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22. The Revolution in Bangladesh Raises the Prospect of Renewed Democracy
- Author:
- Patryk Kugiel
- Publication Date:
- 09-2024
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Polish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- On 5 August, a social revolution forced Bangladesh’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and leave the country. The massive anti-government protests were caused by a combination of the authoritarian rule and increasingly difficult post-pandemic economic situation. A transitional government led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus will be tasked with stabilising the country and preparing for free and fair parliamentary elections. It is in the West’s interest to strengthen democracy in Bangladesh. Poland can use this moment of democratic transition to intensify bilateral cooperation.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Protests, Revolution, and Sheikh Hasina
- Political Geography:
- Bangladesh, South Asia, and Poland
23. Fall 2024 edition of Strategic Visions
- Author:
- Alan McPherson, Grace Anne Parker, Sophía Valdes, Aaron Gell, Nikolas Gvosdev, Andrew Santora, and Jake Wolff
- Publication Date:
- 12-2024
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Strategic Visions
- Institution:
- Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy, Temple University
- Abstract:
- This issue of Strategic Visions, Volume 24, Issue 1 (Fall 2024), features the usual "News from the Director" and "Note from the Davis Fellow" sections, in which we reflect on this past semester’s colloquium series. Additionally, we are excited to share interviews with Aaron Gell, a journalist for The New Republic, who discusses campus protests related to Gaza, and Dr. Nikolas Gvosdev, Professor of Naval Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, who provides insights into foreign policy in President-Elect Trump’s second term. Sofía Valdes wrote a piece about her research which won her the 2024 Edwin H. Sherman Prize last semester. Two of our graduate students, Andrew Santora and Jake Wolff, have contributed pieces detailing their archival research, which has been supported in part by CENFAD. Additionally, PhD candidate Audrey Rankin offers a review of Kathleen Murphy's Captivity's Collections: Science, Natural History, and the British Transatlantic Slave Trade (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2023).
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Protests, Higher Education, Donald Trump, and 2023 Gaza War
- Political Geography:
- United States of America
24. In the U.S. South, Latin American Diaspora Organizes for Palestinian Liberation
- Author:
- Álvaro José Mejía Arias, Roxana Bendezú, Ramón Mejía, Alyssah Roth, Alex Trejo, and Victor Urquiza
- Publication Date:
- 12-2024
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
- Abstract:
- From Texas to North Carolina, Latine solidarity organizers connect the dots between U.S. imperialism in the Americas and Israel’s colonization of Palestine.
- Topic:
- Imperialism, Diaspora, Protests, Colonization, and Organizing
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Palestine, Latin America, and United States of America
25. Bangladesh’s July demonstrations are much larger and more violent than in 2018 | Factsheet
- Author:
- Pearl Pandya
- Publication Date:
- 07-2024
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
- Abstract:
- Thousands of students took to the streets across Bangladesh in early July after a High Court verdict reintroduced controversial quotas in government jobs1 on 5 June. The latest demonstrations come six years after the Awami League (AL) government’s 2018 decision to abolish the quotas, which also followed a nationwide student mobilization. Though the demonstrations began as a mainly peaceful movement at universities, they descended into violence in mid-July amid clashes between protest groups and police, with international media reporting over 200 fatalities and thousands of injuries. Police have arrested more than 2,000 people in connection with the violence.2 On 18 July, authorities blocked internet access and the next day implemented a nationwide curfew and deployed the army with shoot-on-sight powers.
- Topic:
- Domestic Politics, Protests, Students, Demonstrations, and Civil Unrest
- Political Geography:
- Bangladesh and South Asia
26. Fighting deepens around El Fasher in Sudan, al-Shabaab loses territory in Somalia, and police crack down on tax-related protests in Kenya
- Author:
- Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
- Publication Date:
- 06-2024
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
- Abstract:
- A new major battle broke out in the North Darfur city of El Fasher, which has been surrounded since April by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). El Fasher is the only capital city in Darfur that is still controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The SAF, backed by its allies, managed to conduct multiple offensive maneuvers on RSF strongholds in rural territories in North Darfur. During the clashes, the SAF claimed to have inflicted several casualties on the RSF, including killing the local operation commander. ACLED records at least 700 reported fatalities in connection with fighting around the city since the RSF began the attack on El Fasher on 10 April; around half of them — 320 — were recorded during the reporting period, 25 May to 21 June. Additionally, the violence has heavily hit health care facilities in North Darfur, causing them to go out of service and aggravating an already dire humanitarian situation. According to the Sudan Doctors’ Union, at least 4,000 people may have died from violence, diseases, and starvation in El Fasher alone.
