The World Today

October & November 2022: Reaping a bitter harvest

An illustration of a couple holding their hands in front of a heater to warm themselves. The mesh grating doubles as a graph depicting rising energy costs.

Russia is making Europe pay a high price to meet its winter fuel needs - good news perhaps for action on energy security and climate goals, says Mike Bradshaw.

Conflict and the pandemic have sent prices soaring. But the weaponization of trade may decide whether high inflation endures, says DeAnne Julius.

A record number of people were going hungry - and then the war in Ukraine made it worse. Arif Husain on why acting now will cost less in the future.

States may be looking to build or restore nuclear plants, but they will need to bypass Chinese and Russian sector dominance, says Sung-Mi Kim.

A Donald Trump supporter stands alone at a Republican rally in Pennsylvania in support of Doug Mastriano who is standing for governor. The supporter's t-shirt reads 'Trump won'.

The outcome could threaten the fight against climate change and the future of democracy itself, warns Leslie Vinjamuri.

‘FFP2.0’ would have a less gendered focus, broader fairness and better alignment with domestic policy, say Eirliani Abdul Rahman and Jesse Bump.

Girls leave their school following a Taliban order of closure just hours after reopening in Kabul on March 23, 2022.

The Afghanistan expert tells Mike Higgins the Taliban are reneging on their promises and that the region’s powers must intercede.

There is a triple crisis around food, inflation and energy - we tackle each issue and see how the global north’s looming winter might affect the world.

Articles

Yu Jie explores why so few women have won leadership roles in Communist China.

Pylon covered with sand, near El Oued, Sahara Desert, Algeria.

The COP host has a crucial role to play in climate justice for the continent and in the vexed issue of African gas in the energy transition, says Karim Elgendy.

Aerial image of the border project Pangda, a village of 124 people that sits roughly two kilometres within Bhutan from the border.

Why is Beijing establishing settlements over the Bhutanese border? To undermine India’s strategic security, say John Pollock and Damien Symon.

Queen Elizabeth II leaving St Paul's Cathedral in London

Queen Elizabeth’s deft charm enhanced Britain’s soft power for seven decades. Alexandra Penler pays tribute to a much-loved monarch and Chatham House patron.

An Iraqi man connects overhead cables providing generator electricity to homes and businesses amid power outages and soaring temperatures.

Political unrest since last year’s election has claimed dozens of lives – but high-level corruption has quietly killed many more Iraqis, says Renad Mansour.

Activists in front of the Tweede Kamer during a demonstration in support of the Urgenda case at the Supreme Court in The Hague. Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Litigation is increasingly being used to hold government and companies to their climate promises, write Catherine Higham and Joana Setzer.

Also in this issue

Joe Biden, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are all expected at Bali in November, says James Orr. Can hosts Indonesia nudge them from conflict to engagement?

The political historian talks to Mike Higgins about how Donald Trump has transformed the US midterm elections and the Republican party’s lurch further right.

Yitzhak Rabin receives the Nobel Peace Prize while Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres applaud

As the Norwegian committee once more hands out its award, Helen Fitzwilliam reports on decades of controversial winners, from Henry Kissinger to Abiy Ahmed.

An illustration of a street with the lights on in one house

Sky-high energy prices are testing what different European states mean by solidarity, writes Catherine Fieschi.

The Trilateral Commission’s diagnosis of global capitalism’s ills is helpful – but its prescription is too broad, says Alessio Terzi.

Demonstrators on a London street carry a banner calling for the extradition of August Pinochet

Felipe Agüero, a survivor of the Chilean dictator’s regime, recalls the day Augusto Pinochet was detained on October 16, 1998.

Somaia Valizadeh, an Afghan journalist, describes building her new life in Turkey since escaping the Taliban.

The latest

In the final article of three on the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress, which opens on 16 October, Yu Jie argues that Beijing must show more pragmatism about Taiwan and the West.

In the first of a three-part series examining the global importance of the CCP’s 20th National Congress, Yu Jie explains how it makes its big decisions.

In the second of her three-part series on the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Yu Jie outlines two key policy themes we can expect Xi to define: ‘common prosperity’ and ‘self-reliance’.