middle East and Syria

353. Assessing National Information Ecosystems

Author:: Alicia Wanless, Samantha Lai, and John Hicks
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Often driven by misunderstanding, fears abound over how new technologies will change an information ecosystem.1 They might, and they might not. Either way, it’s extremely difficult to know what those changes will be without first understanding what an ecosystem was like before the introduction of those new technologies. In other words, to know how a system has changed, one must first know what constitutes the system and its prior state. This paper proffers factors that can constitute baselines for assessing national information ecosystems that can be measured across decades, geographies, and cultures. Assessing these factors over time and comparing them among countries can foster understanding of the impacts of new regulations, conflicts, and technologies. Perhaps more importantly, such an approach offers an objective analysis of information ecosystems, which is much needed in these politically charged times. The framework can also be used to identify existing gaps in knowledge, guiding policymakers and researchers on funding and research priorities to establish baselines of national information ecosystems. As those baselines are established and maintained, comparative analysis between ecosystems can generate insights on policy interventions to redress threats within them.
Topic:: Science and Technology and Information Technology
Political Geography:: Global Focus

354. To Vote or Not to Vote: Venezuelans Face Another Election Choice

Author:: Catherine Ellis
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In the shadow of a contested presidential vote, Venezuela’s upcoming regional elections reveal more about power struggles than democratic representation.
Topic:: Elections, Domestic Politics, Representation, and Voting
Political Geography:: South America and Venezuela

355. Indigenous Women Survivors of Guatemala’s Rape Camps Seek Justice

Author:: Jo-Marie Burt, Paulo Estrada, and Eduardo Colindres
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Forty years after surviving state violence, Maya Achi women return to court to demand justice, challenging a long legacy of impunity for crimes against humanity.
Topic:: Rape, Sexual Violence, Accountability, Justice, and Crimes Against Humanity
Political Geography:: Central America and Guatemala

356. The Modern Surveillance State: Mexico and the CIA during the Cold War

Author:: Claire Dorfman
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Newly declassified CIA documents reveal the links between Mexico’s contemporary surveillance state and a uniquely close Cold War collaboration with U.S. intelligence agencies.
Topic:: Cold War, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

357. The Reinvention of the Strike: 10 Years of Feminist Uprising in Argentina

Author:: Verónica Gago and Linas Kojala
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Ni Una Menos movement. Understanding the tensions that mark these moments of intense rearrangements and changes in increasingly militarized capitalism is urgent.
Topic:: Capitalism, Protests, and Labor Strike
Political Geography:: Argentina and South America

358. Debates over TPS for Venezuelans Reveal Diasporic Divide

Author:: Francisco Llinas Casas and Erick Moreno Superlano
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: The battle over Temporary Protected Status provides a window into the class, racial, and political divisions within the Venezuelan diaspora in the United States.
Topic:: Politics, Race, Diaspora, Class, Immigration Policy, and Temporary Protection Status (TPS)
Political Geography:: South America and Venezuela

359. Honduran Farmers Continue Their Fight for Land and Justice

Author:: Jaime Jacques
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: After the murder of their leader, communities in the Aguán Valley have continued their fight against corruption, impunity, and the pollution of their lands.
Topic:: Justice, Land Rights, Pollution, and Activism
Political Geography:: Central America and Honduras

360. Cuerpx en Vela: Travesti Performance Against the Necro-State

Author:: Malú Machuca Rose
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Artist Germa Machuca uses her body as an altar and guiding light to illuminate the connections across anti-trans and anti-Indigenous violence in Peru.
Topic:: Arts, Violence, Indigenous, Transgender, and Travesti
Political Geography:: South America and Peru

361. At the Thresholds: Labor Organizing as Travesti-Trans Formal Workers in Argentina

Author:: Francisco Fernández Romero, Pato Laterra, and Victor Sánchez
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Travesti and trans workers in the formal sector expand imaginaries about the relationship between LGTBQ+ people and work, contributing to broader labor struggles for all of society.
Topic:: Labor Issues, LGBT+, Transgender, and Organizing
Political Geography:: Argentina and South America

