2020s in history

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered global social and economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression.^[1] 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.^[2]

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,^[3][4] how states respond to crises,^[5] politicization of beliefs about the virus,^[6] and the adequacy of existing frameworks of international cooperation.^[7]

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.^[8] 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."^[9][10]

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.^[11]

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.^[49] The following day clashes resumed, with at least 41 people killed from both sides and roughly 10,000 people evacuated.^[50] The same day the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan agreed to a ceasefire at the border.^[51] On 30 April, Tajikistan acknowledged the ceasefire in a statement published by its state information service.^[52]

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.^[53][54] 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.^{[55][56][57][58]} Casualties were reported on both sides.^[59] 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.^{[60][61][62][63]} 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.^[64]

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.

The 2019–2020 northwestern Syria offensive, codenamed was a military operation launched by the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and other allied militias against Syrian opposition and allied fighters of the Syrian National Army, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Rouse the Believers Operations Room, the Turkistan Islamic Party, and other rebel and Salafi jihadist^[65] forces.^[66][67]

By February 2020, pro-government forces had encircled several Turkish observation posts that had been established throughout Idlib.^[68][69] On 27 February, after intermittent deadly clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces, Turkey formally intervened in the offensive and announced the beginning of Operation Spring Shield with the aim of pushing Syrian government forces back to pre-offensive frontlines.^[70]

Operation Spring Shield (Turkish: Bahar Kalkanı Harekâtı) was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) against the Syrian Armed Forces and allied militias in the Idlib Governorate of northwestern Syria,^[71] which began on 27 February 2020 in response to the Balyun airstrikes.^[72][73] Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the purpose of the operation had been within the framework of the Astana talks, to ensure a ceasefire agreement in the Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone and to prevent migration from Idlib towards the Turkish border. On 5 March, Turkey and Russia signed a ceasefire agreement in Moscow.^[74]

A series of airstrikes were carried out by the Israeli Air Force on multiple Iranian-linked targets in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of Syria on 13 January 2021.^[75] More airstrikes were launched the following February. Later that same month, the United States military carried out an airstrike on a site which it believed to have been occupied by Iranian-backed Iraqi militias operating from across the border in eastern Syria.^[76][77][78] The US-led coalition continued to hit targets in Syria, as part of what it described as a war against ISIS.^[79]

During the early 2020s, various African countries experienced coup d'état's, including Mali in 2020 and 2021,^[85] Chad,^[86] Guinea,^[87] and Sudan^[88] in 2021, two in Burkina Faso in January and September in 2022,^[89][90] and in Niger and Gabon in 2023.^[91][92] 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,^[93] and Guinea on 8 September 2021, shortly after its coup.^[94][95] The Alliance of Sahel States is a mutual defense pact created between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso on 16 September 2023.^[96][97] The pact was created amid the 2023 Nigerien crisis, which had begun after the coup in Niger which ECOWAS threatened to militarily intervene against.^[98]

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.^[99][100]

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.^[101] 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.^[102] A compromise was reached to pass the deal, which involved delaying the implementation of the clause.^[103]

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.^[104][105] 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.^[106] 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,^[107] and just weeks later, left-winger Gabriel Boric won the 2021 Chilean election.^[108]

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.^[109] 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.^[109]

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.^[110] 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.^[111]

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,^{[112][113][114]} and neither was Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for Orlando, United States, before Lula's inauguration.^[115]

In May and June 2021, the remains of hundreds of Indigenous people, including hundreds of children, were discovered near the former sites of four Canadian Indian residential schools in the provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In July, Inuk leader Mary Simon was appointed to be the 30th Governor General of Canada, the first Indigenous person to assume this role. Simon succeeded Chief Justice Richard Wagner, who had been acting as Administrator since the resignation of former Governor General Julie Payette in January.^[116]

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.^[117] 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."^[118][119] At least 29 people died,^[120] and nearly 2,500 were injured and 2,840 arrested.^[119][121]

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.^{[citation needed]} The referendum was rescheduled from April to October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[122][123] 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.^[124]

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.^[125] 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.^[126] Petro's victory made him the first left-wing candidate to be elected president of Colombia.^[127][128] 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.^[129][130]

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.^{[131][132][133]}

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.^[134]

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.^[135]

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.^[136] The President of Congress, Manuel Merino, succeeded him as President of Peru the following day.^[137] Vizcarra's removal from office was seen as a coup by many Peruvians,^[138] political analysts^[139] and media outlets in the country,^{[140][141][142][143][144]} resulting in the beginning of the 2020 Peruvian protests. Following the deaths of protesters, Merino resigned after only five days.^[145] The new president chosen by the legislature was Francisco Sagasti, a former World Bank official characterised as a "centrist technocrat".^[146]

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.^[147][148] 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.^[149][150] 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.^[151] 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."^[151]

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.^[152][153] 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.^{[154][155][156]} 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.^[156][157]

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.^[158] 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.^[159]

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.^[160] 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.^[161] According to Alcalá, he had made a contract with Guaidó and "American advisers" in order to buy weapons to remove Maduro.^[161] Alcalá did not present any evidence^[161] and Guaidó rejected the allegations.^[162] After wishing farewell to his family, Alcalá surrendered to US authorities on 27 March.^[163]

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.^[164]

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,^[165] though the slow pace of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout was criticized.^[166] In 2021, the country joined the AUKUS security pact amid increased tensions between Australia and China^[167] 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.^[168]

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.^[169][170] 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.^[171]

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.^[172] 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.^[173] 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%).^{[citation needed]} 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%).^{[citation needed]}

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.^[174] 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.^[175][176]

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.^[177]