Letter from the editors

Abstract

In the fourth issue of Volume 35 of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, we are convening a Special Issue on ‘The Rise of Populism in Europe and Its Effect on Democracy Promotion’, developed by our guest editors Dennis Hammerschmidt, Cosima Meyer, and Anne Pintsch. We leave it to the guest editors’ excellent introduction to draw out the issue’s themes, contributions, and positionality. Yet we do note that the special issue is shedding light on a research area whose political relevance is likely to increase in the upcoming years. Both the rise of populism and the global decline of democracy and of its international promotion have been important arenas of domestic and global politics throughout the post-Cold War period, and we welcome the endeavour to bridge these two research areas. In line with CRIA’s intellectual commitment, the contributions in this Special Issue thus engage in lowering empirical and conceptual boundaries between different disciplinary subfields. Apart from the contributions to the Special Issue, this issue of CRIA includes two book reviews. Svati P. Shah reviews Rahul Rao’s recent publication Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality, which explores the intersection of queer politics and (homo)nationalism in the Global South, primarily India and Uganda. Furthermore, Surer Mohamed reviews Oumar Ba’s States of Justice: The Politics of the International Court, which offers a critical assessment of existing scholarship on international justice and the ICC. The fourth issue of volume 35 also contains three standalone original research articles. Sara Kahn-Nisser investigates the relationship between the EU exports to China and its human rights policies. Edmond Were explores the transformation of development projects in the East African Community region. Finally, Laura Pantzerhielm, Anna Holzscheiter, and Thurid Bahr analyze discourses and norms in global health governance. We thank all contributors to this issue, and especially our guest editors Dennis, Cosima, and Anne, for choosing CRIA as the platform to present their research. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our peer reviewers, who continue to support this journal with their invaluable commitment and contributions, and to our editorial team. We are also pleased to announce new additions to our team: Martin Kirsch has been promoted to co-Editor in Chief; Anni Roth Hjermann has joined the team as Managing Editor, and Caio Simoneti has become our new Features Editor. We are enormously grateful to Niyousha Bastani and Edward Murambwa, who have just finished their terms as co-Editor in Chief and Features Editor, respectively, for their enormous commitment and contributions to this journal. Their passion and empathy have been invaluable in upholding CRIA’s inclusive ethos, promote new scholarship, and foster a sense of community in our team. We would like to emphasize that we continue to welcome proposals for special issues (directed to the Editors in Chief). This includes any collection of contributions that can extend our understanding of international politics