Canada – Not as Civil as You Might Think The past seven days were supposed to be a good week for Canada. Last Monday, Justin Trudeau went to Washington and delivered exactly what almost every Canadian was hoping for: an acknowledgment from President Trump that the U.S.-Canadian trade relationship was valuable and only needs to be…
Editor´s Note: On October 3, 2016, the Colombian people shocked the international community by narrowly rejecting a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). After more than 50 years of violence, most observers in Colombia and around the world expected that there would be widespread support for such an agreement, in order…
Happy New Year to PineTreeRepublic readers! As we enter 2017 and approach our second anniversary, it seems like a good moment to continue an emerging annual tradition: the top 10 list of our favourite news articles from the past year. If nothing else, the twists and turns of 2016 demonstrated the importance of high-quality journalism in order to…
Editor´s Note: On October 3, 2016, the Colombian people shocked the international community by narrowly rejecting a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). After more than 50 years of violence, most observers in Colombia and around the world expected that there would be widespread support for such an agreement, in order…
Coffee and Politics As I was sitting across the table from my university friend, nearly 10 years later, I couldn’t help noticing the salt and pepper that started sprinkling his hair. We had been roommates for two years while going to school in Los Angeles. Shortly after graduation, he left for graduate studies on the…
This week marks the one-year anniversary of Pine Tree Republic (and thank you to everyone who has contributed so far to the community through reading, sharing, and commenting on posts!). As we’ve discussed international events over the last 12 months, it’s safe to say that one of the most complex issues has been the mass migration of people…
The Story Sometimes, global crises hit without warning. Natural disasters, such as the massive 2010 earthquake in Haiti, or the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, are still beyond our ability to predict with precision and accuracy (though the social and environmental problems that followed may have been more predictable). In other cases, we miss the…
At just over a week old, 2016 promises to be a powerful year for stories that will shape our world. We’ve already seen the simmering Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran ratchet up a couple levels, and a reminder of the instability North Korea brings to international relations with its test of a purported hydrogen bomb. Meanwhile,…
In a previous post, I examined three trends in global terrorism statistics that should give pause to policymakers proposing the typical policy package in response to terrorist incidents, including more bombing of terrorist groups, restricted immigration, and increased government surveillance. Specifically, these statistics demonstrated that (1) terrorist incidents in Western countries have actually declined since the…
The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris have prompted world leaders to focus on defeating the Islamic State, or Daesh (referred to in this post as ISIS), to a level of determination rarely seen on global issues. The Group of 20 (G20) summit held in Turkey just a week after the events, in which leaders from 20…
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