US Secretary of State Kerry has been working overtime to create a coalition of countries that will join in an effort to push the Islamic State (IS) out of Iraq and Syria. The IS has attracted a lot of supporters, but there are no nation-states that would ever publicly state their support for the group. Indeed, the IS is a direct threat to the world system of nation-states since it does not even claim statehood–it is, rather, a caliphate that theoretically has no borders and could be populated by anyone who swore allegiance to the caliphate. Thus, the IS has a lot of enemies, but many nation-states do not wish to be identified as an enemy of the IS for fear of alienating domestic populations that might have sympathies with the radical regime. The US likely has a lot of supporters who would like to join the coalition, but they will not do it openly.
Swedish politics took a slight turn to the left and a sharp turn to the right simultaneously. The center-left Social Democrats will hold a plurality of seats in the new Parliament, but not a majority. The center-right parties came in second, and the far-right Sweden Democrats came in a surprising third, with 13% of the votes. The Sweden Democrats ran on a platform opposing immigration, a position at odds with Sweden’s long history of openness. It is difficult to see how the Social Democrats will be able to rule effectively given the configuration of power in the Parliament. The Social Democrats have stated that they will not work with the Sweden Democrats.
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