By Luis Ferreira Alvarez
Mercosur — a free trade and custom union formed in 1991 between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay (and later joined by Venezuela) — promotes the free movement of goods and people across the zone. Mercosur’s members have benefited from having integrated markets that expand their commerce. The South American bloc, like the European Union, can sign free trade agreements only as a bloc.
Read MoreBy Ariya Hagh and Peyman Majidzadeh
“Dear citizens! Attention please, attention please: Tehran is now free.” Such was the content of an anonymous message widely shared on the messaging app Telegram in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 elections in Iran.
Read MoreBy Michael Darden
On November 5, 2015, a tailing dam in the state of Minas Gerais (in the southeast of Brazil) ruptured. It released an estimated fifty million tons of iron ore waste into neighboring areas. It has quickly become the country’s worst environmental disaster. Seventeen people were killed and entire towns were submerged by the thick toxic sludge, which seeped into the Rio Doce river basin, traveled downstream, and has begun to spill into the Atlantic Ocean.
Read MoreBy Joshua Jacobs
In a wide-ranging interview with the Yale Journal of International Affairs on the one-year anniversary of her departure from office, Ashton reflects on the vicissitudes of her term. We talk of the more frustrating foreign policy challenges that she faced, the possibility of her own country voting to leave the European Union this summer, and how she felt as the only woman in a room with the European Union’s twenty-eight male foreign ministers.
Read MoreBy Sofía del Carril and Míriam Juan-Torres
May 2002 - After days of fighting between the paramilitaries and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the inhabitants of Bojayá, in the department of Chocó, sought refuge in the town’s church. The Colombian army was fully aware of what was happening, but nowhere to be seen. In the crossfire, a cylinder bomb fired by the FARC hit the church, killing seventy-nine civilians, including forty-five children, and leaving dozens injured.
Read MoreBy Allison Cordell
YJIA met with Jerry Ng, Bank BTPN’s CEO and president director, for a conversation about the bank’s mission and successful business model. Mr. Ng told us about the bank’s strategy for its microfinance portfolio, the plans for adapting BTPN’s model for other emerging markets in Asia, and the books that helped him become a more effective leader.
Read MoreIn this exclusive interview with YJIA, David Rothkopf speaks about his book, the swelling of the National Security Council and micromanagement under President Obama, and the shifting impact of the media and technology in shaping national security.
Read MoreBy Manuela Graetz, Geo Kalev, and Marjan Kloosterboer
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is a young city. Founded in 1886 by King Menelik II and Queen Taitu, in its first decades the city grew organically, without any formal planning.
Read MoreBy Liza Lin
The Yale Journal of International Affairs sat down with Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka to talk about the Sustainable Development Goals and the gender equality fight.
Read MoreBy Gita Murti
In the coming months, ASEAN watchers will witness whether the motto “One Vision, One Identity, One Community” will become a reality or remain a lofty aspiration.
Read MoreBy Sven-Eric Fikenscher
For the time being, JCPOA-related restrictions will keep Iran relatively far away from the nuclear weapons option, but Iran could undermine those restraints by cheating. U.S. policy vis-à-vis Iran should be informed by the likelihood that cheating takes place and should endeavor to decrease whatever incentive Iran might have to cheat.
Read MoreBy Faiqa Mahmood
Covert drone strikes in Pakistan target terrorists and militants belonging to al-Qaeda and its associated groups. Proponents of the current drone policy assert that the United States increasingly relies upon drones for one simple reason: they work. But do they?
Read MoreBy Zenna Johar
The United Nations recently called for its member states to show increased commitment to building sustainable and inclusive societies through the implementation of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The third goal is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” by reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases.
Read MoreAn Interview with Ambassador Dennis Ross
Yale Journal of International Affairs (YJIA) caught up with the president’s former Middle East expert, Dennis Ross, to understand why Kerry’s shuttle diplomacy reached an impasse.
Read MoreBy Charlotte Juergens
In his old age, my great grandfather Pat recorded his memories of D-Day on tape. A former war correspondent with Stars and Stripes, Pat had attached himself to the 29th Division Infantry shortly before the initiation of Operation Overlord
Read MoreAn interview with David Dollar
In this interview, David Dollar, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former World Bank country director for China and Mongolia from 2004 to 2009, speaks with the Yale Journal of International Affairs (YJIA) about the TPP’s relevance to the Asia Pacific region, also touching on Vietnam’s growing strength and China’s future role in global trade.
Read MoreBy Mina Al-Oraibi
Ten years ago today, 9.7 million Iraqis ignored the naysayers and, braving threats of violence and bombs, voted in a referendum on their new constitution.
Read MoreBy Juan Zero
On August 27, 2015, seventy-one refugees were found to have suffocated to death in a frozen food truck that was abandoned on the Austria-Hungary border.
Read MoreDavid Biette spoke with the Yale Journal of International Affairs in April 2015, several weeks before the United States assumed the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The interview reflects the wide-ranging set of issues facing the region, including security posturing, new frontiers in international law, and environmental considerations.
Read MoreBy Luis Ferreira Alvarez
On April 21, 2015, an estimated half a million Brazilians took to the streets to call for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment over the billions embezzled from Petrobras (Brazil’s semi-public energy company). Yet President Rousseff did not even have to leave office to lose her power. Four days earlier, Rousseff gave her vice president, Michel Temer, who is from a different political party, control over her political agenda with Congress, effectively leaving her a lame-duck president with four years remaining in her second term. To regain control, Rousseff will need to focus her efforts on two priorities: lifting a stagnant economy and mitigating the fallout from Petrobras’ massive corruption scandal.
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