THE 2025 NEW YORK MAYORAL ELECTION: DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST POLITICS AND URBAN GOVERNANCE

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Zohran Mamdani’s Victory and the Future of Progressive Urban Politics By Habib Al- Badawi The 2025 New York mayoral election represents a critical juncture in American urban politics. Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist state assemblyman, defeated well-funded opposition to become mayor of America’s largest city, challenging both right-wing populism and Democratic establishment centrism. This victory …

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Contemporary Geopolitical Competition in the Horn of Africa: Strategic Resources, Maritime Control, and Great Power Rivalry

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Prof. Habib BadawiDepartment of History, Lebanese University, Beirut, LebanonEmail: [email protected] | [email protected]: 0000-0002-6452-8379 | Scopus Author ID: 58675152100 Mr. Daniel AyoubDepartment of History, Lebanese University, Beirut, LebanonEmail: [email protected] The Horn of Africa occupies a unique strategic position at the intersection of Africa, the Middle East, and critical maritime trade routes connecting Europe and Asia. Comprising …

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Kimi Onoda: Authenticity as Authority in Contemporary Japanese Politics

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A Case Study in Values-Based Leadership and Democratic Renewal By Professor Habib Al-Badawi In October 2025, Kimi Onoda walked into Tokyo’s Imperial Palace for her cabinet inauguration wearing a gleaming silver dress that immediately sparked social media speculation (Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, 2025). Was it borrowed? A fashion misstep? Within hours, she responded on …

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When Allies Turn Adversaries: The Political, Economic, and Institutional Implications of Komeito’s Exit from the LDP Coalition

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By Professor Habib Al Badawi The dissolution of the twenty-six-year alliance between the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito on October 10, 2025, marks a defining moment in contemporary Japanese politics. For over two decades, this partnership anchored Japan’s post-Cold War governance, ensuring policy continuity, maintaining legislative stability, and fusing conservative statecraft with Buddhist-backed social moderation …

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From Fox to Wolf: U.S. Hegemonic Transformation, Domestic Democracy, and Strategic Alliances in East Asia

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By: Prof. Habib Badawi & Dr. Nicholas Howard Introduction: The Paradox of Hegemonic Strength The transformation of American global leadership presents a fundamental paradox that challenges conventional wisdom about hegemonic power and its exercise. While the United States retains overwhelming material capabilities, its capacity to build and maintain international coalitions has demonstrably diminished. This study …

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Strategic Competition in an Interdependent World: Reassessing Power Transition Dynamics in US-China Relations

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By: Prof. Habib Badawi and Dr. Ali Darbaj Introduction The contemporary discourse surrounding US-China relations has been dominated by historical analogies, particularly Graham Allison’s application of the “Thucydides Trap” framework, which suggests that rising powers inevitably challenge established hegemons, often leading to conflict (Allison, 2017). However, such binary frameworks struggle to capture the unprecedented complexity …

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The Original Axis: India’s Stand Beyond Allegiance

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By Abhay Pratap Singh In a world fractured into competing blocs, India stands not as an outlier, but as a civilizational anchor. The global order is increasingly defined by a binary choice: the rules-based liberal system championed by the West, and the authoritarian civilizational states like China and Russia, which frame Western norms as morally …

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From Partnership to Panic: How Misinformation Distorted Japan’s Africa City Initiative (TICAD 9)

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Prof. Habib Al Badawi The Architecture of Misunderstanding The “Partner City” initiative, conceived as a cornerstone of Japan’s soft diplomatic engagement with Africa through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), represented an ambitious yet fundamentally modest vision of international cooperation. By establishing formal partnerships between four Japanese municipalities—Nagai, Kisarazu, Sanjo, and Imabari—and the …

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In God’s own country, even Stealth Champions bow

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By Ankit Jakhar and Priyansh Pandey When HMS Prince of Wales and its carrier strike group docked in Singapore for Operation High mast, it was missing one of its F-35 Lightning – numbered 34, which made an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport at approximately 9:30 PM IST on 14th June. According to sources, low …

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India Must Resist TRIPS‑Plus IP Pressures to Protect Biotech and Public Health

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The push for TRIPS‑Plus IP provisions threatens innovation and access to affordable healthcare worldwide By Nandan Trivedi India’s remarkable rise as a global pharmaceutical powerhouse is no accident—it is the result of strategic legal foresight, including a refusal to bow to overreaching global IP standards. Now, as India negotiates multiple Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with …

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