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Articles by Zach Vertin
China's economic troubles: Temporary woes or structural reckoning?
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) host a discussion on "China’s Economic Troubles: Temporary Woes or Structural Reckoning?" Long deemed a juggernaut and a "miracle" of growth, China’s economy is today in serious trouble—ranging from unemployment and poor consumption to overcapacity and a real estate crisis.
Crisis in Ethiopia and its regional repercussions
Twitter Join the conversation on Twitter using #AfricaSecurity Nearly 30 years after the end of its 17-year civil war, Ethiopia is steps away from slipping into another disastrous conflict that could wipe out the gains of the past three decades.
Averting civil war in Ethiopia: It’s time to propose elements of a negotiated settlement
Two weeks ago, Americans and millions around the globe were glued to their televisions as votes were tallied in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina. But as the world was consumed with elections in the United States, a war was breaking out in Ethiopia — a nation larger, and more populous, than all those swing states combined.
What’s the significance of the US-Israel-Sudan normalization deal?
On Friday, the Trump administration announced it reached a new deal for normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel, a follow-up to the similar Abraham Accord deals with the UAE and Bahrain. Zach Vertin explains the role the U.S. played in agreeing to remove Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, a step crucial to Sudan’s vulnerable transitional government as it navigates a pivotal transition to democracy after decades of autocratic devastation.
Revitalizing American diplomacy: Why mediation support should be part of the foreign policy rebuild
Late one evening in 2019, I received a text message from a senior American diplomat abroad: “Can you send me some examples of implementation matrices?” She was in the latter stages of a post-conflict negotiation and inquiring about the part of a peace accord that serves as a kind of project management tool — setting forth commitments, timelines, and a sequence of events agreed by two or more parties to a dispute.
U.S. Inaction Is Handicapping Sudan’s Revolution
In late June, tens of thousands of Sudanese protestors took to the streets, looking to “correct the path” of a revolution gone off course. Last year, their sustained campaign of protest against corruption and violent misrule captured the world’s attention and unseated the regime of strongman Omar al-Bashir.
Global China’s ambitions in the Indian Ocean region
In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two scholars on two important aspects of China’s increasing global presence, including in the Horn of Africa and Chinese military activities in the Indian Ocean region as a whole. Joshua White is a nonresident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings and an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Great power rivalry in the Red Sea
Executive Summary China’s growing presence in Djibouti has thrust unprecedented attention upon the little-known African port nation and made it a touchstone in the debate over Beijing’s expanding global aims. In 2017, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) opened its first-ever overseas military base there, at the mouth of the Red Sea, breaking a long-established policy against basing Chinese troops abroad.
What Went Wrong in South Sudan
What Went Wrong in South Sudan First Raise a Flag: How South Sudan Won the Longest War But Lost the Peace by Peter Martell Oxford University Press, 332 pp., $34.95 (paper) A Rope from the Sky: The Making and Unmaking of the World’s Newest State by Zach Vertin Pegasus, 497 pp., $29.95 Stefano De Luigi/VII/ReduxA woman walking through the landfill where she lives, Juba, South Sudan, 2010 South Sudan is a real place with grasslands and marsh, gazelles and oil, and a woman named Nyakewa, who has...
Red Sea geopolitics: Six plotlines to watch
The Red Sea has long represented a critical link in a network of global waterways stretching from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean to the Pacific—a strategic and economic thoroughfare one U.S. defense official dubbed the “Interstate-95 of the planet.” Prized by conquerors from Alexander to Napoleon, the Red Sea’s centrality to maritime trade and its chokepoints have for centuries made it a subject of keen geopolitical interest.
Red Sea Geopolitics: Six Plotlines to Watch
(MENAFN - SomTribune) Editor's Note: Many of the countries bordering the Red Sea suffer a mix of violence, corruption, instability and tyranny. Compounding the problem, outside states are meddling more in an attempt to increase their influence while the Trump administration stands by. My Brookings Institution colleague Zach Vertin offers six areas to watch in the months and years to come, ranging from potential great power competition to the growing role of Gulf states in African politics.
