The appeal of populist leaders has faded in Latin America, along with the generous spending programs that cemented their rule. While low commodity prices make it harder to curry favor, populist agendas will continue to manifest for years to come.
Throughout recent history, nations have grappled with the costs and benefits of developing their health care sectors. But reform is complicated, and the inertia of history hard to overcome.
A handful of foreign policy crises are clamoring for the United States' attention. And as they worsen, they risk producing a collective din that even political squabbles in Washington can't drown out.
By Reva Goujon
Dissatisfied with their present and worried about their future, Italian voters are growing increasingly skeptical of Europe's common currency.
There is much the Kremlin can do to disrupt the seat of power in Washington, but it can't break the checks and balances so cleverly instituted by the authors of the Constitution.
By Reva Goujon
The growth of the world's leading tech firms, and the effective monopolies they've established in certain areas, are concerns that Washington will eventually have to address. The only questions are when and how.
By Matthew Bey
The Russian president knows that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. But as each of his predecessors has learned, nothing lasts forever.
The latest sting in Oklahoma City shows that federal investigators are on the lookout for violent domestic extremists as well as jihadists.
Your multiple accounts and friendly posts can be a gold mine for crooks or terrorists tracking you.
Cheap and easy to manufacture, the synthetic opioid is the latest big moneymaker for Mexican crime groups — and where drug-trafficking profits go, violence is likely to follow.
The framework for understanding terrorist plots is still a useful guide for anyone seeking to thwart actions both complex and simple.
Facing a looming defeat in Raqqa after losing Mosul, the jihadist organization will need time to regroup. But keeping it permanently contained will take a concerted counterinsurgency effort to establish stability and trust in governance.
History, politics and a fractured cartel landscape will restrict any attempt by Mexico’s next president to pursue a new approach to end drug violence.
Technology or security personnel are valuable resources for stopping workplace violence. But they function best as supplements to a company's main line of defense: its employees.
Traveling through Andalusia reveals the complexity of the region's culture and history -- and the pride its people have in them.
Colombia is not an easy country to govern. Its mountains and jungles have historically harbored towns and villages that have wildly different political worldviews and that have been in constant conflict since the country's independence in 1810. Political identity -- left or right -- has long been a defining feature of Colombia's isolated towns, particularly those in Antioquia department. It is in this context that in 1977 embattled rancher Ramon Isaza gathered forces in the sleepy river town of Puerto Boyaca to fight the FARC forces terrorizing his community.
By Diego Solis
The future of the peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, like that of the country as a whole, is uncertain. But Colombia's recent progress gives hope of a brighter future.
Any place elite barons of authority convene can, at least temporarily, join the ranks of the world's important spaces. In countries where power is contested, a hotel's neutral space might be the only option for political or military rivals to engage in talks or to trade information, though this can also attract intelligence agency surveillance.
Geography shapes crime around the globe. And in Guatemala's linguistically and geographically fragmented hinterlands, isolation has begotten ungoverned spaces, which, in turn, have helped to foster state corruption and organized crime.
By Diego Solis
I watched the final days of the U.S. presidential campaign from South Korea, where tens of thousands marched through the streets of Seoul, demanding the resignation of their president, and Hong Kong, where hundreds to thousands of residents clashed with police to protest China's interference in Hong Kong law.
By Rodger Baker
Oftentimes when we think about the Southern Cone, we think only of Brazil and Argentina. The mammoth countries have historically competed with each other to control trade and infrastructure in the Rio de la Plata Basin. But Uruguay and Paraguay play an important, if often overlooked, role in that dynamic, acting as a buffer between Argentina and Brazil.
By Diego Solis
As we grow and evolve as a company, the world of geopolitics is also changing before our eyes.
Nearly a month has passed since American voters gave the presidency, seemingly against all odds, to Donald Trump. And for nearly a month a global chorus of pundits, pollsters and media prophets have asked: How did just about everyone get it wrong? Amid the hand-wringing, the list of culprits is long: Skewed models of voter bases. The demise of landline telephones. Underestimates of "lapsed voters." The evolution of game-changing social media. Wishful thinking.
Stratfor is a unique company, and that very uniqueness that makes us difficult to pin down, open as we are to so many interpretations. So it's time to try to pull back the curtain on who we are, what we do and how we do it. Welcome to our new column, Stratforium.
Journalism tells you what you want to know. Stratfor tells you what you need to know. We co-exist in this ecosystem, but geopolitical intelligence is scarcely part of the journalistic flora and fauna.