362. For Trans Men in Colombia, All Cops Are Bastards

Author:: Nikita Dupuis-Vargas Latorre
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Violence against trans men by state forces is widespread—and little studied. The profiling inherent to mandatory military service only aggravates the problem.
Topic:: Violence, LGBT+, Police, Transgender, and Police Brutality
Political Geography:: Colombia and South America

363. Transfeminist Struggles Against Debt and Dispossession

Author:: Lucía Cavallero
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In Argentina, sexual dissidents mobilize transversal alliances to denounce indebtedness as a tool of capitalist displacement and violence.
Topic:: Debt, Capitalism, Displacement, Feminism, Violence, and Transgender
Political Geography:: Argentina and South America

364. Community Forestry Addresses Environmental Destruction in Mexico

Author:: Linda Farthing
Publication Date:: 05-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Community-based governance structures put decision-making about Ixlán de Juarez’s forests into local hands, creating economic opportunity and reversing centuries of deforestation in the town.
Topic:: Environment, Governance, Deforestation, Forestry, and Community Initiatives
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

365. Neofascist March Calls for the Expulsion of Haitians in Punta Cana

Author:: Simón Rodríguez
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: A recent violent and destructive march calling for the expulsion of Haitians in Punta Cana demonstrates the vehement anti-Haitianism and rising fascism prevalent in the Dominican Republic.
Topic:: Economics, Far Right, Migrant Workers, and Neofascism
Political Geography:: Latin America, Caribbean, Haiti, and Dominican Republic

366. El Salvador, No Place for Asylum Seekers

Author:: Laura Blume, Stephanie Sosa, and Andrea García Rodríguez
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Deported from the United States without due process, asylum seekers now face political persecution and deadly conditions in El Salvador’s mega-prisons as the Trump administration outsources cruelty to the Bukele regime.
Topic:: Prisons/Penal Systems, Donald Trump, Deportation, Due Process, Nayib Bukele, and Asylum Seekers
Political Geography:: Central America, El Salvador, and United States of America

367. Colombia's Just Energy Transition

Author:: Patricia Rodríguez
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: President Gustavo Petro is leading the way in promoting a fossil fuel phase-out in South America and beyond, but there are challenges and contradictions in Colombia’s actions at home.
Topic:: Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:: Colombia and South America

368. Tren de Aragua: A Gang, Not Terrorist Invaders

Author:: Elliott Young
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to target Venezuelan migrants relies on a false narrative about Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan state, and sets a dangerous precedent for immigrant rights.
Topic:: Immigration, Deportation, Gangs, and Tren de Aragua
Political Geography:: South America, Venezuela, and United States of America

369. Ecuador Enters "Trump Mode" with Noboa Victory

Author:: Ociel Alí López
Publication Date:: 04-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Authoritarian drift and political blackmail shape the runoff election in Ecuador, where incumbent President Daniel Noboa won Sunday’s vote.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Elections, Domestic Politics, Democratic Backsliding, and Daniel Noboa
Political Geography:: Central America and Ecuador

370. The Life of a Trans Mexican Revolutionary, in Drag

Author:: Olivia Ferrari
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Drag performers mine the story of the revolutionary hero and trans icon Amelio Robles to better understand the past and shape the future.
Topic:: History, Transgender, Amelio Robles, Drag, and Mexican Revolution
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

371. Can Democracy Stop Extractivism and Authoritarianism?

Author:: Paula Sevilla Núñez
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Ecuador’s electorate will go to a runoff vote in April in a highly polarized climate. At stake is a broader political struggle between authoritarianism and democracy.
Topic:: Authoritarianism, Elections, Democracy, and Extractivism
Political Geography:: Central America and Ecuador

372. Despite Regional Opposition, a Canadian Company Pursues Mining in Santander

Author:: Lital Khaikin
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In the face of rifts over securitization issues and calls for conservation, Aris Mining intends to launch the Soto Norte mine in Santander, Colombia, in 2029.
Topic:: Environment, Mining, Conservation, and Securitization
Political Geography:: Canada, Colombia, and South America

