Besides being known for its beers, chocolates and well-preserved medieval towns, Belgium is also a popular curiosity cabinet among political scientists for its particular ability of peacefully absorbing conflicts between the country’s two main regions, Flanders in the north and Wallonia in the south. Today this is no longer true. The Belgian model of ‘compromise’ [...]

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WASHINGTON — Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a formal end to the American combat role in Iraq. Although a very substantial military presence of around 50,000 troops will remain for training and more limited counterterrorism operations, the shift in mission marks a turning point in the almost eight-year-long U.S. engagement. As America heads [...]

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BUCHAREST — Last week, democracy was put to a test in Moldova. The country’s citizens went to the polls on September 5 to vote on a referendum to amend Article 78 of the Constitution so that the president could be elected directly by the people. The referendum had been triggered by the failure—twice—of the Parliament [...]

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WASHINGTON — In a move likely to please China, India, and Brazil, but force a confrontation with Europe, the Obama administration last month blocked plans that would maintain the current size of the board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is the strongest U.S. effort yet to boost emerging markets’ influence in [...]

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Managing fragile states – preventing state fragility and engaging in “reconstruction and stabilization” activities when states slip into internal conflict – is much on the minds of policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic.  Afghanistan may dominate the media in the immediate future, but Haiti, Yemen, Somalia, Kyrgyzstan, the Congo, and a dozen other spots [...]

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BERLIN — On September 11, Geert Wilders, the controversial Dutch politician who likened the Koran to Mein Kampf, will speak in New York on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, warning about the supposed dangers of Islam and the building of a “ground-zero mega-mosque.” That the proposed structure is neither [...]

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BUCHAREST — On Sunday, Sept. 5, Moldovans will go to the polls to participate in a Constitutional referendum that would allow for the president to be elected directly by the people, and not by the parliament as it is now. The need to change Article 78 of the Constitution was triggered by the failure twice [...]

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BRUSSELS — As aspiring Middle East peacemakers descend on Washington this week, one absentee has already been noted. Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, chose to pass up dinner at the White House and instead pressed ahead with her trip to China, where she inaugurated a new strategic dialogue with her Chinese counterpart. [...]

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