Nationalism and revisionism has been growingly a part of international discussions about Japan in the past 15-or-so years, and it does not seem to simmer down anytime soon. On the contrary, the Abe administration seems to accelerate not only the public debate about the phenomena, but the movement itself too. During these debates, much of the calculations are about the relevance of nationalism and how much influence does it – really – have.

Challenges of democratic consolidation in Serbia

After the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the end of the bloody civil war, democratic transition could have started in the Western Balkans accompanied by the strong assist and support of the European Union. Although this process has been delayed in some countries due to different types of challenges, since the beginning of the 2000s the institutional background for democratic political systems has been provided in the region.

Priorities and challenges after the general elections

Shortly after the Italian general elections, many analysts predicted that the country should be prepared for a long negotiation process that could even take few months. After the negotiations, a new, unprecedented gov­erning-coalition took the responsibility to lead Italy for the next five years. In fact, the two most voted parties, the Five Stars Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle, M5S) and the League (Lega), which expressed a strong anti-establishment and Eurosceptic rhetoric, merged their programmes and made an agreement for “changing the country.”

Let me begin with a slight change of title, but one that is important, I believe, to our discussion. How you think about the problem matters, as it frames much of your response. We customarily talk about counter-terrorism, but, as former Director of the CIA John Brennan notes, we should think about counter-terrorist activity, not counter-terrorism. We are trying to stop people, not a “thing.” We can defeat those who decide to become terrorists. We can make terrorism very costly and ultimately unattractive to would-be terrorists, but we cannot defeat the concept per se. It may recede and even disappear for a while, but it will return again in some other guise.

The rise of China has become a central issue in contemporary discourse. The key factor which has influenced the change within Chinese foreign policy decision-making is the Open Door Policy. Compared to the previous period, the implementation of the Open Door Policy has greatly improved China’s economic development and has provided better living conditions and quality of life for the Chinese people. This openness is not restricted to economic aspects, as it has also had considerable social and political effects. In order to offer an overview and to explain the complexity of Chinese foreign policy decision-making after 1978, this article will examine two dimensions: succession politics and economic reform. Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not a democratic regime, the changing of the ruling class does not happen through elections, and therefore political accountability never existed in contemporary Chinese politics. On these grounds, we shall use different approaches to fully understand the reasons why the process of Chinese foreign policy decision-making has become more complex since 1978.

On November 9th, reactions of mourning, disbelief, and shock emerged in response to the Donald J. Trump victory among millions of Americans – many of them young, college-educated Clinton voters. Part of the shock stemmed from the pollsters’ erroneous prediction of a Clinton win, but another potential explanation is the bubble of elite culture and education in the United States.