2020s in history

See also: 2020s in electoral politics, 2020s in military history, 2020s in African history, 2020s in Asian history, 2020s in European history, and 2020s in United States history

2020s in history refers to significant political and societal historical events of the 2020s, presented as a historical overview in narrative format.

World events

COVID-19 pandemic

Main articles: Political impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international relations

See also: COVID-19 lockdowns, COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory, and National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Confirmed deaths per 100,000 population as of 20 December 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered global social and economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. It led to the postponement or cancellation of events, widespread supply shortages exacerbated by panic buying, famines affecting hundreds of millions of people, and decreased emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Educational institutions were partially or fully closed. Misinformation circulated through social media and mass media. There were incidents of xenophobia and discrimination against Chinese people and against those perceived as being Chinese or as being from areas with high infection rates.

Countries with at least one election date altered

The pandemic impacted international relations and affected the political systems of multiple countries, causing suspensions of legislative activities, isolation or deaths of multiple politicians and reschedulings of elections due to fears of spreading the virus. The pandemic also triggered broader debates about political issues such as the relative advantages of democracy and autocracy, how states respond to crises, politicization of beliefs about the virus, and the adequacy of existing frameworks of international cooperation.

International conflicts

Main article: 2020s in military history

Nuclear disarmament

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which totally bans nuclear weapons, went into effect on January 22, 2021. The treaty is not supported by NATO or any known nuclear powers.

Second Cold War

Main article: Second Cold War

On May 24, 2020, China Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that relations with the U.S. were on the "brink of a new Cold War" after it was fuelled by tensions over the COVID-19 pandemic. In his September 2021 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, US President Joe Biden said that the US is "not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs." Biden further said that the US would cooperate "with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges," despite "intense disagreement in other areas, because we'll all suffer the consequences of our failure."

Indian border skirmishes

This section is an excerpt from 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes.[edit]

Beginning on 5 May 2020, Chinese and Indian troops engaged in aggressive melee, face-offs, and skirmishes at locations along the Sino-Indian border, including near the disputed Pangong Lake in Ladakh and the Tibet Autonomous Region, and near the border between Sikkim and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Additional clashes also took place at locations in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In late May, Chinese forces objected to Indian road construction in the Galwan river valley. According to Indian sources, melee fighting on 15–16 June 2020 resulted in the deaths of Chinese and Indian soldiers. Media reports stated that soldiers were taken captive on both sides and released in the coming few days while official sources on both sides went on to deny this. On 7 September, for the first time in 45 years, shots were fired along the LAC, with both sides blaming each other for the firing. Indian media also reported that Indian troops fired warning shots at the PLA on 30 August.

Partial disengagement from Galwan, Hot Springs, and Gogra occurred in June–July 2020 while complete disengagement from Pangong Lake north and south bank took place in February 2021. Following disengagement at Gogra in August 2021, Indian analysts pointed out that the LAC has shifted westwards at patrol point 17A (PP 17A).

Amid the standoff, India reinforced the region with approximately 12,000 additional workers, who would assist India's Border Roads Organisation in completing the development of Indian infrastructure along the Sino-Indian border. Experts have postulated that the standoffs are Chinese pre-emptive measures in responding to the Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road infrastructure project in Ladakh. China has also extensively developed its infrastructure in these disputed border regions and is continuing to do so. The revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, in August 2019, by the Indian government has also troubled China. However, India and China have both maintained that there are enough bilateral mechanisms to resolve the situation. This includes multiple rounds of colonel, brigadier, and major general rank dialogue, special representatives' meetings, meetings of the 'Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs' (WMCC), and meetings and communication between their respective foreign and defense ministers. On 12 January 2022, the 14th corps-commander-level meeting at Chushul-Moldo Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) point took place.

Following the Galwan Valley skirmish on 15 June, some Indian campaigns about boycotting Chinese products were started. Action on the economic front included cancellation and additional scrutiny of certain contracts with Chinese firms, and calls were also made to stop the entry of Chinese companies into strategic markets in India. By November 2020, the Indian government had banned over 200 Chinese apps, including apps owned by Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Sina, and Bytedance.

Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan

Main article: 2021 Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan clashes

Batken Region in Kyrgyzstan.

On 28 April, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan forces on the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border near Kök-Tash, Leilek, started the clashes, resulting in four deaths and dozens of injuries. The following day clashes resumed, with at least 41 people killed from both sides and roughly 10,000 people evacuated. The same day the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan agreed to a ceasefire at the border. On 30 April, Tajikistan acknowledged the ceasefire in a statement published by its state information service.

