“We’re still a far cry from being safe” Published: 20 August 2014 Duniya Mohsini is a university lecturer. She has been teaching for the last 12 years and is much liked by her students. Currently, she is doing a Ph.D. course in literature at a university in Tajikistan. She has been a frequent contributor to Rah-e Madaniyat Daily.
Germany’s New Foreign Policy in the Making Published: 19 August 2014 The Middle East is burning and, as usual, all eyes rest on Washington. What, then, is Germany willing and capable to contribute to the crisis management in Iraq? The diffuse reactions by politicians across the political spectrum point toward a significant paradigm shift. By Charlotte Beck
Interview: "Environmentalism beyond economic solutions" Published: 13 August 2014 Maureen Santos debates the challenges for the environmental movements against environmental degradation on international and national level. By Ricardo Machado
Viktor Orbán’s “New State” Published: 19 August 2014 In the Romanian spa town Băile Tuşnad, Viktor Orbán declares the post-communist period to be over and evokes a new Hungarian community in front of 8,000 students. By Wolfgang Klotz
BRICS Summit: Restructuring Global Affairs Published: 11 August 2014 India's new prime minister Narendra Modi succesfully presented his ideas of national development on his first international summit. Its most important outcome: a common BRICS Development Banc that could challenge the global financial order. By Avani Tewari
Examining Afghanistan's electoral results Published: 7 August 2014 What can we make out of a deadlocked electoral result, with seemingly contradictory stories from the candidates? A graphical analysis shows: Ghani's second round numerical victory was brought about by finding 1.3 million new votes and depositing them in key spots. By Renard Sexton
Human Rights in Azerbaijan: Chronicles of a Crackdown Published: 25 August 2014 Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus has been arrested in Baku. The regime’s savage crackdown on press and opposition started long before the presidential elections of 2013. By Nino Lejava
Indian Union Budget: an Oportunity Lost Published: 4 August 2014 It was eagerly anticipated, if the maiden budget of the newly elected Modi government could steer the Indian economy from the morass where it had been deposited by the previous government. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than a solid middle of the road budget, says Awani Tevari. By Avani Tewari
How your innocent Smartphone passes on almost your entire Life to the Secret Service Published: 30 July 2014 Intelligence services collect metadata on the communication of all citizens. Politicians would have us believe that this data doesn’t say all that much. A guy from the Netherlands put this to the test and demonstrated otherwise: metadata reveals a lot more about your life than you think. By Dimitri Tokmetzis
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yuri Andrukhovych receive the Hannah-Arendt-Prize 2014 Published: 24 July 2014 The Hannah-Arendt-Prize for Political Thought, which is awarded by the City of Bremen and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, is endowed with 10,000 Euro in 2014. The Prize is awarded to people who in their thought and deeds courageously accept the challenge of public intervention.