Reports

In Western democracies, leaders have given up on promoting the common good and would rather chase supporters by paying lip service to utopian goals. As a result, voters are feeling increasingly alienated and distrustful, turning toward conspiracy theories. To regain the trust of citizens, elites will need to abandon the ...

On September 23, 2020, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim unexpectedly announced he had amassed a “strong, formidable and convincing majority” to replace the current prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. Maneuvering under the cover of the worsening pandemic, the prime minister then attempted to declare emergency rule. However, his request was rejected ...

Before coronavirus hit, New Delhi had an ambitious budget plan for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Today, India’s government has a third of the economy under lockdown and strives to preserve the country’s development momentum. Some powerful factors are working in India’s favor, but others could drag it down. 

Despite a disappointing economic track record, the European Union still has significant support among voters. However, this popularity is mostly due to a lack of trust in national politics. To live up to the public’s expectations, the EU will need to make significant adjustments to its spending patterns to tackle ...

Italy’s public finance situation is worrying global markets, just as the newly-elected populist coalition is plotting its economic course. The coalition made dramatic promises to voters that could blow past deficit targets and push Italy toward default, bailout or an exit from the euro. But despite their recklessness, the Five ...

The European Commission is finally taking steps to trim unproductive spending in areas like agriculture in its budget framework for 2021-2027. But while the new emphasis on fighting waste is promising, the fiscal plan also contains troubling proposals. One of the most disturbing is to reduce cohesion payments to countries ...

By the beginning of the next decade, Central European countries will face two tough fiscal challenges. First is the risk of losing access to generous EU funds, which today support infrastructure investments. Second is the fiscal burden of health-care spending, which will rise rapidly as their populations age. These problems ...

As the Russian economy’s difficulties deepen, the Kremlin is putting a brave face on things. It maintains that Western sanctions have been beneficial and that its own anti-crisis program is working. Moreover, the government is talking up a new “Strategy 2030” to boost domestic self-sufficiency based on import substitution. The ...

After Greece obtained its third bailout last summer, Europe turned its attention to other crises. But it would be naive to conclude that the sovereign debt crisis is over. The Greek drama is still far from a happy ending; in Portugal and Spain, fragile left-wing governments may want to abandon ...

The most important navies in the Western Pacific are growing in strength. Forces all around the region are improving, but the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy accounts for the lion’s share of new capacity, both in the number of vessels and technological sophistication. How the United States chooses to address ...

The drama of Brazil’s immense political and economic crisis has reached a sort of “ground zero” point, from which it can develop in any direction, leading to a positive or very negative outcome for the country. In early December 2015, Brazil’s Congress unexpectedly and abruptly moved to impeach President Dilma ...

President Vladimir Putin’s hopes and ambitions to see Russia return to take its place among the leading industrialised nations are fading fast as the country heads for recession. ‘Hard decisions’ need to be taken to rein in its spending and cut budgets, according to his Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Russia ...