World Politics Review

Civil society coalitions, journalists, Instagram influencers and women’s networks drove a dramatic rise in turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel. The challenge now is sustaining it beyond one election, @mhajneam writes in a new analysis for WPR. wpr.pub/4AlQonI

Geopolitical competition means the days of open collaboration in basic science with China are over. But as columnist Mary Gallagher writes, the U.S. cannot shut out international scientific collaboration entirely without damaging its own capacity and standing. wpr.pub/4BVoJeS

After U.S. voters backed data center restrictions in 31 of 35 binding ballot measures, tech giants may look overseas to build. But the public scrutiny is likely to follow them, @CandaceRondeaux writes in her latest column for WPR. wpr.pub/4kIEbVB

Libya’s eastern parliament has ratified a maritime deal with Turkey that it once condemned as treason. For Saddam Haftar, son and heir apparent of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, the deal buys Ankara’s goodwill for his succession, @MFetouri writes. wpr.pub/4AlgJlR

Ra’am and the Joint List, Israel’s two predominantly Palestinian groupings, won 19 Knesset seats, potentially enough to decide who governs. Whether that becomes lasting power depends partly on whether Jewish opposition leaders will treat them as partners. wpr.pub/4AlQonI

U.S. universities have recently ended low-risk social science exchanges with Chinese counterparts and cancelled Chinese language programs—an overcorrection that undermines the training of the next generation of American experts on China. wpr.pub/4BVoJeS

As Niko Berghmans writes, Côte d’Ivoire’s gold mining crackdown risks reviving the land and identity tensions behind its civil war, leaving more young people jobless in border areas under jihadist pressure, and threatening ex-rebel networks that profit from the trade. wpr.pub/4z5QW0d

The ouster of Paraguayan President Santiago Peña over a bank scandal may come to mirror the U.S. midterms in the hemisphere, James Bosworth (@bloggingsbyboz) writes. wpr.pub/4z2NXp3

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies blamed foreign interference for surging Arab turnout in the Oct. 27 election. The unsubstantiated claims obscure the real story: grassroots organizing that now has to prove it can last, @mhajneam writes. wpr.pub/4AlQonI

The push to guard U.S. research against China has overcorrected, weakening America’s own expertise on the country, columnist Mary Gallagher writes. The incoming Democratic-led U.S. Congress has a role in reversing that. wpr.pub/4BVoJeS

Since 2021, Ivorian authorities have cleared more than 8,500 illegal gold mining sites, and the practice is still spreading. Raids alone won’t end what is first and foremost a problem of livelihoods, land and governance. wpr.pub/4z5QW0d

Two things didn’t happen as Paraguayan President Santiago Peña fell over a bank scandal: The military stayed out, and Trump made no move to save a close ally. The first is a good sign for Paraguay’s democracy; the second shows the limited benefits of backing Trump’s agenda. wpr.pub/4z2NXp3

Côte d’Ivoire has pledged to end illegal gold mining within six months, treating it as a security threat. But without land titles, a legal path or other income for miners, repression risks reviving the grievances that once fueled a civil war, Niko Berghmans writes. wpr.pub/4z5QW0d

Santiago Peña was a close Trump ally, yet when a bank collapse cost him Paraguay’s presidency, Washington made no effort to save him—showing that Trump’s friendship is personal in rhetoric but transactional in practice. wpr.pub/4z2NXp3

If the UAE’s Lana Nusseibeh becomes U.N. secretary-general, the danger is a win seen as a corrupt bargain between Gulf capitals and the Security Council’s veto powers—one that would weaken the office’s legitimacy from the start. wpr.pub/48lV1CB

With U.S. President Donald Trump effectively neutered at home after a midterm rout driven by anger over the Iran war, foreign leaders have little incentive to give in to his demands, @ProfPaulPoast writes. wpr.pub/4z67tkJ

By entering the U.N. secretary-general race late, the UAE’s Lana Nusseibeh avoided straw polls where the Security Council’s permanent members could have rejected her—a sign the route to the job runs through informal understandings with those five powers. wpr.pub/48lV1CB

U.S. President Donald Trump twice won the White House campaigning against foreign wars. A war of choice against Iran that drove up fuel prices was the first thing he couldn’t talk his way out of—and voters punished Republicans for it in the midterms. wpr.pub/4z67tkJ

Two years ago, a report by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi warned that underinvestment and a lack of coherent industrial policy were holding European industry back. It was lavishly praised, then ignored—and Europe’s automakers are now paying the price. wpr.pub/3WrtOLV

As columnist @FridaGhitis writes, when jobs are scarce, schools are crumbling and health care is hard to find, corruption voters once overlooked can become intolerable—making graft a potent political issue worldwide. wpr.pub/4BKRwCU