by Louisa Hann
As you’ve probably noticed, 2026 is off to an eventful start – and it’s not promising to slow down any time soon. Donald Trump threatened to invade Greenland, Mark Carney delivered a speech asserting the end of the rules-based international order at the World Economic Forum, and Iran witnessed renewed unrest and the brutal killings of anti-regime protesters. Meanwhile, the ever-present hum of climate breakdown grows louder, with 2025 topping the charts as one of the hottest years on record.
As we explored in a recent blog, researchers play a vital role in helping us make sense of these world-changing events and geopolitical ruptures, looking beyond sensationalist headlines to examine their complex historical precedents and longer-term implications. This interpretative work is valuable in its rigour, but it requires time, cooperation, and patience, sometimes frustrating efforts to intervene in live and fast-moving debates.
Fortunately, scholarly interventions aren’t limited to books and academic journals, with an increasing number of academics choosing to share their thoughts on recent and unfolding events. With this in mind, we’ve collated a few of the recent analyses and think pieces our academics have contributed to blogs and international media outlets in recent weeks…
“Bolivia Is Not for Sale” by Olivia Arigho-Stiles, Jacobin
In October 2025, conservative senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira won Bolivia’s presidential election, marking a historic defeat for the country’s Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), which had enjoyed almost two years of dominance. Despite this rightward shift, Bolivia’s social movements have been resisting the new government’s package of neoliberal reforms in recent months, forcing Paz to abandon certain austerity measures and raising questions about the possibility of a new cycle of class struggle in the country.
GDI’s Olivia Arigho-Stiles examines these recent protests and the dynamics of a post-MAS Bolivia in a comment piece for Jacobin magazine, outlining potential pathways that the authoritarian regime will crack down on dissent.
“The technology of repression: Iran re-engineers its security state” by Arash Beidollahkani, The Interpreter
Iran has undergone renewed international scrutiny over the past month following a wave of protests resulting in mass arrests and lethal repression. While the number of dead remains unclear, reports suggest it could surpass 30,000, with the security forces adopting new tactics and technologies to maintain power over the people.
As Arash Beidollahkani writes in a recent piece for The Interpreter, ‘a regime security effort that once leaned mainly on domestic security forces, improvised internet shutdowns, local filtering, and informal human intelligence networks now depends increasingly on surveillance systems, network control architectures, and counter-connectivity methods linked to China and Russia.’ In developing the security infrastructure in this way, security services have bolstered their repressive force, curtailing cooperation between protesters and stemming the circulation of evidence.
Of course, the scale and implications of January’s events have also thrown Iran’s foreign relationships into question, as Arash explores in recent articles on China’s Middle East strategy and the fiscal problems Russia could face as Iranian strategic partnerships potentially shift. Only time will tell how and if the regime will maintain control of Iranian society in coming months and years, and the ways in which this will impact geopolitical alignments.
“Venezuela after Maduro: a country in tense calm” by Mariana Hernández-Montilla on the GDI Blog
The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US military forces at the beginning of January hit headlines around the world. But what was this tense moment like for people on the ground in Venezuela? In a recent blog post, PGR Mariana Hernández-Montilla writes candidly of her experiences visiting her home city of Maracaibo.
As Mariana explains, the citizenry witnessed a mixture of fear and resistance, with Venezuela’s volatile history throwing up ambivalent feelings in response to the crisis: “Our situation remains tragic; the risk of sustained interventionism is there. And that’s why this situation demands nuance: understand the joy, shelter it. But firmly reject the replacement of one tyranny with another. The horizon must be democracy, not a new subjugation.”
Erika Garcia Fermin also weighs in on the urban dimensions of the Venezuelan crisis in the latest episode of Urban Radar, a podcast co-hosted by new Professor of Urban Development, Tom Goodfellow. Erika discusses Venezuela’s recent history, including how city governments have been disempowered under Maduro’s authoritarian regime.
“India shows how urban forests can help cool cities – as long as planners understand what nature and people need” by Dhanapal Govindarajulu, The Conversation
And finally, a glint of positivity amidst a hectic new cycle. As Dhanapal Govindarajulu explains in a recent article for The Conversation, urban planners in India are helping keep cities cool as the climate warms by designing “ecological corridors” linking green spaces together.
While there is much potential to incorporate patches of forest in cities like Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli, progress is relatively slow. However, as Dhanapal notes, technologies such as geographic information systems and satellite imagery can assist planners in identifying suitable areas for planting new trees or conserving urban forests.
Keep up with the latest from GDI
Want to keep up with the latest news and commentary from GDI academics? We often post links to the latest articles on our LinkedIn and BlueSky accounts. You can also sign up for the GDI newsletter to receive the latest monthly insights straight in your inbox!
If you’re interested in exploring the dimensions of recent ruptures in more depth, why not check out our upcoming conference, ‘What is the future for global development?’. Over two days, we’ll discuss how geopolitical fragmentation and heightened conflict is shaping the future of global development, as well as how development should be conceptualised and how social and environmental justice can be promoted at the current juncture. Attendance is free, but you must sign up via Eventbrite.
Top image by Karolina Grabowska.
Note: This article gives the views of the author/academic featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the Global Development Institute as a whole
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