Like many other democracies, Australia has experienced growing political polarization in recent years, particularly during the last nine years of the conservative government, led by the Liberal Party, in coalition with the smaller, rural-based National Party. That is why the result of the federal election in May could hold important lessons for other polarized polities. Consider the outcome in K...

Three months have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and calls for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are growing. The leaders of the European Union’s three largest member states -- Germany, France and Italy -- have all recently issued statements calling for a cease-fire, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz underscoring the need for this to come “as quickly as possible.” Italy a...

As President Yoon Suk-yeol’s foreign policy advisers attempt to mend fractured relations with Japan, they will likely sense a palpable change in the dynamics; they will realize they have more leverage than their predecessors. They can thank, in part, Korea’s ascent on the global stage, its popular culture being a huge boon. Though the cultural dimension may have its limits and needn’t be a zero-s...

These days, South Korea is enjoying fame as a global leader in many areas. Aside from being one of the top 10 global economies, Korea has internationally acclaimed pop singers, films and television dramas, not to mention advanced technology. Unfortunately, however, Korea is not lucky enough to have great politicians. Our politicians, whose mental clocks appear to have stopped half a century ago,...

The momentum behind Western sanctions against Vladimir Putin is flagging. Even as the European Union toasts its toughest restrictions yet against the Russian war machine -- including a partial ban on oil imports -- concessions are mounting, from exempting pipeline crude to removing Putin’s favorite cleric from the sanctions list. Hungary’s Viktor Orban, an admirer of Putin, is clearly playing a ...

The World Economic Forum’s first meeting in more than two years was markedly different from the many previous Davos conferences that I have attended since 1995. It was not just that the bright snow and clear skies of January were replaced by bare ski slopes and a gloomy May drizzle. Rather, it was that a forum traditionally committed to championing globalization was primarily concerned with globa...

Each weekend last month brought ever larger crowds to popular areas in Seoul and other big cities in South Korea. Many remaining COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted earlier as cases fell sharply in April, but people still felt cautious. The lifting of the outdoor mask mandate in early May combined with warm weather and a continued drop in cases gave people confidence to get out and spend time w...

Most South Korean adults must probably know what the “586 Generation” means. If you are a foreigner unfamiliar with Korean politics, let me explain. It refers to the bunch of midcareer politicians who were born in the 1960s and entered college in the turbulent 1980s, so naturally who now are in their (late) 50s. The 586 Generation, or just “586” for short, emerged as a group occupying a big turf...