Red Sea Geopolitics: Six Plotlines to Watch
Editor’s Note: Many of the countries bordering the Red Sea suffer a mix of violence, corruption, instability and tyranny. Compounding the problem, outside states are meddling more in an attempt to increase their influence while the Trump administration stands by. My Brookings Institution colleague Zach Vertin offers six areas to watch in the months and years to come, ranging from potential great power competition to the growing role of Gulf states in African politics.
Red Sea Geopolitics: Six Plotlines to Watch
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With Editor’s Note: Many of the countries bordering the Red Sea suffer a mix of violence, corruption, instability and tyranny. Compounding the problem, outside states are meddling more in an attempt to increase their influence while the Trump administration stands by.
فورة آبي” تطال لجنة نوبل”
نال آبي أحمد جائزة نوبل للسلام لهذا العام. وإن لم تسمعوا بهذا الاسم من قبل، لستم الوحيدين. إذ لم تعِر واشنطن انتباهاً يُذكر للتغيير المذهل الذي بدأ في العام المنصرم في أثيوبيا برعاية رئيس الوزراء الأثيوبي الجديد. فقد بدأ هذا الرجل الذي يرتدي سترات ملفتة، كتلك الخضراء بالخطوط الزهرية والمُطعّمة بنقشة جلد الفهد، عهدَه بأسلوب لافت أيضاً.
Toward a Red Sea forum: The Gulf, the Horn of Africa, and architecture for a new regional order
The Red Sea has fast become the subject of new geopolitical intrigue, as unprecedented engagement between Gulf states and the Horn of Africa reframes politics, economics, and security astride one of the world’s most heavily trafficked waterways. Friends and foes have converged in this increasingly crowded neighborhood as the Red Sea and its environs are infused with greater strategic import.
Alfred Nobel catches ‘Abiy-mania’
Abiy Ahmed has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Never heard of him? You aren’t the only one. Official Washington has paid little attention to the extraordinary transition that began last year in Ethiopia under the new prime minster’s tutelage.
The Old Guard Are Killing the World’s Youngest Country
WAAT, South Sudan—“Jeck,” a voice calls from inside the mud-and-thatch hut. I recognize the pronunciation of my name—it’s close enough—and the voice. “My friend, Jeck,” the man says again. Ducking and then emerging through the door of the hut is a handsome face atop a large angular frame. At 6 feet, 8 inches tall—with broad shoulders and long arms—Koang (pronounced Kong) has a smile so wide it could span the Nile. We slap shoulders and then hands, in the Sudanese way, and then embrace.
What Brookings experts are saying about the two-year anniversary of the Gulf crisis
Omar Rahman—Visiting Fellow, Brookings Doha Center: For a region already lacking in effective cooperative institutions, the blockade of Qatar has been especially pernicious. For two years the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has ceased to function as a unified body—at least on a political level. The rift has filtered down to the popular level, as publics have rallied around the decisions of their leaders.
Turkey and the new scramble for Africa: Ottoman designs or unfounded fears?
“The Horn of Africa will be the first casualty,” opined one dejected Somali, shaking his head. He might have been talking about terrorism, or climate change, or the famines that have more than once devastated his region. Instead he was referring to a toxic new contagion imported from the Middle East—the Gulf crisis that, since 2017, has pitted Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain against Qatar and its ally Turkey.
Turkey and the New Scramble for Africa: Ottoman Designs or Unfounded Fears?
Editor’s Note: Turkey has emerged as an important, but confusing, actor in the greater Middle East and beyond. Its policies have oscillated as its role has expanded, and it now plays an important role in the Horn of Africa as well as with its neighbors.
Turkey and the New Scramble for Africa: Ottoman Designs or Unfounded Fears?
Published by The Lawfare Institute in Cooperation With Editor’s Note: Turkey has emerged as an important, but confusing, actor in the greater Middle East and beyond. Its policies have oscillated as its role has expanded, and it now plays an important role in the Horn of Africa as well as with its neighbors.
اغتنام لحظة التغيير في السودان: كيف بإمكان الكونغرس المساعدة
ليس السؤال الأساسي الكامن في لبّ المعمعة الحالية في السودان إذا كان من المفترض أن يتنحّى الرئيس البشير أم لا، فرحيلُه أمرٌ آن أوانه منذ فترة طويلة، بل يتمحور السؤال حول كيفية رحيله: كيف من الممكن أن يغادر بطريقة تزيد إلى أقصى حدّ فرصَ تحقيق مرحلة انتقالية منظَّمة وتقلّص خطر وقوع انهيار عنيف. تطالب القواعد الناخبة المعارِضة، وهي محقّة في طلبها، بتأليف حكومة انتقالية في ظلّ قيادة جديدة، قيادة تشرف على عملية مراجعة شاملة للدستور وتعبّد الطريق لانتخاباتٍ تخضع لمراقَبة دولية.
