Promotion of Democracy

Academics in the field of gender studies do not normally experience a high level of public interest in their work, yet in recent months things have taken a turn in Hungary.

On April the 2nd 2017 Presidential elections in Serbia took place. The acting prime minister Alexandar Vučić received in the first ballot the absolute majority, thereby he is able to strengthen his power considerably. Our office Director in Belgrade, Nenad Šebek, analyzes the background.

Especially three developments appear to have caused Wilders’ “defeat” in the election. Still, the next Dutch government will chose a centre-right course on social-economic, climate and immigration policies.

The radical right-wing populist Freedom Party (PVV) is currently tied for first place in the polls for the upcoming Dutch elections. Is this a clear sign of a radical right-wing populist wave in the Netherlands? What underlies the success of this party? And how can it be compared to other radical right-wing populist parties?

Balázs Tóth is head of the Law Enforcement Program at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a public benefit human rights organisation that provides legal help to refugees, detainees and victims of law enforcement violence. Kristóf Szombati met with Balázs, who has been working for the organisation since 2004, to discuss the challenges faced by civil society organisations in Hungary.

Are the Greens compatible with Angela Merkel? An interview with Ralf Fücks, president of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, on coalitions with Merkel, the rise of the AfD, as well as the foundation’s development over the past 20 years.

Kosovo Special Court became operational on January 1. If it indicts all persons mentioned as suspects in the Marty Report, it would represent a tsunami of sorts, one that could cause tectonic shifts.

During the 1956 uprising, the coat of arms named after the Stalinist dictator Mátyás Rákosi was cut out of the national flag by revolutionaries - the ground for a workshop arranged by the artists Katharina Roters and József Szolnoki.

Numerous non-governmental organisations and networks have worked on a discussion paper about the restrictions for civil society all over the world.

The hostile environment created by the government makes the work of civil society actors practically impossible. To be a human rights activist in Macedonia is to be a person that is constantly threatened, attacked, and demonized.