Nagorno-Karabakh

Main article: 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war

The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war took place in the Nagorno-Karabakh region between the Republic of Artsakh backed by Armenia and Azerbaijan from September 2020 to November 2020. It is the latest escalation of the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A peace treaty was signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Artsakh, and Russia, ending hostilities on 10 November 2020. Widespread protests in Armenia followed the treaty while it was celebrated in Azerbaijan. Since the end of the 2020 War, Azerbaijan regularly violated the November ceasefire agreement, provoking cross-border fights with Armenia. The largest escalation occurred in September 2022, when Azerbaijan launched the largest attack on the Republic of Armenia in the history of the conflict between the two countries. Casualties were reported on both sides. Between 19 and 20 September 2023, Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive against the self-declared breakaway state of Artsakh. The offensive took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan, but populated by Armenians. The attacks occurred in the midst of an escalating crisis caused by Azerbaijan blockading the Republic of Artsakh, which has resulted in significant scarcities of essential supplies such as food, medicine, and other goods in the affected region.

Persian Gulf

The 2019–2021 Persian Gulf crisis has led to the attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad during the start of the decade, the subsequent assassination of Qasem Soleimani by the United States days later, the Iranian attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in revenge, as well as the accidental shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 by Iran soon after.

Syrian civil war

This section is an excerpt from Syrian civil war.[edit]

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing multi-sided conflict in Syria involving various state-sponsored and non-state actors. In March 2011, popular discontent with the rule of Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region. After months of crackdown by the government's security apparatus, various armed rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army began forming across the country, marking the beginning of the Syrian insurgency. By mid-2012, the insurgency had escalated into a full-blown civil war.

Rebel forces, which received arms from Gulf Cooperation Council states, Turkey and some Western countries, initially made significant advances against the government forces, which were receiving financial and military support from Iran and Russia. Rebels captured the regional capitals of Raqqa in 2013 and Idlib in 2015. Consequently, Iran launched a military intervention in support of the Syrian government in 2014 and Russia followed in 2015, shifting the balance of the conflict. By late 2018, all rebel strongholds except parts of Idlib region had fallen to the government forces.

In 2014, the Islamic State won many battles against both the rebel factions and the Syrian government. Combined with simultaneous success in Iraq, the group was able to seize control of large parts of Eastern Syria and Western Iraq, prompting the U.S.-led CJTF coalition to launch an aerial bombing campaign against it, while providing ground support and supplies to the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces. By way of battles that culminated in the Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor offensives, the Islamic State was territorially defeated by late 2017. In August 2016, Turkey launched a multi-pronged invasion of northern Syria, in response to the creation of Rojava, while also fighting the Islamic State and government forces in the process. Between the March 2020 Idlib ceasefire and late 2024, frontline fighting mostly subsided, but there were regular skirmishes.

Heavy fighting renewed with a major rebel offensive in the northwest led by Tahrir al-Sham and supported by allied groups in the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in November 2024, during which Aleppo, Hama and Homs were seized. Southern rebels who had previously reconciled with the government subsequently launched their own offensive, capturing Daraa and Suwayda. The Syrian Free Army and the Syrian Democratic Forces launched their own offensives in Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor, respectively. By 8 December, rebel forces had seized the capital, Damascus. Following this, the Assad regime collapsed, with al-Assad fleeing to Moscow. On the same day, Israel launched an invasion of Syria's Quneitra Governorate, aiming to seize the UN buffer zone in the Golan Heights. The SNA continued to clash with the SDF.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

This section is an excerpt from Russian invasion of Ukraine.[edit]

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of 2024, Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million had fled the country by April 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.

In late 2021, Russia massed troops near Ukraine's borders and issued demands including a ban on Ukraine ever joining the NATO military alliance. After repeatedly denying having plans to attack Ukraine, on 24 February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation", saying that it was to support the Russian-backed breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, whose paramilitary forces had been fighting Ukraine in the Donbas conflict since 2014. Putin espoused irredentist and imperialist views challenging Ukraine's legitimacy as a state, baselessly claimed that the Ukrainian government were neo-Nazis committing genocide against the Russian minority in the Donbas, and said that Russia's goal was to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine. Russian air strikes and a ground invasion were launched on a northern front from Belarus towards the capital Kyiv, a southern front from Crimea, and an eastern front from the Donbas and towards Kharkiv. Ukraine enacted martial law, ordered a general mobilization and severed diplomatic relations with Russia.

Russian troops retreated from the north and the outskirts of Kyiv by April 2022, after encountering stiff resistance and logistical challenges. The Bucha massacre was uncovered after their withdrawal. In the southeast, Russia launched an offensive in the Donbas and captured Mariupol after a destructive siege. Russia continued to bomb military and civilian targets far from the front, and struck the energy grid through the winter months. In late 2022, Ukraine launched successful counteroffensives in the south and east, liberating most of Kharkiv province. Soon after, Russia illegally annexed four partly-occupied provinces. In November, Ukraine liberated Kherson. In June 2023, Ukraine launched another counteroffensive in the southeast, but made few gains. After small but steady Russian advances in the east in the first half of 2024, Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk Oblast in August of that year. The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that Russia is committing severe human rights violations in occupied Ukraine.

