Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The second and final four-year mandate of US President Barack Obama came to an end on Friday 20 January 2017, making of 2016, the year under review in this volume, the concluding one of what can be defined the Obama Era. The end of the Obama era […]
Chapters
China 2016: Defending the legitimacy of the party-state’s authority*
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The present article focuses on what seemed to be the main issue at stake in China during the year 2016: the legitimacy of the party-state’s domestic authority.[1] Partystate’s legitimacy was indeed affected by an enduring and worsening economic slowdown and above all by various forms of protests […]
Taiwan 2012-2016: From consolidation to the collapse of cross-strait rapprochement
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – From 2012 to 2016, the relation between Mainland China and Taiwan saw landmark achievements and underwent profound shockwaves. During the second term of President Ma Ying-jeou, China and Taiwan reached the zenith of a process of cross- Strait rapprochement. This process began in 2008, as Ma and […]
Korean Peninsula 2016: The never-ending crisis
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The year 2016 was characterized by major crises throughout the entire Korean peninsula. The decline in popularity of South Korean president Park Geun-hye further deteriorated after the election for the National Assembly in April, which gave the majority to the opposition parties. The serious scandal in November […]
Japan 2016: Political stability amidst maritime contestation and historical reconciliation*
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – This article assesses the stability of the Abe administration in the face of a rapidly changing international environment. Important displays of historical reconciliation testified to the toning down of Prime Minister Abe Shinz ’s revisionism, thus feeding into international and domestic stability. At the same time, continued […]
The Philippines 2016: Democracy in dispute?
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – President Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 election was a divisive moment in Philippine politics. The promise to disrupt élite-centric politics and restore national peace and order won him strong popular support throughout the country. His satisfactory track record of turning Davao City from a haven of criminals to the […]
Indonesia 2016: A difficult equilibrium amid global anxiety
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The year 2016 in Indonesia saw President Joko Widodo consolidate his power after last year’s uncertain start. Domestic policy focused on curbing terrorism linked to the Islamic State (IS), especially following a deadly attack in the capital in January. Nevertheless, the rise of religious intolerance and political […]
Vietnam 2016: The aftermath of the 12th congress, between continuities and changes
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – In the aftermath of the heated January 2016 12th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Vietnam seemed face multiple challenges, both at the domestic and at the international level. For what concerns domestic affairs, this paper argues that one major challenge for the newly elected […]
Laos 2016: The 10th congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (Lprp) and its domestic and international aftermath
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The 10th Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) concluded in January 2016 with a reshuffle of the Politburo. The new leadership confirmed a «steady-as-you-go» policy continuing to base its political legitimacy both on economic growth cum social equity and the fight against the spread of […]
Thailand 2016: The death of King Bhumibol and the deepening of the political crisis
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – A military coup in May 2014 was the last turn in a political crisis that has affected the country since the beginning of the century. As the country grew richer and its society more demanding, a quite liberal constitution had been approved in 1997, leading to a […]
Myanmar 2016: From enthusiasm to disillusionment
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – 2016 was the year when political change finally came to Myanmar. After a fiveyear transition from military rule to a (semi-)civilian government, the two electoral rounds of November 2015 (parliamentary) and March 2016 (presidential) ushered in a new phase of formally – if substantially constrained – democratic […]
Bangladesh 2016: A laboratory for Islamic radicalism
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – In 2016 political violence continued to upset Bangladesh. Radical Islam contin-ued to rage in the country and to disseminate terror: people belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, along with moderate Muslims were brutally killed. The violence escalated in 2016, reaching its apex with the 1 July attack […]
Sri Lanka 2016: Does the new era continue?
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The year under review witnessed the continuation of the new political phase in Sri Lanka, which began in 2015 with Mahinda Sirisena’s victory at the presidential polls and, later in the year, the electoral victory of the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) led by the […]
India 2016: Reforming the economy and tightening the connection with the US
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – As in 2015, in 2016 India’s political and economic landscape appeared to be dominated by Narendra Modi, the incumbent Prime Minister. Differently from what was the case in 2015, behind the pervasive self-praising rhetoric of the Indian government and the deafening chorus of applause of the bulk […]
Appendix to India 2016 – A brutal and violent year in the Kashmir Valley
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – In 2016, in concomitance with the worsening in the India-Pakistan relations, the situation in the Vale of Kashmir, which is part of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, took a turn for the worse. Although the reciprocal Indian and Pakistani claims to the whole of the […]
Pakistan 2016: Economic features
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – This essay analyses the predominant domestic and foreign policy events that occurred in Pakistan in 2016 through the lens provided by the country’s main economic developments. With the aims of decreasing the fiscal deficit/GDP ratio and following the guidelines of the international financing institutions, Pakistan was implementing […]
Afghanistan 2016: Military crisis and contested reforms
Afghanistan’s political and economic scene in 2016 was largely conditioned by the on-going war. The uneasy balance between Afghan National Security Forces and the insurgents has shown a tendency to shift in favour of the latter. US air support has increasingly emerged as the government forces’ only element of military superiority over the Taliban. This […]
Iran 2016: From the Saudi embassy attack to the demise of Rafsanjani
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – The year 2016 was an internal and external test for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The February legislative elections represented strong support for both his administration and the nuclear accord with the P5+1 group of nations. But the lack of visible improvements at the economic level, the increasing […]
Kazakhstan 2015-2016: Balancing regime stability amidst local and global challenges
Available also in pdf – Download Pdf – Twenty-five years after independence, Kazakhstan is still under the rule of its first President, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The biennium 2015-2016 confirmed the continuity of the process of stabilization of the political system started in the previous years. These were also years of challenges to the stability of Nazarbayev’s […]
