The Heinrich Böll Stiftung is a German foundation and part of the Green political movement that has developed worldwide as a response to the traditional politics of socialism, liberalism, and conservatism. Our main tenets are ecology and sustainability, democracy and human rights, self-determination and justice. We place particular emphasis on gender democracy, meaning social emancipation and equal rights for women and men. We are also committed to equal rights for cultural and ethnic minorities. Finally, we promote non-violence and proactive peace policies. To achieve our goals, we seek strategic partnerships with others who share our values. Our namesake, Heinrich Böll, personifies the values we stand for: protection of freedom, civic courage, tolerance, open debate, and the valuation of art and culture as independent spheres of thought and action.

This report examines OECD “core documents” to assess whether the organisation’s advice promotes coherence among economic, social and environmental policies as they relate to infrastructure investment and concludes that OECD policy advice on infrastructure investment lacks coherence for sustainable development.

Air traffic must become climate neutral and more environmentally friendly. With the publication Aloft – An Inflight Review the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Airbus Group want to provide important insights into the current state of technological developments and the political debate surrounding the sustainable future of flying.

This report summarises the key evidence which must be considered about BECCS. It looks at the overwhelmingly destructive impacts of existing large-scale bioenergy production and use and the implications of massively scaling it up, as would be required for a global BECCS programme.

In Afghanistan civil society organizations, youth groups and networks were founded over the last years to consolidate democracy and endeavor to push forward their participation in politics and society. The Contact Group which is an umbrella these organizations designed a strategic plan about their work in 2016 an 2017.

Satire may not necessarily change politics but, as most articles in this edition illustrate, it is a powerful tool to undermine propaganda, expose abuses of power, and ridicule cultural and social taboos.

The democratic environment over the last decade provided a crucial opportunity for civil and political activities in Afghanistan in which not only political parties but also civil society organizations, youth groups and networks were founded to consolidate democracy and endeavor to push forward their participation in politics and society.

With this edition of Perspectives, the Heinrich Böll Foundation explores some of the approaches and instruments that communities and their NGO partners have developed to create room for community-centred stakeholder participation, and to champion community interests and rights.

In April 2015 Burundi’s ruling party announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza would be seeking a third term in office. The following day protests against the regime began. Since that day hundreds of civilians, military and security personnel have died. This paper examines the trajectory closely and explains the background of the crisis.

In this action research project, experiences with quota designs, challenges and achievements of quota parliamentarians, in terms of substantive representation, are reviewed in Afghanistan. The focus lies on the concept of political patriarchy, that is, an androcentric to sometimes even misogynist political configuration in relation to (i) power relations, (ii) socio-political culture and gender roles prescriptions, (iii) institutional setups, practices and discourses.