The invasion was met with widespread international condemnation. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the invasion and demanding a full Russian withdrawal. The International Court of Justice ordered Russia to halt military operations, and the Council of Europe expelled Russia. Many countries imposed sanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus, and provided humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. The Baltic states and Poland declared Russia a terrorist state. Protests occurred around the world, with anti-war protesters in Russia being met by mass arrests and greater media censorship. The Russian attacks on civilians have led to allegations of genocide. War-related disruption to Ukrainian agriculture and shipping contributed to a world food crisis, while war-related environmental damage has been described as ecocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into crimes against humanity, war crimes, abduction of Ukrainian children, and genocide against Ukrainians. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, and for four Russian military officials.

Africa

Main article: 2020s in African political history

During the early 2020s, various African countries experienced coup d'état's, including Mali in 2020 and 2021, Chad, Guinea, and Sudan in 2021, two in Burkina Faso in January and September in 2022, and in Niger and Gabon in 2023. The region also saw attempted coups in Niger and Sudan in 2021, Guinea–Bissau and The Gambia in 2022, and Sudan and Sierra Leone in 2023. The coups have been similar in nature; most came from dissatisfied militaries who criticised their respective government's handling of Islamic insurgents or protests. The incoming juntas also tend to have worse relations with the West, with many seeking support from either Russia and the Wagner Group or Turkey instead of France, who helped the countries fight against Islamic insurgents through Operation Barkhane. ECOWAS has tried to push back on the phenomenon, although unsuccessfully after Mali after the local coup in 2021, and Guinea on 8 September 2021, shortly after its coup. The Alliance of Sahel States is a mutual defense pact created between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso on 16 September 2023. The pact was created amid the 2023 Nigerien crisis, which had begun after the coup in Niger which ECOWAS threatened to militarily intervene against.

Asia

Main article: 2020s in Asian political history

As a result of the Arab Spring which began in 2011, which evolved into what some considered the Arab Winter, much of the region was riven by massive instability and conflict, with the Syrian, Libyan and Yemeni Civil Wars continuing into the 2020s. The 2018–2022 Arab protests in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt were seen as a continuation of the Arab Spring.

This section is an excerpt from Arab Winter.[edit]

ISIL fighters on a captured T-55 tank in the Syrian civil war

The Arab Winter (Arabic: الشتاء العربي, romanized: ash-shitāʼ al-ʻarabī) is a term referring to the resurgence of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism in some Arab countries in the 2010s in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The term "Arab Winter" refers to the events across Arab League countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including the Syrian civil war, the Iraqi insurgency and subsequent war in Iraq, the Egyptian Crisis, the Libyan crisis, and the Yemeni crisis including the Yemeni civil war.

The term was first coined by Chinese political scientist Zhang Weiwei during a debate with American political scientist Francis Fukuyama on 27 June 2011. Fukuyama believed the Arab Spring movement would spread to China, while Zhang predicted the Arab Spring would soon turn into an Arab Winter.

According to scholars of the University of Warsaw, the Arab Spring fully devolved into the Arab Winter four years after its onset, in 2014. The Arab Winter is characterized by the emergence of multiple regional wars, mounting regional instability, economic and demographic decline of Arab countries, and ethno-religious sectarian strife. According to a study by the American University of Beirut, by the summer of 2014, the Arab Winter had resulted in nearly a quarter of a million deaths and millions of refugees. Perhaps the most significant event of the Arab Winter was the rise of the Islamic State, which controlled swathes of land in the region from 2014 to 2019.

In 2024, multiple armed conflicts are still continuing that might be seen as a result of the Arab Spring. The Syrian civil war has caused massive political instability and economic hardship in Syria, with the Syrian currency plunging to new lows. In Yemen, a civil war and subsequent intervention by Saudi Arabia continues to affect the country.

Europe

Main article: 2020s in European political history

The European Union reduced in member states from 28 to 27 with the exit of the United Kingdom on January 31, 2020. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a rift between Northern and Southern European member states over spending, with the former demanding more stringent measures to curb overspending, while the latter argued for more financial support in order to overcome the crisis. A key issue of contention was the issuing of so-called corona bonds. After a historic debt-sharing deal for economic stimulus was agreed to by the remaining countries, Hungary and Poland threatened to veto both it and the EU's budget unless a clause demanding the upholding of the rule of law by member states was dropped. A compromise was reached to pass the deal, which involved delaying the implementation of the clause.

