Magazine Perspectives

The fight against corruption in the Middle East and North Africa has gone through several ups and downs. Four years after the “Arab Spring”, when demands to eradicate corruption took center stage, we thought it is time to shed some light on the evolution of this issue in the MENA region.

Political discourse and action is coordinated more and more through Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp. This edition of Perspectives Africa capture the complex and plural ways in which Africans are attempting to use new media to democratice democracy on the continent, the challenges they face, and the valuable lessons learned.

Asia, the world’s most populous continent, has been undergoing a dramatic transformation. Globalization and new technologies are leading millions of people out of poverty. At the same time thousands have to leave their country. A continent on the move.

The first issue of Perspectives Southeastern Europe is about young adults in the Balkans. It is about young people with a specific kind of transition to adulthood who want to overcome the tradition of patriarchy and discrimination and who are striving for a more democratic culture.

Rumours serve as a medium through which unfulfilled hopes or unspecific fears can be voiced. They bond and drive a wedge between people and population groups at the same time. An issue about the social function of rumours.

This issue features two special dossiers: the democracy dossier analyzes the current situation and strategies of significant political actors towards the Presidential elections. The second one is a gender and macroeconomy dossier, which hopefully would provide an introduction to a gendered reading of macroeconomic issues in Turkey, who will be hosting the G20 summit in 2015.

This issue opens with an article by Yunus Sözen that evaluates the local elections which were held on 30 March. Our special dossier is on capital and capitalists in Turkey. We analyze the varieties of business groups from Gülen community to capitalists of the Kurdish region. Democracy section features an article on recent internet censorship efforts by the government.

With this edition of Perspectives, we give Africa-based commentators and experts from across the continent the opportunity to critically reflect on the “Africa rising” story and the sub-narratives it carries.

This second issue of "Perspectives Asia" provides a forum for the voices of authors from various Asian countries to express their thoughts on possible development models for the region. How can we achieve prosperity for all, without doing long-term damage to nature or threatening the subsistence of entire populations?

While legal entitlements to equality and justice for women have been achieved over the years, a persistent gender-bias in the administration of justice prevents those hard-won successes from becoming a reality. This issue of Perspectives provides insight into some country-specific challenges and controversies.