World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The International Labor Organization has issued its annual report on global employment trends, and its conclusions are grim.  From the report:

Young people continue to be particularly affected by the weak and uneven recovery. It is estimated that some 74.5 million young people – aged 15–24 – were unemployed in 2013; that is almost 1 million more than in the year before. The global youth unemployment rate has reached 13.1 per cent, which is almost three times as high as the adult unemployment rate.Indeed, the youth-to-adult unemployment ratio has reached a historical peak. It is particularly high in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean and Southern Europe.

The report projects that by 2018 the total number of unemployed youth will reach about 215 million.  The political consequences of such high and long-term unemployment will undermine the social and political stability of many countries in the world.

Turkey is going through a very difficult time as corruption charges have reached the highest levels of Prime Minister Erdogan’s government.  In response, the Turkish economy has faltered, and the Turkish currency is falling rapidly, leading many to worry that Turkey might be forced to default on its sovereign debt.   Today, the Prime Minster implemented a purge of the official investigating the charges.  According to Reuters:

Ninety-six judges and prosecutors were reassigned overnight, the biggest purge of the judiciary since a graft scandal erupted on December 17 with the arrest of businessmen close to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and three ministers’ sons.

The move is likely to fail and lead to strong protests against the government.  We will see if Erdogan can weather the storm.

Ukrainian police stormed the barricades of the protesters in Kiev and killed 5 protesters.  The Ukrainian Prime Minister labelled the protesters as “terrorists” suggesting that the government has no intention of attempting to defuse the crisis that has been going on for about two months.  The obdurate stance will no doubt inflame the tensions to an even higher level and there is no hint of a compromise.