Americas

See also: 2020s in North American political history

The pink tide showed signs of resurging following a series of violent protests against austerity measures and income inequality scattered throughout Latin America, including the 2019-2020 Chilean protests, 2019–2020 Colombian protests, 2018–19 Haitian protests, and the 2021 Colombian protests. This development was strengthened by the landslide victory of left-wing MAS and its presidential candidate Luis Arce in Bolivia in the 2020 Bolivian general election. The trend continued throughout 2021, when multiple left wing leaders won elections in Latin America. In the 2021 Peruvian general election, Peru elected the indigenous, socialist union leader Pedro Castillo. In November 2021, Honduras elected leftist president Xiomara Castro, and just weeks later, left-winger Gabriel Boric won the 2021 Chilean election.

This section is an excerpt from Pink tide.[edit]

A map of Latin America shows countries with members of the São Paulo Forum ruling parties (red) and non-São Paulo Forum ruling parties (blue) in 2011 (left), 2018 (center), and 2024 (right).

The pink tide (Spanish: marea rosa; Portuguese: onda rosa; French: marée rose), or the turn to the left (Spanish: giro a la izquierda; Portuguese: virada à esquerda; French: tournant à gauche), is a political wave and turn towards left-wing governments in Latin America throughout the 21st century. As a term, both phrases are used in political analysis in the news media and elsewhere to refer to a move toward more economically progressive or socially progressive policies in the region. Such governments have been referred to as "left-of-centre", "left-leaning", and "radical social-democratic". They are also members of the São Paulo Forum, a conference of left-wing political parties and other organizations from the Americas.

The Latin American countries viewed as part of this ideological trend have been referred to as pink tide nations, with the term post-neoliberalism or socialism of the 21st century also being used to describe the movement. Elements of the movement have included a rejection of the Washington Consensus. At the same time, some pink tide governments, such as those of Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela, have been varyingly characterized as being "anti-American", prone to populism, as well as authoritarian, particularly in the case of Nicaragua and Venezuela by the 2010s, although many others remained democratic.

The pink tide was followed by the conservative wave, a political phenomenon that emerged in the early 2010s as a direct reaction to the pink tide. Some authors have proposed that there are multiple distinct pink tides rather than a single one, with the first pink tide happening during the late 1990s and early 2000s and a second pink tide encompassing the elections of the late 2010s to early 2020s. A resurgence of the pink tide was kicked off by Mexico in 2018 and Argentina in 2019 and further established by Bolivia in 2020, along with Peru, Honduras, and Chile in 2021, and then Colombia and Brazil in 2022, with Colombia electing the first left-wing president in their history. In 2023, centre-left Bernardo Arévalo secured a surprise victory in Guatemala. In 2024, Claudia Sheinbaum won the Mexican presidency in a landslide, a continuation of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's left-wing government, and Yamandú Orsi's victory in Uruguay marked a return to power for the Broad Front.

Argentina

In 2021, at the request of Bolivia, Argentine prosecutors filed charges against former president Mauricio Macri, security minister Patricia Bullrich, defense minister Oscar Aguad and former Argentine ambassador to Bolivia Normando Álvarez García for allegedly supporting the removal of Evo Morales from power in November 2019. The Argentine government of that time was also accused of sending ammunition and weaponry to help the government of interim president Jeanine Áñez suppress protests organized by Morales's supporters.

Brazil

On March 30, 2021, the commanders of all three branches of the Brazilian Armed Forces – General Edson Leal Pujol (Army), Admiral Ilques Barbosa Junior (Navy), and Brigadier Antonio Carlos Moretti Bermudez (Air Force) – announced their intention to resign from their posts. The collective resignation announcement came less than a day after the dismissal of former Defence Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva and was allegedly a move to signal the Armed Forces' opposition to any military interference in politics.

The 2021 Brazilian protests were popular demonstrations that took place in different regions of Brazil, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Protests both supporting and opposing government happened. It was also the first time when sectors linked to the two antagonistic sides, such as the left and the right, began to protest against the government over a common goal, holding caravans on January 23 and 24, 2021.

On 8 January 2023, following the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Brazilian general elections of October 2022, supporters of the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, attacked the Supreme Court of Brazil, the National Congress of Brazil and the Planalto Presidential Palace in the Três Poderes Plaza in the capital, Brasília. Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo, interim president of the Federal Senate, confirmed that rioters had breached the Chamber of Deputies' Green Hall and attempted to enter the Planalto Palace. Lula was not in Brasília at the time of the attack, and neither was Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for Orlando, United States, before Lula's inauguration.

This section is an excerpt from Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.[edit]

Jair Bolsonaro's tenure as the 38th president of Brazil began with his inauguration on 1 January 2019, and ended on 1 January 2023. Bolsonaro took office following his victory in the 2018 general election, defeating Fernando Haddad. His presidency ended after one term in office, following his defeat in the 2022 general election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In the years Brazil has been a democracy since 1985, Bolsonaro became the first president to lose an election as an incumbent.