- Topic:
- Civil War, Protests, Tax Systems, and Armed Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Kenya, Africa, and Sudan
27. Protests in Iran in comparative perspective: A revolutionary state in trouble
- Author:
- Erwin van Veen and Hamidreza Azizi
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
- Abstract:
- Successive protests in 2009, 2019 and 2022 have poignantly laid bare the much reduced social and political legitimacy of Iran’s ruling elites. Reform-from-within is no longer viewed as credible. Even former pro-reform leaders like Mousavi have abandoned hope and call for regime change. While further protests are inevitable, it is nevertheless unlikely that they will produce a revolution that overthrows the regime in the short-term, as long as their national organisation and leadership remain weak, Iran’s ruling elites cohesive, security forces loyal, and the administration continues to function. The country has witnessed hundreds of protests every year for the past few years, in addition to those of 2009, 2019 and 2022, but calls for fundamental change continue to go unheeded. The hope of the ruling elite is that the mix of repression and Iran’s dire economic situation will prevent protests from recurring. At best, quasi-reforms will provide some band-aids. In both scenarios, the Islamic Republic of Iran is no more in the sense that it lacks legitimacy among large segments of the population. It has also shed the elements of republican governance it used to have. And yet it lives on because it remains a capable state with a fairly cohesive ruling elite and ample coercive power. Iran is on course to become a classic one-party authoritarian regime, which may shed some of its religious orientations once its Supreme Leader leaves office for reasons of age. It remains to be seen how sustainable this will be given the crescendo of protests.
- Topic:
- Security, Economy, Domestic Politics, Protests, and Civil Unrest
- Political Geography:
- Iran and Middle East
28. Rethinking the EU’s Approach to Women’s Rights in Iran
- Author:
- Barbara Mittelhammer, Tara Sepehri Far, and Sussan Tahmasebi
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- After the death of twenty-two-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police on September 16, 2022, protests quickly spread throughout the country under the slogan of “Woman, Life, Freedom.” Amini’s death galvanized a movement that connects women’s individual freedom to choose their dress code to the systemic social, political, and economic grievances of a larger population that is demanding fundamental change. In claiming the realization of their basic rights, Iranians are revolting against a system that not only oppresses women and peaceful dissent but also continues to fail to meet citizens’ needs. This fight, which has attracted global solidarity, highlights the core message that when women’s rights are marginalized to nonexistence, human rights for all are at risk. The protests have taken place amid mounting repression of organized peaceful activism, a continuing deterioration of Iranians’ basic rights, and a host of economic ills, including rising inequality, increasing poverty, worsening living conditions, skyrocketing food prices, raging inflation, and rising unemployment. Three years of the coronavirus pandemic as well as decades-long comprehensive economic and financial sanctions have gravely added to the socioeconomic calamity. On top of this economic insecurity, precarious and perilous working conditions had already sparked increasing protests in Iran in recent years, resulting in the government’s harsh crackdown on human rights activists and civil society as well as further infringements on rights, including internet shutdowns, even before current events. Repression and the deterioration of Iran’s socioeconomic conditions have aggravated the situation for women in particular. Especially in recent years leading up to the current protests, this trend has hindered Iranian women’s ability to mobilize, protest, and achieve the full realization of their rights. Those who experience intersecting discrimination because of their minority background or social status are impacted even more if they live in rural areas, which are less developed than urban ones, or in areas on Iran’s border, which the state views predominantly through a security lens. The international response to Iran’s very poor human rights record and current protests, however, has lacked a holistic approach that considers women’s key role as agents of change and encompasses civil and political as well as social and economic rights as integral components of women’s rights. In fact, women’s rights and gender equality are not only goals in themselves but also enable the realization of fundamental rights of other marginalized groups, such as children and minorities. Moreover, women’s rights and gender equality are the strongest indicators of and preconditions for sustainable and peaceful societies, both internally and externally. Yet, the European Union’s (EU’s) current approach to Iran does not account for this reality. Over the past years, the EU’s policy toward the country has focused on negotiations to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after Washington’s withdrawal from the deal in 2018. The current situation in Iran urgently highlights the need for a policy framework that responds to the government’s repression and gross human rights violations and, equally, considers the disastrous socioeconomic situation in the country, which is a key obstacle to the public’s ability to organize to realize its rights. Given the importance of economic precarity and socioeconomic inequality in the current revolt, the EU should adopt policies that can support the protesters’ rights and demands in the short term while considering a revised long-term approach centered on empowering Iranians in their efforts to create long-lasting democratic change.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, European Union, Women, and Protests
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Iran, and Middle East
29. Communal Resistance and Land Theft Mark Lead up to Guatemala Elections
- Author:
- Gladys Tzul Tzul and Simón Antonio Ramón
- Publication Date:
- 05-2023
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
- Abstract:
- Mass protests against taxation measures and the forced displacement of Indigenous communities set the backdrop for Guatemala’s upcoming presidential elections.
- Topic:
- Elections, Displacement, Protests, Land Rights, and Indigenous
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and Guatemala
30. Peru: Infinite Protest and Indolent Elites
- Author:
- Nicolás Lynch
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
- Abstract:
- The anti-government protests that erupted in December have a clear political agenda: new elections and the convening of a constituent assembly.
- Topic:
- Elections, Protests, and Elites
- Political Geography:
- South America, Latin America, and Peru