As Uganda’s schools reopen, Museveni’s education promises ring hollow
In March 2020, before the first COVID-19 case was even recorded in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni went on national television to announce a country-wide closure of schools. Calling schools the “perfect grounds for new infections,” he said he was making the “move early to avoid the stampede.” Most of the country’s classrooms would remain closed […]
Vaccine ‘apartheid’ is galvanizing calls to overhaul the TRIPS regime
A campaign to strike a more equitable balance between intellectual property protection and access to pharmaceuticals coalesced in a WTO ministerial declaration issued 20 years ago this month. But stark disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines have spotlighted the limitations of the hard-won concessions outlined in that agreement, including the strict barriers still in place […]
In Germany, right-wing violence is a problem no one wants to see
Germany has been lauded for how it has grappled with the legacy of the Holocaust and its anti-Semitic past. A sense of collective guilt is cultivated through school tours of concentration camps and public memorials, including brass stones placed in front of apartment buildings to honor the victims of the Holocaust who once lived inside. […]
The International Criminal Court is in danger of being bullied into irrelevance
After nearly two decades of operation, the International Criminal Court has managed to secure only a handful of convictions, with virtually no high-profile victories. It has actually acquitted more people—four—of the core crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, than it has convicted—three. Its defenders say the court’s record underscores just how difficult […]
Germany’s Greens are on the rise. Can they stay true to their roots?
Over the past year, after a long period on the sidelines of federal politics, the Green party has been on the ascent. They are attracting voters who are searching beyond the traditional parties for politicians who speak with authenticity and offer new approaches to addressing social problems. If they can solidify their base and continue […]
Uganda went from being a model of refugee response to a cautionary tale
Uganda was praised for its open-door policy to refugees fleeing South Sudan’s civil war. New evidence indicates, though, that response was marred by lapses in accountability and disregard for institutional safeguards. Read more.
The extremes made gains in Bavaria, but Germany’s political center isn’t dead yet
While much has been made of the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, it was the left-wing Greens that recorded the biggest gains in last week’s state elections in Bavaria. By winning more than 17 percent of the vote, the Greens nearly doubled their total from Bavaria’s last elections in 2013. Their success […]
Museveni fears a rival unlike any other he has faced in Uganda
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni knows how to take down a rival. The wreckage of various careers are scattered across his 33-year rule—politicians and military officers, unwilling to bend to his will or accept his largesse, who were derailed by well-timed scandals, arrests or worse. But with the detention and apparent torture this month of 36-year-old […]
How much could the deal to save Merkel’s government cost her, and Germany?
Germany’s government has withstood an assault from within, but the process revealed a ruling coalition increasingly beholden to the growing nationalist tendencies of its smallest member. Read more.
Renewed tensions between Uganda and Rwanda will ripple across East Africa
Ties between Rwanda and Uganda appear to be deteriorating rapidly. The latest ebb in this historically volatile relationship stems from the Ugandan government’s pushback on what it perceives as Rwandan meddling in its domestic affairs. Though Ugandan officials have not gone public with any formal allegations, their dissatisfaction can be read in a recent string […]