His government was characterized by the strong presence of ministers with a military background, international alignment with the populist right and autocratic leaders, and was recognized for his anti-environmental, anti-indigenous people and pro gun policies. He was also responsible for a broad dismantling of cultural, scientific and educational government programs, in addition to promoting repeated attacks on democratic institutions and spreading fake news. His government was responsible for a significant reduction in bureaucracy and modernization of public systems, with the fast paced digitization of federal public services, through the creation of the digital platform "gov.br". Bolsonaro also sanctioned the Economic Freedom Act, reducing bureaucracy in economic activities and facilitating the opening and operation of businesses throughout the country, which proved very beneficial, especially for small companies.

During his administration crime dropped across the country and unemployment rates slowly fell, with the Brazilian GDP showing a moderate growth rate, averaging 1.5% per year. At the same time, job insecurity, inflation and hunger increased, while per capita income, social inequality and poverty reached its worst levels since 2012.

This section is an excerpt from Second presidency of Lula da Silva.[edit]

The second presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva started on 1 January 2023, when he was inaugurated as the 39th President of Brazil. Lula was elected for a third term as President of Brazil on 30 October 2022, by obtaining 50.9% of the valid votes in the 2022 Brazilian general election, defeating his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Lula is the first Brazilian president to ever be elected more than twice as well as being the oldest person to ever be elected president in Brazil.

Chile

The 2019–2022 Chilean protests were a series of massive demonstrations and severe riots originated in Santiago and spread to all regions of Chile. The protests have been considered the "worst civil unrest" having occurred in Chile since the end of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship due to the scale of damage to public infrastructure, the number of protesters, and the measures taken by the government. On 25 October 2019, over 1.2 million people took to the streets of Santiago to protest against social inequality, demanding President Piñera's resignation, in what was called as "The biggest march of Chile." At least 29 people died, and nearly 2,500 were injured and 2,840 arrested.

On 15 November 2019, Chile's National Congress signed an agreement to hold a national referendum that would rewrite the constitution if it were to be approved. The referendum was rescheduled from April to October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. On 25 October 2020, Chileans voted 78.28 per cent in favor of a new constitution, while 21.72 per cent rejected the change. Voter turnout was 51 per cent. On 16 May 2021, the election of the 155 Chileans who will form the convention which will draft the new constitution was voted. On 21 December 2021, former students leader and constitutional agreement negotiator, 35-year old leftist Gabriel Boric, was elected president of Chile in the 2021 Chilean presidential election with 55,86% of the vote.

Colombia

The 2019–20 Colombian protests were a collection of protests that began on 21 November 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Colombians demonstrated for various reasons. Some protested against various proposed economic and political reforms proposed by the government of Iván Duque Márquez, others against the few violent protestors and in favor of the Colombian peace process, and other issues. Another series of protests began in Colombia on 28 April 2021 against increased taxes and health care reform proposed by the government of President Márquez.

After the presidential elections on 29 May 2022, with a runoff on 19 June 2022, Gustavo Petro, a senator and former Mayor of Bogota, defeated Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, former mayor of Bucaramanga, in the runoff election. Petro's victory made him the first left-wing candidate to be elected president of Colombia. Petro, a former AD/M-19 member, was chosen as a candidate of the Historic Pact for Colombia alliance. Petro's left-wing platform encompassed support for land reform, universal health care, continuing the Colombian peace process, and expanding social services.

Ecuador

On 7 April 2020, The Criminal Court of the National Court of Justice found the former president Rafael Correa guilty of aggravated passive bribery in 2012–2016. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison in absentia for leading the corruption network that between 2012 and 2016 received "undue contributions" at to finance his political movement in exchange for awarding state contracts to businessmen along with Alexis Mera, former Judiciary Secretary of the Presidency, former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, María de los Angeles Duarte, former congresswoman Viviana Bonilla and former Constitutional Judge and his secretary Pamela Martínez.

A series of protests against the economic policies of Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso, triggered by increasing fuel and food prices, began on 13 June 2022. Initiated by and primarily attended by Indigenous activists, in particular the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the protests were joined by students and workers who have also been affected by the price increases. Lasso condemned the protests and labelled them as an attempted "coup d'état" against his government.

A political crisis began in Ecuador on 17 May 2023 as a result of the impeachment trial against President Guillermo Lasso. The impeachment inquiry began in the National Assembly on 9 May and lasted until 17 May when Lasso dissolved parliament through the constitutional provision known as muerte cruzada ("mutual death"). This triggered the end of the impeachment inquiry as it dissolved the National Assembly and caused an earlier general election. This was the first time an Ecuadorian president had used this constitutional measure.

