Promotion of Democracy

As Turkey enters into a period of elections, Perspectives analyzes the strategies of main political actors and emphasizes the role of urban politics for the municipal elections in March 2014. The Democracy section is supported by two extensive articles on the foreign policy of Turkey and cultural politics of the Gezi Protests.

The protests sprang from Gezi Park, and spread throughout Turkey in a short period of time, mark a historical turning point for Turkish democracy. Accounts and analyses of Gezi Protests are limited for foreign readers. Therefore, for this extraordinary occasion, we introduce a special cover story on Gezi Park Protests in our 5th issue.

Publication Series on Democracy 31: The present study by Andrea Fleschenberg shows that in national and international debates about the transition process in Afghanistan women’s voices are seldom present, or taken into consideration.

The international community likes to see Brazil as a socially oriented, economically successful state that is sensitive to environmental and climate-friendly issues – a great power on its way to the top; a champion. But in Brazilian civil society, another perception of its own state and the politics it pursues prevails. This publication takes a closer look at this discrepancy between how Brazil is perceived by those outside of and within its borders.

It is almost a year ago that Syrian citizens, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, courageously took to the streets in protest against the decades-long denial of their basic rights by the Assad regime. But Syria as a topic for research has long been marginalized in cultural, social, and political studies. This publication written by authors from the region wants to give new perspectives on Syria.

The quarterly periodical "Perspectives" strives to be a source of reference for civil society, decision makers, opinion leaders in- and outside of Turkey. The feature articles of this first issue deal with the historical background and recent developments concerning the “deep state” of the country.

The study analyses existing legal means of holding European transnational companies liable for extraterritorial human rights violations. The authors examine four representative legal cases against European companies in Latin America that revolve around problems typical in the region.