As Uganda’s schools reopen, Museveni’s education promises ring hollow →

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In March 2020, before the first COVID-19 case was even recorded in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni went on national television to announce a country-wide closure of schools. Calling schools the “perfect grounds for new infections,” he said he was making the “move early to avoid the stampede.”

Most of the country’s classrooms would remain closed for 22 months, one of the longest COVID-related shutdowns in the world.

They finally reopened in January, and educators are still assessing the fallout. The damage to State House—Uganda’s executive branch—meanwhile, is already clear. With his willingness to keep schools shuttered even as he lifted other restrictions, Museveni undermined his commitment to education as a top priority of his political agenda.

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Vaccine ‘apartheid’ is galvanizing calls to overhaul the TRIPS regime →

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A campaign to strike a more equitable balance between intellectual property protection and access to pharmaceuticals coalesced in a WTO ministerial declaration issued 20 years ago this month. But stark disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines have spotlighted the limitations of the hard-won concessions outlined in that agreement, including the strict barriers still in place to accessing the full range of knowledge and technology needed to produce and distribute the shots.

As a result, more than 100 nations have united behind a proposal to temporarily waive protections on COVID-related products in a bid to increase vaccine production. While opposition from Europe has stalled the waiver proposal, it has also galvanized calls for a broader reconsideration of an intellectual property regime that critics say never fulfilled the promises made in Doha. Read more.

Germany's Greens are on the rise. Can they stay true to their roots? →

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Over the past year, after a long period on the sidelines of federal politics, the Green party has been on the ascent. They are attracting voters who are searching beyond the traditional parties for politicians who speak with authenticity and offer new approaches to addressing social problems. If they can solidify their base and continue to attract new voters, the Greens could transform German politics. But the party may have to forfeit its early radicalism for a pragmatism that may ultimately cost the Greens their most ardent supporters. Read more.

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The extremes made gains in Bavaria, but Germany's political center isn't dead yet →

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While much has been made of the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, it was the left-wing Greens that recorded the biggest gains in last week’s state elections in Bavaria. By winning more than 17 percent of the vote, the Greens nearly doubled their total from Bavaria’s last elections in 2013. Their success amid the ongoing collapse of Germany’s political center was a sign that across the spectrum, and not only on the right, voters are beginning to harden around the political extremes. Read more.

Museveni fears a rival unlike any other he has faced in Uganda →

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni knows how to take down a rival. The wreckage of various careers are scattered across his 33-year rule—politicians and military officers, unwilling to bend to his will or accept his largesse, who were derailed by well-timed scandals, arrests or worse. But with the detention and apparent torture this month of 36-year-old pop star-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known to Ugandans as Bobi Wine, has Museveni finally overreached?

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Renewed tensions between Uganda and Rwanda will ripple across East Africa →

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Ties between Rwanda and Uganda appear to be deteriorating rapidly. The latest ebb in this historically volatile relationship stems from the Ugandan government’s pushback on what it perceives as Rwandan meddling in its domestic affairs. Though Ugandan officials have not gone public with any formal allegations, their dissatisfaction can be read in a recent string of increasingly high-profile incidents. Read more.

Why the problems for Germany's centrists are only beginning →

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Two months after Germany’s federal elections, the country is on the brink of an unexpected political crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats ran first in the vote, but they finished without an outright majority. Since election night, they have been casting about for coalition partners — a process that has proven surprisingly more difficult than political pundits anticipated. Read more.

Germany’s Anti-Climactic Election Masks Problems for Merkel Down the Line →

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The unusual harmony between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main opponents may mask future problems for the country. Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have not been pushed to articulate detailed positions on issues like the future of Germany’s economy, including growing inequality, or the German role on the international stage. The anti-climactic campaign has also crowded out disaffected voters, who are frustrated with the country’s current trajectory. Read more.