Peru

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, President Vizcarra instituted stay-at-home orders and issued relief funds, but existing inequality, overcrowding and a largely informal economy saw Peru being heavily affected by the pandemic. As a result, Peru's gross domestic product declined thirty percent, increasing political pressure on Vizcarra's government. In September 2020, Congress opened impeachment proceedings against Vizcarra on grounds of "moral incapacity", accusing him of influence peddling after audio recordings were released by an opposition legislator, but the process did not receive enough votes to remove him from office.

On 9 November 2020, the Peruvian Congress impeached Vizcarra a second time, after declaring him "morally incompetent"; he was removed from office. The president of Congress, Manuel Merino, succeeded him as President of Peru the following day. Vizcarra's removal from office was seen as a coup by many Peruvians, political analysts and media outlets in the country, resulting in the beginning of the 2020 Peruvian protests. Following the deaths of protesters, Merino resigned after only five days. The new president chosen by the legislature was Francisco Sagasti, a former World Bank official characterised as a "centrist technocrat".

After the 2021 Peruvian general election won by Pedro Castillo, the candidate of the Marxist Free Peru party, runner-up Keiko Fujimori disseminated claims of electoral fraud. Observers from the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations, the Organization of American States, and the Progressive International denied any instances of widespread fraud and praised the accuracy of the elections. A letter signed by almost one-hundred retired officers of the Peruvian armed forces was written calling on current military leaders in Peru to refuse recognizing the election of Castillo into the presidency. President Francisco Sagasti condemned the letter, stating: "They want to incite top commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air force to break the rule of law."

Since taking office, Castillo distanced himself from Free Peru, adopted more moderate left-wing cabinets and was later described as holding conservative or right-wing political positions. Going through four cabinets in a little over six months and his choice of appointing close acquaintances as officials led to his government facing the most unstable beginning in more than twenty years, with questions arising about his apparent inexperience for office. Following failed impeachment proceeding in December 2021 and March 2022, a transportation union leader who previously cooperated with politicians and businessmen to destabilize Castillo's government helped organize a general strike that expanded into the 2022 Peruvian protests.

On 7 December 2022, President of Peru Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress in the face of imminent impeachment proceedings by the legislative body because of profiting off of government contracts, immediately enacting a curfew, establishing an emergency government and calling for a constituent assembly. The act was recognized by politicians, the Constitutional Court of Peru and media as a coup d'état, with some comparing it to the autogolpe of Alberto Fujimori during the 1992 Peruvian self-coup d'état. Numerous members of Castillo's government resigned from their positions shortly after he announced the dissolution of Congress, and the Peruvian Armed Forces also refused to support his actions.

Venezuela

The Crisis in Venezuela and its presidential crisis continued in 2020.

On 5 January, the 2020 Venezuelan National Assembly Delegated Committee election was disputed between Luis Parra and opposition leader Juan Guaidó. On 19 January, Guaidó left Venezuela and arrived in Colombia, planning to meet with Mike Pompeo, as well as traveling to Europe and the United States later.

On 26 March, the Department of State declared a $15 million bounty on Nicolás Maduro, as well as $10 million each on Diosdado Cabello, Hugo Carvajal, Clíver Alcalá Cordones and Tareck El Aissami, for charges of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. Following this, Clíver Alcalá, a former general residing in Colombia, published a video claiming responsibility for a stockpile of weapons and military equipment seized in Colombia. According to Alcalá, he had made a contract with Guaidó and "American advisers" in order to buy weapons to remove Maduro. Alcalá did not present any evidence and Guaidó rejected the allegations. After wishing farewell to his family, Alcalá surrendered to US authorities on 27 March.

On 3 May, eight former Venezuelan soldiers were killed and seventeen rebels were captured on 3 May, including two American security contractors, after approximately 60 men landed in Macuto and tried to invade Venezuela. The members of the naval attack force were employed as private military contractors by Silvercorp USA and the operation aimed to depose Maduro from power.

Oceania

Australia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Cabinet was established while Australia received praise during 2020 for being one of the few Western countries to successfully suppress the virus, though the slow pace of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout was criticized. In 2021, the country joined the AUKUS security pact amid increased tensions between Australia and China The Morrison government was defeated at the 2022 Australian federal election, with Scott Morrison subsequently announcing he would resign as the leader of the Liberal Party.

This section is an excerpt from Anthony Albanese.[edit]

Official portrait, 2022

Anthony Norman Albanese (/ˌælbəˈniːzi/ AL-bə-NEE-zee or /ˈælbəniːz/ AL-bə-neez; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician who is the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and a member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales division of Grayndler since 1996. Albanese previously served as the 15th deputy prime minister under the second Rudd government in 2013. He held various ministerial positions from 2007 to 2013 in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

Albanese was born in Sydney to an Italian father and an Irish-Australian mother, who raised him as a single parent. Albanese attended St Mary's Cathedral College and studied economics at the University of Sydney. As a student, he joined the Labor Party and later worked as a party official and research officer before entering Parliament.

