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In this study the authors, Farzana Bari and Andrea Fleschenberg, are identifying commonalities and differences of Gender Quotas in the parliaments in Afghanistan and Pakistan and contextualize women’s political participation and gender democracy worldwide. From the findings of the country studies, they are drawing concrete recommendations for practice.

In this edition of Perspectives Asia, the authors highlight certain aspects of gender relations and offer some very personal insights into the situations of women and men in Asia.

The level of political commitment in the build up to Paris means a deal is very likely. But, the devil will be in the detail. The final Policy Brief of the "From Warsaw to Paris" series discusses how to communicate the COP21 outcome and what the outcomes of Paris mean for the EU’s 2016 climate and energy agenda.

The study focuses on the impact on security and development by the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India gas pipeline (TAPI), which is one of the most ambitious and long debated infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.

Many of the world's largest agro-industrial corporations are pushing forward the poorly-defined idea of "Climate-Smart Agriculture"(CSA) to re-market industrial agriculture as 'climate-ready'. This report uncovers how some advocates of CSA are embracing the extreme genetic engineering tools of synthetic biology ("Syn Bio") to develop a set of false solutions to the climate crisis.

Despite the formal commitment of many African states to universal human rights, the realisation of those rights remains unfulfilled for a great number of their citizens, especially women. Reflections on sexual and reproductive rights in Africa.

The extreme genetic engineering industry of Synthetic Biology (Syn Bio) is shrugging off earlier pretensions that it would usher in a clean, green ’post-petroleum’ economy. Now they are partnering with big oil, coal, gas and mining interests. This report details this emerging fossilbiotech alliance.

Our Coal Atlas contains the latest facts and figures on the use of coal and its environmental and social consequences. With more than 60 detailed graphics, the atlas illustrates the coal industry’s impact on nature, health, labour, human rights and politics.

The football World Cup in Brazil cost the country at least €8.5 billion euros but did not stimulate economic growth. In 2016 the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games are coming to Rio de Janeiro once again. Dawid Danilo Bartelt illustrates how sporting mega-events have established themselves as a business model. The losers are often the host city’s most vulnerable people, democracy and human rights.

Approaches to understanding the meaning of accession to the European Union vary significantly among the post-Yugoslav countries. For some the process has been an important driving force for changes in their legal and institutional systems.