373. In a Polarized Political Climate, Ecuador Heads to a Presidential Runoff

Author:: Marc Becker
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Ecuador held its general election on February 9. Defying the polls, Ecuadorians will be heading to a runoff race in April to choose its next president.
Topic:: Elections, Domestic Politics, and Polarization
Political Geography:: Central America and Ecuador

374. In the Face of Violence, Catatumbo’s Communities Call for Solidarity

Author:: Priscyll Anctil Avoine and Adriana Pérez-Rodríguez
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Failed peace negotiations and the battle for control over valuable territory have produced an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
Topic:: Solidarity, Negotiation, Humanitarian Crisis, and FARC
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Catatumbo

375. A Proposal for Plurinational Popular Power Woven from Below

Author:: Malvika Gupta
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Leonidas Iza, Ecuador’s presidential candidate with the Indigenous-aligned Pachakutik political movement, outlines his vision for governing a Plurinational State.
Topic:: Politics, Elections, Domestic Politics, Indigenous, and Plurinationalism
Political Geography:: Central America and Ecuador

376. Panama Canal Takeover: An Old Ghost in a Curious Present

Author:: Francisco Javier Bonilla
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Trump's threat to take back the Panama Canal signals a new era of U.S. expansionism and the greatest attack on Central American sovereignty since the 1990s.
Topic:: Sovereignty, Donald Trump, Panama Canal, and Expansionism
Political Geography:: Central America and Panama

377. The Forgotten Victims: Orphans of Femicide in Colombia

Author:: Anna Abraham, Tony Kirby, and David García
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In the face of the femicide crisis in Colombia, a second crisis persists: hundreds of children are left orphaned each year and without support from the state.
Topic:: Crime, Children, Gender Based Violence, Femicide, and Orphans
Political Geography:: Colombia and South America

378. Trump and the Threat of Domestic Militarization

Author:: Dawn Paley and Ojalá
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Mexico's experience with the militarization of prohibition and migration is defined by violence and displacement.
Topic:: Migration, Displacement, Violence, Donald Trump, and Militarization
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

379. The Disappearance of a Mapuche Elder is an Indictment of Chile’s “Progressive” Government

Author:: Carole Concha Bell
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Activists link the disappearance of land defender Julia Chuñil to the state’s militarization of the region and its deep ties to rapacious forestry companies.
Topic:: Disappearance, Land Rights, Indigenous, Deforestation, and Mapuche
Political Geography:: South America and Chile

380. Forensic Crisis Reveals Institutional Responsibility in Mexico City’s Disappearance Crisis

Author:: Eliana Gilet, Madeleine Wattenbarger, and Gleider I. Hernández
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In Mexico City, families of the disappeared mobilize for justice for their loved ones and the accountability of forensic authorities.
Topic:: Crime, Accountability, Police, Disappearance, Activism, and Forensics
Political Geography:: Latin America, Mexico, and Mexico City

381. Mass Grave in Medellín Tourist Hotspot Sparks War of Words—and Walls

Author:: Joshua Collins
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: The discovery in historic neighborhood Comuna 13, a neighborhood known for its art as much as its dark past, has reignited the debate over paramilitarism in the country.
Topic:: Arts, Tourism, Memory, Paramilitary, and Mass Grave
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Medellín

382. This Spanglish Bookstore In New York Is Reclaiming Bushwick's Sense Of Latinidad

Author:: Victoria Mortimer
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Mil Mundos began as a means for María Herrón to reclaim her identity. Now, this bookstore’s founder is building a community among Latines in Brooklyn, New York.
Topic:: Community, Identity, and Spanglish
Political Geography:: New York, North America, and United States of America

383. A New Mall for the Village: How Carbon Credits Impact Indigenous People in Guyana

Author:: Clarissa Levy and Agência Pública
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In 2022, Guyana became the first country in the world to issue carbon credits on a national scale. Indigenous people say they were excluded from the negotiations and criticize the loss of autonomy in their territories.
Topic:: Negotiation, Indigenous, Autonomy, Carbon Emissions, and Carbon Credits
Political Geography:: South America and Guyana

