Promotion of Democracy

On November 7, 2013, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that homosexual asylum seekers be granted asylum in EU Member States. An important judgment that is, however, a drop in the ocean in the light of the EU’s policy of closure with regard to asylum and refugee policy.

Hameeda is a candidate in the Kabul provincial council election. The 26 year-old student has studied international relations and is currently studying gynaecology. She’s a firm advocate of women’s rights.

The plans for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) caused a controverse debate about food standards and legal privileges to international investors between the U.S. and Europe. However, TTIP's impact on the rest of the world is immense. An analysis by Rainer Falk and Barbara Unmüßig.

Afghanistan is on its way to becoming a forgotten and irritating issue. Nevertheless, we should think again about how it all began and to what extent the expectations in the military intervention of 2001 have been fulfilled.

The international community will play an important but secondary role in Afghanistan’s future as Afghans work to create a more sustainable state through strengthening their political consensus, , building their economy, and increasing security.

Moeed Yusuf is director of the South Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace and have been engaged in expanding the institute’s work on Pakistan/South Asia since 2010. In this interview he talks about his publication "Getting it Right in Afghanistan" and the difficult relationship between Afghanistan und Pakistan.

The next Hungarian parliament could include two green formations: Dialogue for Hungary (PM), which will surely have some members in parliament, and Politics Can Be Different (LMP). If LMP surpasses the election threshold an independent parliamentary group is guaranteed.

India will be witnessing a revival of communalism in the 2014 general elections, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, the Hindu nationalists party) making a decided pitch for power with their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The so called Hindutva agenda seeking to establish a theocratic state is being given a decisive push with the BJP hoping to divide the electorate along religious lines, and thereby consolidating the majority Hindu vote in its favour.

In the late spring or the early summer of 2014 India will conduct its sixteenth general election. The battle lines between the two principal, national political parties, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are now being drawn.

The opposition in Thailand continues to occupy Bangkok. The protests have been accompanied by widespread rumors of a coup as well as social tensions. Elaine Haller from our office in Bangkok analyzes the reasons for the escalation of the events.