• OPINION

  Democracy survives crucial test in Senegal

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/04/2024

  » The crisis in Senegal, the one country in West Africa that has never had a military coup, has passed. Few people outside Africa were paying close attention to it, but I'm sure you will be pleased to know that democracy has survived.

• OPINION

  Indonesian poll serves up a curious outcome

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/02/2024

  » Indonesia's President Joko Widodo concluded his second five-year term last Tuesday with a national election in which his chosen successors won a convincing victory. "Jokowi", as everybody calls him, still enjoys 70% public approval, and he has every right to be proud of his past.

• OPINION

  Zimbabwe and a dose of 'ruling party syndrome'

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/08/2023

  » 'No one will stop us from ruling this country. You will be lost if you don't vote for Zanu-PF," said President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe. A bit more arrogant than the usual election pitch in most parts of the world, perhaps, but not unusual in Zimbabwe, one of the southern African countries suffering from "ruling party" syndrome.

• OPINION

  Sahel coups are just another 'Great Game'

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/08/2023

  » If you are a democratically elected leader in one of Africa's Sahel countries -- let's say, Niger -- and you suspect that the army is plotting to overthrow you, what's the best countermeasure? Should you:

• OPINION

  2 failed populist coups: Compare and contrast

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/01/2023

  » Pundits are making much of the similarities between the attempted coup in Washington by Trump supporters two years ago and the one by Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia on Jan 8, but they are missing the biggest one. These debacles were the most incompetent and half-hearted attempts to seize power illegally in the history of the world.

• OPINION

  2 coups (failed) and random speculation

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 13/12/2022

  » Could there be anything more ridiculous than last week's failed coup attempt in Peru?

• OPINION

  The 'pink tide' is rising in Latin America

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/06/2022

  » 'Corruption isn't fought with slogans on TikTok," complained veteran Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro. But social media can win elections, and a right-wing dark horse called Rodolfo Hernández, who calls himself the "King of TikTok", may crush Mr Petro's hopes of becoming Colombia's first-ever leftist president next Sunday.

• OPINION

  Coups are all the rage again in beleaguered Africa

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/02/2022

  » Military coups are back in fashion in Africa. There have been over 200 attempted coups in the continent since 1960, about half of them successful, but in the past two decades they had dropped to only two a year. Last year saw six, however, and there have been two already this year. The latest in Guinea-Bissau.

• OPINION

  Syria's suffered enough: End the sanctions

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/03/2021

  » The Syrian civil war is 10 years old this week, and it's time to stop it. At least half a million Syrians are dead, a quarter of the pre-war population are refugees abroad, and another quarter are refugees inside Syria. Thirty percent of the country's housing stock is destroyed or badly damaged -- and we have known who won the war for at least four years now.

• OPINION

  Mysterious allure of being French

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/10/2020

  » On Sunday New Caledonia voted to remain French by a majority of 53.3% to 46.%. That's hardly an overwhelming majority, but it was the second referendum in two years to reject independence in the South Pacific archipelago, so we may take it as a done deal.

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