384. The U.S. Is Helping Brazilian Police Kill

Author:: Joseph Bouchard
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Brazil’s highly militarized policing disproportionately impacts poor and racialized communities. By providing funding and training, the United States has helped exacerbate the crisis.
Topic:: Training, Police, Militarization, and Police Brutality
Political Geography:: Brazil, South America, North America, and United States of America

385. Explosive Report and Exposé on Colombia’s Magdalena Medio Oil Industry

Author:: Yago Rodríguez
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: After a two-year investigation, a comprehensive report, BBC documentary, and whistleblower dossier reveal alleged widespread contamination, health impacts, and surveillance by Colombia’s state-owned Ecopetrol.
Topic:: Oil, Surveillance, Journalism, Investigations, State-Owned Enterprises, and Contamination
Political Geography:: Colombia and South America

386. Buscadoras in Mexico Under Threat After Grisly Discovery

Author:: Joshua Collins and Daniela Diaz Rangel
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: News of a mass grave found by civilian search collectives has reopened an old debate about a lack of political will on the part of authorities to investigate violent crime.
Topic:: Crime, Accountability, Police, and Mass Grave
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

387. "Memory Moves Us": Argentines Take to the Streets for 24M

Author:: Virginia Tognola
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In the face of Javier Milei’s deepening attack on civil rights, massive mobilizations in Argentina honor the victims of state terrorism on the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice.
Topic:: Protests, Memory, Civil Rights, Truth and Reconciliation, and Javier Milei
Political Geography:: Argentina and South America

388. Destierro y Desmar: Embroidering Experiences of Internal Migration and Forced Displacement

Author:: Morgan Londoño Marín
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: For transmasculine activists uprooted from the lands and waters they called home, embroidery and poetry become practices for expressing nostalgia and building community in Bogotá.
Topic:: Arts, LGBT+, Community, Transgender, Forced Displacement, and Embroidery
Political Geography:: Colombia and South America

389. Cuerpos Furiosos: Travesti-Trans Politics for Counterrevolutionary Times

Author:: Cole Rizki
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: The Spring 2025 issue of the NACLA Report explores travesti-trans politics across the Americas, an antifascist and transversal politics with the power to reshape our world.
Topic:: Politics, Transgender, Antifascism, and Travesti
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Central America

390. Afro-Feminist Poetics and Trans Life in Cuba: A Conversation with Max Fonseca

Author:: Kerry M. White and Max Fonseca
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: The poet and activist talks about the precarity that trans, queer, and Afrodescendent people in Cuba face today, and the life sustaining worlds built by Black trans women in Cuba and its diaspora.
Topic:: Politics, Feminism, Interview, Transgender, Activism, and Afro-Feminism
Political Geography:: Cuba, Latin America, and Caribbean

391. Bodies on Fire: Toloposungo’s Trans-Marika Abolitionist Performance

Author:: Cecilia Azar
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In Colombia, a trans-marika vogue collective takes to the streets to denounce state violence and call for police abolition.
Topic:: Culture, State Violence, Transgender, and Abolitionism
Political Geography:: Colombia and South America

392. Anti-Racist Transfeminism: Against Adjustment and the Plundering of Rights

Author:: Chana Mamani
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In the face of discriminatory narratives and laws in Argentina, activists advocate for anti-racist, transfeminist initiatives during this year’s International Women’s Day.
Topic:: Feminism, Racism, Activism, and Transfeminism
Political Geography:: Argentina and South America

393. “Carnival is Always Political”: Keeping Protest Alive in Trinidad

Author:: Khalea Robertson
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Designer Robert Young discusses the political activism woven into the costumes of his band, Vulgar Fraction, which participates annually in Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival celebrations.
Topic:: Politics, Protests, Interview, and Carnival
Political Geography:: Latin America, Caribbean, and Trinidad and Tobago

394. Brazil’s Student Movement Resists the Far Right, at Home and Abroad

Author:: Alice Taylor
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: In the days after the Trump inauguration, Brazilian students gathered at the largest student congress in Latin America to debate the future of left resistance.
Topic:: Donald Trump, Leftist Politics, Students, and Activism
Political Geography:: Brazil, South America, and Latin America

