Over the last week, the Indian region of Kashmir has been placed under an almost complete media and internet blackout, leading moderate politicians placed under house arrest, and mass protests have erupted. India’s nuclear rival Pakistan has downgraded all diplomatic relations, and cut off all trade ties, while nationalists in India are ecstatic. The cause … Continue reading "State of Collapse: Crisis and Conflict in Kashmir"

In 2018, China produced an estimated 54 million tons of pork, and home to approximately 440 million pigs. Around half of all the pigs slaughtered in the world are consumed in China, and huge swathes of land from Paraguay to Indiana are dedicated to growing feed for these hogs. When it comes to pigs, China … Continue reading "30 – 50 Feverish Hogs: African Swine Fever and China’s Pork Crisis"

On Jun 9th, 2019 1.03 million people, one seventh of Hong Kong’s population, attended marches to protest a bill that would allow Hong Kong residents to be extradited to Macau, Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China for trial. The bill was ostensibly introduced because of a nasty case where a woman in Taiwan was … Continue reading "The Extradition Bill Didn’t Start the Fire, the Anger in Hong Kong Against China Was Always Burning"

Although women make up more than half of the world’s population, it is easy to treat women’s issues as an afterthought in the process of development. In part this is because women are consistently underrepresented in the halls of power, or in the broader field of economics. In countries with patriarchal norms such as India, … Continue reading "Women Hold Up Half of GDP – Women’s Rights and Economic Development in India"

For the last week, thousands of Puerto Ricans have been thronging the main square of old San Juan, calling for the governor Ricardo Rosselló , to resign from office. Police and protesters have clashed, with security forces firing tear gas on protesters. The catalyst for these protests is leaked of messages from messaging app Telegram … Continue reading "Everybody Hates Ricardo: Why Puerto Ricans are Protesting"

In July of 2018, a 65 year old woman died of a hemorrhagic fever in the isolated Congolese town of Mangina. It is believed her family and loved ones contracted this fever during the funeral and while burying the body, marking the beginning of the 2018-19 Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. … Continue reading "Death Is Certain, Taxes Are Not: The Collapse of the Congolese State and the Ebola Crisis"

On June 29th 2019, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, while at the Osaka 2019 G20 summit, agreed to a truce in the trade war between the two economic superpowers. The US has placed 25% tariffs on $250 billion , and banned the export of American technology to Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei. Although old tariffs have … Continue reading "Things Don’t Fall Apart: The Surprising Resiliency of the Global Trade Regime"

On February 11th, 2011 Hosni Mubarak, president and dictator of Egypt for 30 years, was forced to step down from power by a mass protest movement. It was a heady and hopeful time in the Middle East as dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Yemen were forced from power. However, this hope quickly faded as the … Continue reading "The Empire Strikes Back: The Political Economy of El Sisi’s Egypt"

On April 11th 2019, Omar Al-Bashir, dictator of Sudan for the last 30 years, was forced out of office by mass protests against his regime. Over his 30 years of command, the country say genocidal violence in Darfur, South Sudan and other rebellious regions of the country. The country has been mired by corruption, with … Continue reading "Life After Omar Al-Bashir: What Happens Next in Sudan?"

On March 27th, 1994 Recep Tayyip Erdogan took office as the mayor of Istanbul, launching a career that would eventually make him president of the country. Ever since then, Istanbul has been governed by parties that Erdogan associated himself with. Since 2004, Erdogan’s AK (Justice and Development) Party has ruled Istanbul. On March 31st, 2019, … Continue reading "No Turkish Delight: What Does a Redo of Istanbul’s Election Mean For Turkey?"