For a significant part of the last two years, the United States and Germany were polar opposites with regards to their success in handling COVID-19. While the Trump administration’s chaotic response to the virus left states effectively to fend for themselves, widespread testing, ample intensive care beds, and high levels of trust in the government led to talk of a “German exception” in the early months of the pandemic.

In the second round of the presidential elections on 19 December 2021, Chile will be deciding between the far-right candidate, José Antonio Kast, and the left-wing progressive Gabriel Boric. Non-voters and anti-politicians may be able to tip the balance in these pivotal elections. Interview with Gitte Cullmann, office director of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Santiago de Chile.

COP26 in Glasgow started with a plethora of declarations. But in the end it failed to deliver on the real and immediate action needed to avoid climate catastrophe, and to address the demand for justice and equity for those most impacted by climate harms.

The prose of Indian poet Haripriya Soibam describes youth's struggle to preserve and promote democracy. Read her five poems for "Young voices on the rise - Youth and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region".

Sitting in front of Songkhla’s city hall, a seaside city in southern Thailand, a young woman dressed in a hijab wrote a letter to the country's prime minister. Choosing each word with care, she called on him "to listen to the stories of the fisherfolk’s children who grew up and bonded with the sea, protected and took care of it." It was in May 2020, two days before a week-long public hearing session for the Chana Industrial Estate project that is poised to transform the quiet fishing villages of Songkhla province into an industrial zone.