Eight years on from the “Arab Spring” of 2011, Tunisia continues to struggle with questions of economy and identity. While Tunisian President Beji Essebsi has implemented a number of initiatives to combat extremism and improve regional and international trade, the remains much uncertainty in the country’s political structure and domestic economic situation.

In January 2019, the Human Rights Watch organization published a report titled “No Escape from Hell: EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya”, which documents instances of severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and malnutrition in Libyan detention centers. Today, human rights abuses against migrants remain rampant in Libya as the country continue to serve as a departure point into Europe for migrants fleeing from economic hardship, violence, and discrimination in their home countries in Africa.

While China has made considerable strides in aligning its economy more with market principles following Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 reforms, the Chinese government is still heavily involved in many aspects of the economy, particularly the real estate sector. As China faces its slowest growth rate in 28 years, the country’s real estate market could potentially act as the amplifier of initial economic stagnation that may lead to regional and global implications.

According to the United Nations, today 79% of Yemen’s population is in poverty, compared with 49% just two years ago. Of the roughly 28.5 million people living in the country, 22 million are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. From a human security standpoint, ending the conflict in Yemen is as much a mission to secure regional stability as a pursuit to ensure civilian wellbeing.

In 2011, the World Health Organization developed a strategic document called the Global Vaccine Safety Blueprint, which aims to establish indicators for vaccine safety in all countries. Yet as of 2018, vaccination schemes around the world continue to undergo a number of setbacks, including a major vaccine scandal in China and failure to prevent measles outbreaks in Thailand and the United States. Despite current progress, there remain much to be done by governments to increase health standards transparency and consideration for communities that they serve.

Between 2016 and 2018, Japan’s Abe administration has successfully used its economic power to support Syrian refugees globally, providing almost $3b USD to assist refugees and migrants. However, Japan has only recognized six Syrians refugees as of 2015. In the realm of refugee status recognition, there is still much that can be done not only for Syrian refugees, but for all refugees who desire to come to Japan.

Drone warfare has, in recent years, become a tactic that the United States has become increasingly reliant on. Warfare is already brutal and inhumane when people are involved, and deploying tools of war that can’t discern between threats and innocents will only worsen this.

Martin Luther King offers progressives a cogent, authoritative critique of how the US government treats the disempowered, both at home and abroad. As progressives find their voice on foreign policy, King’s global moral vision offers a starting point.

A politician’s choice of meal and his table manners are revealing of his habits, personality, and mindset. In 2013, Xi Jinping’s unannounced visit to Qinfeng Restaurant, an ordinary chain bun shop in Beijing, surprised the entire nation. While China has since changed significantly and Xi’s public lunch is not likely to repeat, the event continues to remain vivid in Chinese public memory and internet more than five years on.

Throughout his campaign and administration, President Donald Trump has emphasized the need to decrease trade deficits with China through increasing tariffs as one of the core tenets of his pledge to “Make America Great Again”. While academics and other experts often criticize the President as an “economic dummy” with little understanding of public policy, these negative judgments may actually allow President Trump the possibility to market and implement policies in a way that a “traditional” administration could not.

In 2018, Spain increased its intake of Syrian refugees by 300%, accepting 38,451 documented Syrian refugees from the Mediterranean. Spain’s popular attitudes and political rhetoric towards Syrian refugees have also been markedly more positive in comparison to those from other European countries in face of rising populism and shifting public opinion. Will these policies and public sentiments create lasting effects in the coming months and years?

In October 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her intention to step down from her position as the head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), signalling the end of her thirteen year career in office. While frontrunner Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) has been elected as Merkel’s successor to the CDU in December, there remain important questions for the future direction of the party, German domestic policy, and the European Union itself.

From Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, United States counterinsurgency policies (COIN) strategy has led to marathons of expensive conflict by failing to balance “winning the hearts and minds of the people” and avoiding being seen as an occupying force. With an understanding of the role of politics and importance of population-centric strategy, perhaps United States counterinsurgency policies should begin to focus mostly on deterrence and negotiation, rather than force and occupation.

The signing of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1988 was a pivotal moment in ending the nuclear arms race and the Cold War. Yet in October 2018, the United States under the Trump Administration announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty following violations of the treaty from both sides since 2001. If negotiations stagnate and powerful bodies like the United States and Russia continue to battle and build nuclear arms, there could be the evolution of a new nuclear arms race.

While China has frequently received international criticism for human rights abuses over the decades — violent suppression of protests, disappearances and arrests of “political dissidents,” tight control over religion, information, and speech — the Xinjiang re-educational camps may be one of the more pressing issues of human rights today. Yet, efforts at uncovering and condemning the camps have been complicated by media censorship, international diplomacy, as well as questions of national sovereignty.

In December 2018, the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on three senior North Korean officials in response to the regime’s ongoing violation of human rights in accordance with the 2016 North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act (NKSPEA). The integration of human rights issues into global security negotiations is an effective foreign policy strategy that both serves as an additional mechanism of containment and a long-term tactic that can transform the norms of oppressive regimes.

A central piece of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative lies in what has been titled the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an approximately $62 billion dollar investment to strengthen bilateral ties in infrastructure, scientific research, and defense. The newest developments in the CPEC initiative involve increasing air force and naval cooperation between China and Pakistan, which holds significant implications towards the Belt and Road Initiative and regional diplomacy.

To both China and the United States, Southeast Asia is an indispensable component of their regional and global grand strategies. Yet as trade tensions between China and the United States continue grow in the Asia-Pacific, ASEAN has intentionally maintained a neutral and balanced attitude.

Only twenty years ago, democracy was the champion system of the world. Today however, the very countries that are often regarded as the bastions of democracy and liberalism are electing the system’s downfall. So a question arises: do the people no longer want democracy? Or more importantly, is the world seeing a change in the will of the people?

The Syrian Civil War has waged on for more than 7 years, and the United States is likely to remain in Syria until there is wider political peace in an attempt to avoid a military resurgence similar to the case of Iraq in 2011. However, the Trump administration’s renewed commitment to stability in Syria will require more than just military presence.