The Globalist

All this week our Globalist series has been looking at coalitions. And there’s one region that is packed full of them: the Western Balkans. Every independent country that emerged from the former Yugoslavia has a multi-party government of one sort or another. But, of course, some of them work better than others. Monocle’s Balkans correspondent, Guy De Launey, gives us the low-down.

We ask why Donald Trump chose to kick off his trip to Europe in Poland. Plus: tension as Austria’s defence minister calls for more security on the Brenner Pass border with Italy and Volvo moves to phase out combustion engines.

The pursuit of one-man rule by Turkey’s president is in stark contrast to the country’s long history of power-sharing. Indeed, although Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attempted to dismantle opposition and silence his critics, Turkey’s politics hasn’t always been this way. Monocle’s features editor Christopher Lord tells Rhys James about the country’s experience of coalitions.

As the deadline for Qatar to comply with the list of demands from its neighbours expires, we ask what happens next in the Gulf. Plus: we continue our series on coalitions by looking at Germany, examine the rhetoric of Emmanuel Macron and go up, up and away with the founder of the European Balloon festival.

In Germany, it isn’t uncommon for the two main parties to form a political pact. It’s called a grand coalition. Kristina Spohr, an associate professor of international history at the London School of Economics, has been telling Monocle’s Rhys James how it works.

The Indian prime minister pays an historic first visit to Israel and there’s trouble in Tokyo as the city voters deliver a blow to Shinzo Abe’s party. Plus: we continue with our series on the politics of coalition governments, look to the Volkswagen emissions scandal and examine ‘The Wall Street Journal’ as it closes its Europe edition.

This week, The Globalist is looking at political coalitions. During Brazil’s decades-long dictatorship, there were only two political parties. Now, there are more than 30. Monocle’s correspondent in Brazil, Sheena Rossiter, explains how that inevitably leads to political horse-trading.

All this week, The Globalist is looking at political coalitions. Sean Kemp, who was head of media for the Liberal Democrats in the UK’s coalition government, tells Monocle contributor Tadhg Enright what it’s like to be part of one.

We discuss fresh allegations involving President Trump's campaign links to Russian hacking, analyse the strength of the British economy, look at an election in Papua New Guinea

We have the latest as Iraq declares the end of Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate and ask if Hong Kong’s younger generation will ever accept Chinese rule. Plus: we speak to Monocle’s editor in chief, Tyler Brûlé, at our conference in Berlin and look at what Hillary Clinton’s books reveal about her.