Albanese was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1996 election, winning the seat of Grayndler in New South Wales. He was first appointed to the shadow cabinet in 2001 by Simon Crean and went on to serve in a number of roles, eventually becoming Manager of Opposition Business in 2006. After Labor's victory in the 2007 election, Albanese was appointed Leader of the House, and was also made Minister for Regional Development and Local Government and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. In the subsequent leadership tensions between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2010 to 2013, Albanese was publicly critical of the conduct of both, calling for party unity. After supporting Rudd in the final leadership ballot between the two in June 2013, Albanese was elected the deputy leader of the Labor Party and sworn in as deputy prime minister the following day, a position he held for less than three months, as Labor was defeated at the 2013 election.

Rudd retired from politics, so Albanese stood against Bill Shorten in the October 2013 Australian Labor Party leadership election. Although Albanese won a large majority of the membership, Shorten won more heavily among Labor MPs and became leader. Shorten subsequently appointed Albanese to his Shadow Cabinet. After Labor's surprise defeat in the 2019 election, Shorten resigned as leader, with Albanese becoming the only person nominated in the leadership election to replace him; he was subsequently elected unopposed as leader of the Labor Party, becoming Leader of the Opposition.

In the 2022 election, Albanese led his party to victory against Scott Morrison's Liberal-National Coalition. He was sworn in on 23 May 2022. Albanese's first acts as prime minister included proposing a change to the Constitution to include an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, updating Australia's climate targets in an effort to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and supporting an increase to the national minimum wage. His government legislated a national anti-corruption commission, made major changes to Australian labour law, introduced a ban on children under the age of sixteen using social media platforms, and established the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. In foreign policy, Albanese pledged further logistical support to Ukraine to assist with the Russo-Ukrainian war, attempted to strengthen relations in the Pacific region, and held several high-level discussions with Chinese president Xi Jinping, overseeing an easing of tensions and trade restrictions put on Australia by China. He also oversaw the official commencement of the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Kiribati

A constitutional crisis began in Kiribati when the Cabinet of Kiribati suspended two of its Court Justices. High Court Judge David Lambourne was suspended in May 2022 while Chief Justice Bill Hastings was suspended on 30 June 2022, both over allegations of misconduct. A court ruling overturned the suspension and subsequent deportation of Lambourne. In response, the government suspended all judges from the Kiribati Court of Appeal on 6 September 2022.

New Zealand

In the 2020 New Zealand general election, the governing Labour Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won the election in a landslide victory against the National Party, led by Judith Collins. It was the first time a New Zealand political party has secured a majority government under the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system introduced in 1996. Labour also achieved the highest percentage of the popular vote (49.1%) for any political party since the 1951 general election (where the then-National Party won 54.0% of the popular vote). Labour also achieved its third-highest ever percentage of the popular vote (49.1%) in its political history, surpassed only by its previous general election victories of 1938 (55.8%) and 1946 (51.3%). Conversely in this election, the National Party obtained the second-lowest ever percentage of the popular vote (26.79%) in its history, second only to the lowest percentage obtained in 2002 (20.93%).

Governments

This section is an excerpt from Jacinda Ardern.[edit]

Ardern in 2018

Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern GNZM (/dʒəˈsɪndə ɑːrˈdɜːrn/ jə-SIN-də ar-DURN; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was a member of Parliament (MP) as a list MP from 2008 to 2017 and for Mount Albert from 2017 to 2023.

Born in Hamilton, Ardern grew up in Morrinsville and Murupara. She joined the New Zealand Labour Party at the age of 17. After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern worked as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark. She later worked in London as an adviser in the Cabinet Office during Tony Blair's premiership. In 2008, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Ardern was first elected as an MP in the 2008 general election, when Labour lost power after nine years. She was later elected to represent the Mount Albert electorate in a by-election on 25 February 2017.

Ardern was unanimously elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party on 1 March 2017, after the resignation of Annette King. Exactly five months later, with an election due, Labour's leader Andrew Little resigned after a historically low opinion polling result for the party, with Ardern elected unopposed as leader in his place. Labour's support increased rapidly after Ardern became leader, and she led her party to gain 14 seats at the 2017 general election on 23 September, winning 46 seats to the National Party's 56. After negotiations, New Zealand First chose to enter a minority coalition government with Labour, supported by the Green Party, with Ardern as prime minister. She was sworn in by the governor-general on 26 October 2017. She became the world's youngest female head of government at age 37. Ardern gave birth to her daughter on 21 June 2018, making her the world's second elected head of government to give birth while in office (after Benazir Bhutto).