Seizing Sudan’s moment of change
The Arab Spring did not begin in 2011. It started a generation earlier, in 1985, at least according to many proud citizens of Sudan. A president was removed from office that year on the back of popular protests, an uprising that has served as a beacon of hope, however faint, during three decades of political darkness since. Today, tens of thousands of Sudanese have again taken to the streets of Khartoum, hoping to recapture those heady memories and send another president packing.
Red Sea rivalries: The Gulf, the Horn, and the new geopolitics of the Red Sea
The Red Sea has fast become an arena of new geopolitical intrigue, as engagement between Gulf and African states challenges old assumptions and erases boundaries. Expanding economic and strategic interests are driving unprecedented activity on both shores, while great powers pay increasing attention to the Bab al Mandab, a strategic chokepoint and gateway to one of the world’s most heavily-trafficked trade waterways: the Red Sea.
Red Sea blueprints
The Red Sea has fast become an arena of geopolitical intrigue, as new engagement between Gulf and African states is challenging old assumptions and erasing old boundaries. Expanding economic and strategic interests are driving unprecedented activity on both shores, while great powers pay increasing attention to the maritime gem in the middle, the Bab al Mandab—a strategic chokepoint and gateway to one of the world’s most heavily-trafficked trade waterways.
Red Sea Rivalries
Gulf states with deep pockets and big appetites are asserting themselves in the Horn of Africa as never before. The flurry of new economic and military investments is reshaping geopolitical dynamics on both sides of the Red Sea, as two formerly distinct regions are fast becoming one. The emergence of a common political and economic arena—astride one of the world’s most valuable trade routes—offers opportunities for development and integration. But it also poses considerable risks.
Red Sea rivalries: The Gulf, the Horn of Africa & the new geopolitics of the Red Sea
The following interactive map displays the acquisition of seaports and establishment of new military installations along the Red Sea coast. The mad dash for real estate by Gulf states and other foreign actors is altering dynamics in the Horn of Africa and re-shaping the geopolitics of the Red Sea region. Click on the flags in the map to learn more about individual sites and find accompanying analysis from Zach Vertin in the Foreign Affairs article below.
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR 2018 AWARDS
January, 2019 by Admin | Jan-22-2019 New York, NY (January 22, 2019)—Today the NBCC announced its 31 finalists in six categories––autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry––for the outstanding books of 2018. Of note: There are six finalists instead of five this year in autobiography, proving a strong year in the category.
A Rope from the Sky
The Making and Unmaking of the World's Newest State Zach Vertin The untold story of America’s attempt to forge a nation from scratch, from euphoric birth to heart-wrenching collapse. South Sudan’s historic independence was celebrated around the world—a triumph for global justice and an end to one of the world’s most devastating wars.
An evening with Zach Vertin in conversation with Matthew Price
'A Rope from the Sky' is a remarkable chronicle of the West’s attempt to help forge a nation from scratch, from euphoric birth to heart-wrenching collapse. Drawing on extraordinary personal stories of identity, liberation, and survival, 'A Rope from the Sky' tells South Sudan's epic story of paradise won and then lost. From moonlit battlefields and glitzy hotel ballrooms to the emerald marshes of the Nile, this first-hand account is a richly painted canvas.
Update
Parliamentary debate on UNAMID, Elections in Sudan in 2020, and US policy in Sudan New books on conflict in South Sudan to be launched in London Christian Aid "In it for the Long Haul? Lessons on peacebuilding in South Sudan" July 2018 View here.
Punishing Sudan Is Not a Strategy
On a bitterly cold Washington morning eight years ago, a newly sworn-in president took to the inaugural podium and leveled a challenge to the world’s worst governments. “Know that you are on the wrong side of history,” a resolute Barack Obama said, “but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” In the years that followed, Obama followed through on his pledge by initiating strategic openings to both Iran and Cuba.
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