395. Trump’s Latin America Policy: Inconsistencies and Vacillations

Author:: Steve Ellner
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: The Trump administration’s volatility on foreign policy reveals internal divisions within Trumpism. But when threats and populism lose their momentum, the anti-communist hawks may get their way.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Domestic Politics, and Donald Trump
Political Geography:: Latin America

396. The U.S. War on Migrants Gets Help from El Salvador

Author:: Timothy O'Farrell
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: El Salvador's offer to house deportees and U.S. citizens in its infamous prisons – for profit – signals a new and troubling escalation in the criminalization of migration.
Topic:: Migration, Prisons/Penal Systems, Donald Trump, Deportation, and Criminalization
Political Geography:: Latin America, El Salvador, and United States of America

397. Rio’s Samba Parade Spotlights Trans Rights

Author:: Constance Malleret
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: The Tuiuiti samba school uplifts trans identities and highlights the political dimensions of Brazil’s Carnival celebrations.
Topic:: Politics, Dance, Transgender, and Carnival
Political Geography:: Brazil and South America

398. Forbidden African Legacies in the Dominican Republic

Author:: Patricia Rodríguez
Publication Date:: 02-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:: Despite the ongoing criminalization and racist persecution of African tradition, from the criminalization of Vodou to restrictions against Gagá, Afro-Dominican culture persists.
Topic:: Culture, Racism, Tradition, Criminalization, and Vodou
Political Geography:: Africa, Latin America, and Dominican Republic

399. South Sudan’s peace process stagnates as violence grips Greater Upper Nile region

Author:: Stefan Bakumenko
Publication Date:: 01-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
Abstract:: In September 2024, South Sudan’s government postponed elections until 2026.1 This and other violations of the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) reinforce the country’s deep divisions and continued, widespread violence.2 After a devastating civil war (2013-2018), politicians, generals, and communities have lacked a unifying identity or incentive and have focused on shoring up their political power, undermining their rivals, and diversifying their economic holdings. As South Sudan’s oil fields dry up, wealth and sustenance are carved out wherever they can be found, often violently.3 The central government in Juba deprives national institutions of funding, neither state nor rebel forces are committed to integrating into a unified military, and state officials at all levels exploit their positions to fund expensive lifestyles and large patronage networks.4 Politicians have long plundered South Sudan’s main source of wealth, its state-owned oil company, Nilepet, to fuel their wars and wealth, and the country remains economically destitute.5 Across South Sudan, violence has become more geographically dispersed as armed groups have fractured. Between 1 January 2013 and the signing of R-ARCSS on 12 September 2018, there were conflict events in 718 distinct locations, compared to 1,720 between 13 September 2018 and 17 January 2025 (see maps below). Given these realities, the peace process could hardly address South Sudan’s myriad, local-level contests over borders, resources, and political positions.6
Topic:: Elections, Violence, Armed Conflict, and Peace Process
Political Geography:: Africa and South Sudan

400. Q&A: What happened in the coastal region of Syria last week?

Author:: Muaz Al Abdullah
Publication Date:: 03-2025
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
Abstract:: On 6 March, a group of armed supporters of former President Bashar al-Assad ambushed a group of security forces in Beit Ana village in the Lattakia countryside, killing and injuring several service members. Following the attack, the gunmen targeted an ambulance that tried to evacuate those who were killed and injured. This triggered a large-scale response by the security forces inside Beit Ana that included artillery shelling and helicopter strikes. Later that same day, Assad loyalists launched coordinated attacks across Lattakia and Tartus governorates to restore control over the main junctions that link the two provinces. This sparked a cycle of violence that included extrajudicial killings of people in the Alawite community by regime forces. At least 57 distinct locations in Lattakia, Hama, Homs, and Tartus governorates were the site of violence over four days (see map below).
Topic:: Security, Extrajudicial Killings, Armed Conflict, and Alawites
Political Geography:: Middle East and Syria

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS