Courtesy: Reuters
On 8 October 2021, the 29th France-Africa summit was held in Montpellier, France. This unique summit focused on youth and civil society engagement, led from the front by French President Emmanuel Macron, in an open and honest dialogue. However, the success of this new outreach will be measured by how France fulfils the promises made at the summit.
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The UN turned 75 this year but instead of grand celebrations, the world witnessed an empty UNGA with world leaders addressing it via video screening because of the pandemic. The UN is under unprecedented stress and being shown up for its inability to tackle the challenges of today like the pandemics, climate change, terrorism or global peace and security. The institution's key governing structures, especially the UN Security Council, are inadequate and demand reform. India must now use gritty resolve to ensure its place in these governing structures.
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There has been a wave of civil protests across the globe since early 2019 which have taken governments by surprise by their sheer intensity and resilience. The common impelling factor has been discontent with government. Other factors for the current wave, beginning with the Arab Uprising in 2011, have been corruption and regressive constitutional changes. This infographic charts the arc of the outcry
Courtesy: Government of South Africa/ Flickr
Internal political constraints dog it currently, but if overcome, South Africa can be a good chairman to BRICS and IORA in 2018. It also has a tough balancing act to perform between two great Asian powers, China and India
Courtesy: The Independent/AP
France's state policy of 'laïcité' (secularism) and its military interventions in Islamic countries has made it the prime target of IS in the West. The hardline French response to step up bombing campaigns against jihadis in Syria, Iraq, and Mali will likely continue, but conversely feeds IS strategy, which is to foment anti-Muslim sentiment among the non-Muslim French population.
Courtesy: Vito Manzari/Wikimedia Commons
A refugee policy that absolves more capable and resource rich nations of any responsibility towards transnational asylum seekers is archaic and has lived beyond its time. Keeping in mind the EU's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights, it is incumbent upon it to set new standards and reform its refugee policy
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All the major economic forces in the world have come together in Africa in a new version of the Great Game. The competition for the continent’s resources will ultimately harm Africa unless Africa uses this opportunity to its advantage and to address its own serious problems.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Gateway House prepared a Global Stability Map, using 20 differing indicators, to analyze the stability of 60 countries around the world. Using criteria that are important to the emerging economies of the world, the map provides an Indian perspective of the world today.
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By forcing regime change in Libya, and attempting the same in Syria, and by promiscuously arming disparate groups of Wahabbis and Salafists to achieve this aim, NATO is creating more room for instability in the region. What Syria needs is engagement, not isolation; it needs dialogue and not the arming of rebels.
The scope for any process on nuclear talks with Iran to founder on distrust, misunderstanding and political in-fighting in both Tehran and Washington remains formidable. Equally disturbing are the wider political realities. Can the upcoming talks in Istanbul launch a process that can, over time, lead to agreement?