Today, North and South Korea will sit down for their first high level talks in two years. Next week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will co-host a meeting in Vancouver with Canada’s foreign affairs minister – a meeting that’s being portrayed as a way to jump start new diplomatic efforts with North Korea. But international development professor Robert Huish says it’s a mistake for anyone to consider North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a diplomat – he’s a thug, and should be treated as such.
Rwanda is often touted as Africa’s greatest success story. The nation emerged from the ashes of a hideous genocide to become a paragon of economic growth and political stability. Pundits elsewhere in Africa have argued that Rwanda’s model ought to be replicated in other countries. Political scientist Nic Cheeseman, though, sees a fundamental flaw in this call.
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In this recent photo, South Koreans watch a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s speech.
(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Robert Huish, Dalhousie University
Chrystia Freeland and Rex Tillerson should remember one point when they meet in Vancouver soon to discuss North Korea: Kim Jong-un runs a feudal gangland, not a nation state.
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Politics + Society
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Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham
The Rwandan model can't be replicated easily given that it depends heavily on political dominance and tight, centralised control of patronage networks.
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Asit K. Biswas, National University of Singapore; Cecilia Tortajada, National University of Singapore
China is stepping into a soft power vacuum created by the new US administration. Since Donald Trump was elected president, the country has eschewed soft power.
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Business + Economy
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Renzo Mori Junior, The University of Queensland
It seems there is a gap between what companies publicly assume or state they are doing with the sustainable development goals and what they are actually doing.
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Health + Medicine
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Joseph Kimani Wanjeri, University of Nairobi
Fixing facial birth defects helps a child's optimal growth. But collaboration is needed if developing countries are to increase access to reconstructive surgery.
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Arts + Culture
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Abdesalam Soudi, University of Pittsburgh
A sociolinguist wonders if they’ll ever be able to interpret the waves, high beams and middle fingers of human drivers.
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