Start / The Foreign Desk / Is popularity in politics a thing of the past

Is popularity in politics a thing of the past?

38 min • 9 augusti 2025

Political leaders around the world face waning popularity and seem to be unable to change their fates. Is this the result of less effective leaders or more impatient electorates?

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Senaste avsnitt

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Is popularity in politics a thing of the past?

Senaste avsnitt

Explainer 479: Who are the Balochistan Liberation Army and why have they suddenly attracted US attention?

Is popularity in politics a thing of the past?

Explainer 478: Why does Trump care about Bolsonaro?

The catastrophe in Gaza and the prospects of a Palestinian state

Explainer 478: Why is Islamic State targeting the DRC?

Cameroon’s forgotten crisis: Is reconciliation in the Anglo-Franco schism possible?

Explainer 477: What is behind the violence in Syria?

Explainer 476: Lesotho’s one-man fight for South African land

The future of warfare

Dynastic democracies

Explainer 475: Why has Russia recognised the Taliban?

How to topple a tyrant

Explainer 474: Tuvalu’s climate-change escape to Australia

Has the ‘12-Day War’ settled anything?

Explainer 473: Cambodia, Thailand and phone-call warfare

The view of Europe from Globsec Forum 2025

Explainer 472: The furious funeral row over Zambia’s former president

‘The Foreign Desk’ in Odesa: the international ripple effects of war in Ukraine

Explainer 471: Who gets to be an Italian citizen?

Odesa, the Black Sea, the front line and Ukraine’s future

Explainer 470: The on-again, off-again US-Iran nuclear talks

Are journalists safe?

Explainer 469: Who are India’s Maoists?

Why does Russia still have influence in eastern Europe?

Explainer 468: Tantrum or tactic? Why has Australia’s National Party split from the Liberals?

Does the dream of a Kurdish state end with the PKK?

Explainer 467: Why does Qatar want to gift Trump a jet?

The Trump factor

Explainer 466: What actually happens during a papal conclave (as far as we know)?

The most extraordinary first 100 days of any US presidency?

Explainer 465: Who is behind the terrorist attack on Kashmir?

Live from Delphi: What’s brewing in the Eastern Mediterranean?

Explainer 464: The threats facing Ecuador: real or invented?

Live from Delphi: has the sun set on the transatlantic relationship?

Explainer 463: Why is a UK MP facing corruption charges in Bangladesh?

Live from Delphi: how to respond to Trump’s trade war

Explainer 462: Is Mali and Algeria’s feud really about drones?

Why has Israel gone back to war?

Explainer 461: Marine Le Pen and the movable feast of far-right law and order

Is Erdoğan’s crackdown backfiring?

Explainer 460: Jeffrey Goldberg has exited the war chat

Syria: Is this going to work?

Explainer 459: Why has Rwanda severed ties with Belgium?

Nato’s frontline: the view from the Baltics

Explainer 458: Why is Rodrigo Duterte being sent to The Hague?

Has the US given up?

Explainer 457: What does Ukraine do now?

Russia’s ripple effect

Explainer 456: What’s halting Germany’s defence? History.

Very well, alone?

Explainer 455: Mauritius’s money-laundering prime minister

Is Serbia OK?

Explainer 454: New Zealand’s beef with its neighbours

How to win a trade war

Explainer 453: Does China really control the Panama Canal?

What is Rwanda doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Explainer 452: Trump’s Greenland grab

Can the Israel-Hamas ceasefire become lasting peace?

Explainer 451: The veteran rebels behind Colombia’s violent turf war

Mr Trump goes to Washington: the sequel

Explainer 450: What is Lebanon’s new government up against? Spoiler: itself

The legacies of US presidents

Explainer 449: Is China cutting Taiwan’s cables or are their wires crossed?

The geopolitical risks of 2025

Elections, conflicts and the rise of the right: a look at 2024

The case for foreign aid

Explainer 448: Trudeau in trouble

The spectacular fall of the Assad regime

Explainer 447: Why is Israel striking Syria?

The case for indigenous political inclusion

Explainer 446: The South Korean coup that wasn’t

Taiwan’s China problem

Explainer 445: Are Romania’s election candidates really that surprising?

Is Europe ready for war?

Explainer 444: Why are New Zealand’s Maori protesting?

Trump’s doctrine: the sequel

Explainer 443: The motives behind Equatorial Guinea’s sex scandal

Trump returns: what now?