Blogs

Orlando, FL – June 12, 2024 – The University of Central Florida Office of Global Perspectives & International Initiatives announced today its WUCF-TV interview show Global Perspectives has been named a Telly Winner in Television – Interview & Talk Show in the record breaking 45th Annual Telly Awards. The Telly Awards annually honor excellence in […]

Across the globe, nation, and state, policymakers are struggling to find solutions to a multitude of challenges both new and old. It is often far easier to diagnose problems than identify answers to vexing questions. Global Perspectives & International Initiatives (GPII) believes it is important to understand the nature of contemporary challenges by looking at […]

Looking at any international issue, from security to economic development to climate change, and the conversation eventually turns to the Sino-American rivalry. Will the U.S. maintain its status as the sole global superpower, or has the world power structure morphed into a bipolar or multipolar construct? Does China’s rise inevitably mean America’s decline? What are […]

It has been two years since the United States pulled out of Afghanistan. The chaotic departure from Kabul reminded many of the ignominious 1975 collapse of Saigon. Critics contends the withdrawal emboldened rivals, especially Russia and China, and encouraged smaller nations and their leaders to recalculate policies and politics. The hasty exit highlighted that the […]

April 10 marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The accord brought an end to a 30-year cycle of sectarian violence that cost 3,500 lives, wounded thousands more, and left much of Northern Ireland locked in a perpetual state of unrest characterized by hopelessness and revenge. The final agreement ending […]

What is beyond dispute is that China’s global influence has expanded rapidly under the banner of the Belt and Road Initiative, with economic tentacles moving across South Asia, into Africa, and beyond. While many analysts have rebuked Beijing for implementing an exploitive strategy which mostly ignores governance, human rights, and rule of law issues, others […]

The recent détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran has many foreign policy observers pondering what this means for global politics and America’s role in the world. More questions were raised by President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Moscow this past week, during which China is reported to have floated the parameters of a Russia-Ukraine peace […]

Both Sweden and Finland have remained politically neutral for over a century until the Russian invasion on Ukraine in February of 2022 (BBC 1). Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine broke a “long standing sense of stability” in Northern Europe, leaving countries like Sweden and Finland “feeling vulnerable” (BBC 1). Nordic countries have taken action to […]

On January 10, a United States federal report revealed that rates of cesarean delivery in Puerto Rico (PR) have soared 12% from 2018 to 2022 for each age group younger than 40 (The Guardian). Now Puerto Rico represents one of the world’s largest c-section rates at more than 50% of infants delivered through surgery. While […]

Puerto Rico’s tourism industry is among the most prominent sectors of the island’s economy–almost $8.9 billion was generated in 2022 alone from travel and tourism and the island has more than 91,500 individuals employed in tourism-related jobs in the same year. These are all record highs (PR Newswire). Making up half of all tourists that […]