Ardern describes herself as a social democrat and a progressive. The Sixth Labour Government faced challenges from the New Zealand housing crisis, child poverty, and social inequality. In March 2019, in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, Ardern reacted by rapidly introducing strict gun laws, winning her wide recognition. Throughout 2020 she led New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which she won praise for New Zealand being one of the few Western nations to successfully contain the virus. It is estimated that her government's actions saved as many as 80,000 lives. Ardern moved the Labour Party further to the centre towards the October 2020 general election, promising to cut spending during the remainder of the COVID-19 recession. She led the Labour Party to a landslide victory, gaining an overall majority of 65 seats in Parliament, the first time a majority government had been formed since the introduction of a proportional representation system in 1996.

On 19 January 2023, Ardern announced she would resign as Labour leader. Ardern resigned as leader of the Labour Party on 22 January and submitted her resignation as prime minister to the governor-general on 25 January, with the unopposed election of Chris Hipkins as her successor, who led the Labour Party to a landslide defeat in the 2023 general election.

This section is an excerpt from Chris Hipkins.[edit]

Hipkins in 2022

Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party since January 2023 and leader of the Opposition since November 2023. He was the 41st prime minister of New Zealand from January to November 2023, previously serving as the minister for the public service and minister for education from 2017 to 2023, and the minister for health and the COVID-19 response from 2020 to 2022. He has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Remutaka since the 2008 general election.

Hipkins was born and raised in the Hutt Valley in Wellington, and while at Victoria University of Wellington became heavily involved in student politics. He was elected president of VUWSA twice, in 2000 and 2001. Hipkins won the pre-selection for the typically safe Labour seat of Remutaka in the Hutt Valley in 2008, but due to the return of the National Party to governance won it by a thin margin. After Jacinda Ardern led Labour to victory in the 2017 general election, Hipkins assumed multiple portfolios within the Sixth Labour Government, serving variously as minister of education, police, the public service, and leader of the House. For his perceived competence within multiple roles and responsibilities, Hipkins became regarded as Labour's "fixer".

As minister of health, Hipkins was responsible for the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. The elimination policy became the primary focus of the 2020 election, helping Labour win in a landslide. After the victory, Hipkins took on more responsibility, serving as minister for COVID-19 response from November 2020 to June 2022. On 21 January 2023, Hipkins became the sole candidate to succeed Ardern as leader of the Labour Party after she announced her resignation. He became party leader after being elected unopposed on 22 January 2023, and was consequently appointed prime minister by the governor-general on 25 January 2023. His premiership was faced almost immediately with the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods, and then by further flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle. He led his party into the 2023 general election, with Labour losing to National. Subsequently, he became Opposition leader on 27 November 2023.

Samoa

A constitutional crisis began in Samoa on 22 May 2021 when the O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State) Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II issued a proclamation purporting to prevent the Legislative Assembly of Samoa from meeting in the wake of the 2021 Samoan general election. Court rulings had upheld the election results, giving a parliamentary majority to the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party, led by Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa. On 24 May 2021, a makeshift ceremony was held outside of Parliament to swear in Mataʻafa as prime minister. On 23 July the Court of Appeal declared that the ceremony was binding and that FAST had been the government since that date.

Solomon Islands

The 2021 Solomon Islands unrest was a series of demonstrations and violent riots in the Solomon Islands, which began on 24 November 2021. Australia responded to the unrest by deploying Australian Federal Police and Australian Defence Force personnel following a request from the Sogavare government under the Australia–Solomon Islands Bilateral Security Treaty.

See also

See also

General overviews Political history of the world 21st century List of protests in the 21st century Specific issues and topics Brexit negotiations Coronavirus disease 2019 Country and regional entries and timelines 2020 in the United States 2020 in United States politics and government 2020 in the Caribbean 2020 in Central America 2020 in East Africa 2020 in West Africa See also: Category:2020 by country Related decade overviews 2020s decade overviews: 2020s in United Kingdom political history 2020s in United States political history Categories See also the categories 21st-century social movements and 21st-century conflicts See also the categories 2020s, 2020s in politics, and 2020s in economic history See also the categories 2020, 2020 in politics, 2020 by country, and 2020 in law

Bibliography

• D'Anieri, Paul (23 March 2023). Ukraine and Russia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-31550-0. OCLC 1350843759.
• Middleton, Karen (2016). Albanese: Telling It Straight. Random House Australia. ISBN 9781925324730.
• Ramani, Samuel (13 April 2023). Putin's War on Ukraine: Russia's Campaign for Global Counter-Revolution. Hurst Publishers. ISBN 978-1-80526-003-5.