Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus 
Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus is a fortnightly series of articles on the role of art in public policymaking. This series invites WPI fellows and project leaders as well as external practitioners to contribute pieces on how artists have led policy change and how policymakers can use creative strategies.
In Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World, World Policy Institute Senior Fellow Ian Bremmer illustrates a historic shift in the international system and the world economy—and an unprecedented moment of global uncertainty.
7. Isaias Afewerki - Eritrea
Eritrea's Isaias Afewerki's 20-year rule is emblematic of what happens when rebels take power and don’t want to share it. As one of the leaders of the War of Independence, which saw Eritrea break away from Ethiopia, he became the first (and so far only) president after the war. Eritrea is now a one-party state and topped the Committee to Protect Journalist’s 2012 list of countries with the least press freedom. Foreign journalists aren't even allowed in Eritrea, and the government controls all domestic media.
Ranked amongst one of the most corrupt African nations, Eritrea spends 6.3 percent of annual GDP on military. The country has been slapped with countless criticisms for human rights abuses under Afewerki, including accusations of forced labor and torture. In a cable released by Wikileaks, a U.S. diplomat called him "unhinged" and "cruel and defiant."
