Global Political Insight

The beginning of this month marked an EU free trade agreement with Colombia and Peru to liberalise trade in the agricultural, manufacturing and fisheries industries. This is the first of what is predicted to be several deals with South American nations. Free trade has always been vociferously supported by neo-liberal, free-market capitalists, and the European Parliament is […]

To even the strongest supporters of capitalism, there is little argument that the global economic crisis that began in 2008 has exposed some of the fundamental weaknesses of the system, and in particular the ‘free market’ element that has existed in many Western democracies since the end of the Second World War. This exposure has […]

By Hilary Stoten We can all thank Citizens United and SpeechNow.org, the two Supreme Court decisions in 2010 for reopening the doors to overwhelming amounts of unlimited corporate money in US elections. These seminal rulings led to the birth of a new political vehicle in the campaign finance world: super PACs. Super PACs are a fresh […]

Cooking a five-ounce burger is not the typical way to enter global headlines, but then again, the slightly charred beef served up to the world media on Monday, was no ordinary piece of meat. Assembled from tiny pieces of cow muscle, that have been cultured from stem cells and grown in a laboratory, Dr Mark […]

By Thomas Williamson US Secretary of State John Kerry is leading yet another attempt to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The harsh reality is that like so many more before him he will probably fail to broker a lasting peace, due to the thicket of issues that surround the conflict. The dispute […]

David Cameron’s expedition to India in February of this year seems to have been perfectly timed and potentially very lucrative. On his visit, the Prime Minister said: “I want Britain and India to have a special relationship… this is a relationship about the future, not [about] the past”. Beyond the delicate imperial history of the […]

In 1713, the small peninsula of Gibraltar was ceded from Spain to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht after being captured in 1704 by mostly British and Dutch forces. Since then it has served as a trading outpost of the British Empire with the occasional Spanish siege, the last of which was in 1779. […]

Spain’s foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo’s recent threat to impose a €50 toll on vehicles crossing the Spain-Gibraltar border reflects nothing more than a cynical attempt to deflect attention from the countries failing economy. Unemployment in Spain is currently at 25% (second only to Greece in the Eurozone) and the IMF last Friday warned it […]

Since the end of the Second World War, America has been the undisputed superpower of our world, matched only by the sheer size and nuclear capabilities of the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and thus the collapse of the USSR, America has been the unprecedented champion with military and economic might […]

An end to the violence and conflict in Syria is not in sight, far from it. The UN estimates that around 100,000 have died in the conflict so far and the number is set to rise as both the Assad regime and the rebel movement refuse to end the bloodshed. Many suggestions have been put […]

Russia is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons again. This time, the regime of President Vladimir Putin has received ample criticism for the imprisonment of the informal Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Thanks to the international coverage, the majority will now know who Navlany is, but just to recap: Navalny was sentenced […]

Russia and Europe always had their differences, more so during the Cold War, but even before the two World Wars. Given the globalised world that we live in, one would have thought that Russia and the West may finally put to bed their historic hostility towards each other and cooperate together to ensure the development […]

Long gone are the days when America and Western Europe could credibly claim to set the international agenda and lead the way as leaders of the world. Since the financial market meltdown of 2008, it has become clear that nothing can be resolved without substantive support from China, India, Brazil, Russia and other emerging powers. […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a fascinating, though a mystical character. Even though he has been at the fore-front of Russian politics for over a decade since 2000, not many actually understand the impact and influence he has had on Russia. Discussing Putin’s time as Russian President could take a whole book, but in this […]

Russia is a peculiar country. Though it is no longer a communist state, Russia still continues to be the centre of attention when it comes to the West picking out the other countries they mistrust and see as a potential threat ti Europe and America. Given how much mistrust and anger there is towards the […]