The 5th World Water Forum took place in Istanbul from 16-22 March, 2009. The legitimacy of the World Water Forum is being seriously questioned by a number of non-governmental organisations. This dossier takes up the question of water and justice.

NATO’s intervention in Afghanistan shows that the alliance has no choice but to co-operate with other multinational organisations, as well as major and regional powers in order to earn respect and legitimacy.

Issue 01/2009 of Perspectives discusses current migration dynamics in Southern Africa from a human rights perspective.

When emerging Asia’s boom turned to bust in 1997, Thailand was famously on the vanguard of the regional collapse. Now with the United States and Europe repeating several of those same mistakes - albeit on a larger and more expensive scale – Thailand’s post-1997 crisis experience is back in the spotlight.

Who could have predicted that the subprime crisis, which exploded in mid-2007 in the U.S., would bring a recession to the Western Balkans in 2009? Especially since we knew that the financial sectors in the Balkan economies did not deal at all with toxic assets – those derivatives connected to subprime mortgages.

It is not even spring yet but 2009 is already being termed a recession year. The global financial crisis hit the real economy everywhere and stimulus packages are frantically being thrown together. The pressure for change is rising on the “construction sites” of globalisation.

This week the Berlinale presented four movies from a South African project called "Filmmakers Against Racism", which is supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Producer Don Edkins, whose film "Taxi to the Dark Side" was awarded an Oscar in 2008, talks in an interview about the initiative and xenophobia in South Africa.

Experts from Afghanistan, Pakistan and German and international scientists, politicians and journalists outline challenges for the stabilisation process in the region.

NATO alone cannot stretch far enough to tackle the challenges we face. It must also be able to connect better with others. And if NATO is to both stretch and connect, its members will need to supplement static territorial defence with societal resilience and - a particular challenge for Germany - to develop the expeditionary capabilities necessary to enable NATO to act effectively.

The Czech EU Presidency was thrown right into the middle of the war in Gaza. And Czech politicians stumbled. Unlike the majority of their colleagues from Western Europe, who condemned Israel’s actions as disproportionate, the Czech prime and foreign ministers initially blamed Hamas for the conflict.