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This blog post analyses the response of the French government to the Coronavirus pandemic. The piece highlights how the semi-presidential system in France facilitates centralized decisions to manage the crisis. From a political-institutional perspective, it is considered that there were no major challenges to the use of unilateral powers by the Executive to address the health crisis, although the de-confinement phase and socio-economic consequences opens the possibility for more conflictual and opposing reactions. At first, approvals of the president and prime minister raised, but the strict confinement and the reopening measures can be challenging in one of the European countries with the highest number of deaths, where massive street protests, incarnated by the Yellow vests movement, have recently shaken the political scene.

In early January, news emerged that Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly was facilitating peace talks between the government of Cameroon and Anglophone separatist groups.

The news came as what is sometimes referred to as the “Anglophone Crisis” enters a seventh year of armed conflict. The conflict stems from the perceived marginalization of english speaking regions in the largely francophone country. Since fighting broke out in 2017, the consequences have been absolutely devastating. Thousands have been killed and over 800,000 people have been displaced by fighting.

I’m joined today by Arrey Elvis Ntui, senior analyst on Cameroon for the International Crisis Group. He explains how and why this conflict started, and why previous attempts at peace talks have failed. He then explains why all sides of this conflict should heed this new Canadian lead initiative to facilitate peace talks.

To listen to this episode on your favorite podcast player, go here.

The post Can Canadian Diplomacy Help End Cameroon’s Civil War? appeared first on UN Dispatch.

The transition towards a more sustainable world economy is a fact, as the internationally community has realized that business as usual practices will lead to ecological disasters, from global warming, loss of bio-diversity to the contamination of  maritime water bodies. Research, development and innovations are powerful tools to align the needs of a growing world population with the necessities of keeping global development within the planetary boundaries. There is, however, a huge and  growing - rather than diminishing - divide in both inputs and outputs to the science and innovation systems. Developing countries, which are most severely affected by the multiple ecological crises cannot invest very high financial and human  resources to address their specific challenges though research and development. This calls for determined international action and North-South cooperation in science, technology and innovation. The paper analyses the North-South divide in research  and development and discusses, how international cooperation may strengthen the capabilities of the Global South to respond to the challenges and, wherever possible, take advantage of new economic opportunities in a world transitioning towards  more sustainable growth patterns.

By Wil Hout / New Rhythms of Development blog series Students of international relations are typically familiarised with the work of Alfred Thayer Mahan and Halford Mackinder, who both stressed the relevance of geographical dominance for great power status. Mahan focused on the role of sea power, while Mackinder’s notion of the ‘heartland’ (which referred …

Continue reading "The Global South and the return of geopolitics"

Donor fatigue is a political choice and a "tragic error" by Western leaders, and it is making the Global South feel "disappointed, frustrated and even betrayed", Achim Steiner, chief administrator of the UN development programme, told EURACTIV. 

Xi Jinping spent spent three days in Russia in a highly touted visit that included hours of direct talks with Vladimir Putin. The visit comes amid Putin’s growing international isolation and heightening tensions between China and the United States.

So what did Xi hope to accomplish with this major diplomatic summit? Joining me to answer that question and more is Jordan Schneider, founder of the podcast and newsletter China Talk. We kick off discussing the evolution of Chinese-Russian relations since the invasion of Ukraine and then discuss some of the key takeaways from the Xi Jinping-Vladimir Putin summit.

To listen to this episode on your favorite podcast player, go here. 

The post Why Xi Jinping Went to Moscow appeared first on UN Dispatch.

By Dr. Stephen P. Groff, Governor, National Development Fund, Saudi Arabia, and former Vice-President for East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific at the Asian Development Bank, and Deputy Director of OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate

Last year saw historic floods devastate Pakistan, South Asia and West Africa; massive storms pummel the Philippines and southern United States; and droughts, heatwaves and wildfires rage across Europe, China and the western United States.  Despite the extreme weather events that continue to ravage many regions in the world, public support and trust in many OECD government climate-action plans remains disappointingly low.

What role does media coverage play in building or diminishing this trust, and how can we address this moving forward?

The post The influence of media on trust in government and climate policies appeared first on Development Matters.

The UN 2023 Water Conference closed on Friday with the adoption of the Water Action Agenda, a “milestone” action plan containing almost 700 commitments to protect “humanity’s most precious global common good”.