Article

Independent of the EU’s internal debates on reform and enlargement the extension of co-operation beyond the borders of the EU will remain pressing. An updated European Neighbourhood Policy could enable the EU to engage its neighbours flexibly, keeping options open for closer future integration.

Regional foundations close to the Green Party were set up in the early 1980s. In 1983 there was a first effort to found a national foundation - but it came to nothing. Later in the 1980s three national foundations were established: The feminist Frauenanstiftung, the Buntstift federation of regional foundations, and the Cologne-based Heinrich Böll Foundation. The work of these organisations was later co-ordinated by the umbrella organisation Regenbogen. In 1988 the Green Party recognised Regenbogen as the foundation allied to the party. This meant that from then on the foundation qualified for government funding.

Two journalists who participated in a media workshop in September/October 2005, organized by the Lebanese American University and supported by the Beirut office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, were murdered within less than a year by gunmen in the Northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Both Sarwa Abdul-Wahab and Sahar Hussein Ali Al-Haydari were passionate journalists who lived and died to recount their country’s agonizing story.

The work of the hbs China office focuses on the complex interactions between Chinese and global developments. Against this backdrop, the office supports Chinese partner organizations who implement projects in areas such as ecology/sustainability and follow China’s role in processes of global change.

Our office in Phnom Penhh is working with civil society organizations to create a critical dialog on environment, gender, social justice and inclusion within the general public and communities.

The Foundation's Southeast Asia program, being restructured in 2015, will focus on highlighting how globalization and integration in the ASEAN countries have an impact on people’s lives.

It is a symptom of the diminished expectations and shrinking horizons in Zimbabwean politics that Simba Makoni's entry into the 2008 presidential race has created such a stir in the country's body politic. With the country sinking further into the mire of an extended political and economic debacle, the prospect of yet another disastrous Mugabe electoral 'victory' appeared a desultory inevitability.

What will a post-elections Zimbabwe look like? We will have to wait and see. In the best case, a government of national unity or tentative reforms under ZANU-PF seem possible. In the worst case there might be a bloody uprising or the military could intervene in case of an opposition win. Anything is possible.

The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and its leader President Robert Mugabe have puzzled many by successively ‘winning’ elections in the midst of serious and unprecedented economic and political decline. What are the reasons? What is Mugabe's background?

Matabeleland consists of three western provinces of Zimbabwe, namely Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo. This region, stereotyped as marginalised and underdeveloped, and also as a hotbed of political opposition both historically and currently, is once more poised to play a strategic role in the forthcoming elections.