The recent establishment of the New (BRICS) Development Bank has raised hopes for new approaches in development finance, while fears emerged that social and environmental standards may being weakened. A new study looks at the experience and past performance of BRICS countries in development financing.

Sexual and gender-based violence seems to be inherent in the surroundings of extractive projects. More than often, it is on the instruction of the mother companies in the global North that security forces commit atrocities and severe human rights violations in communities affected by extractive projects.

This Strategy Memorandum is a first attempt to survey the more significant realms of commons-based legal innovation occurring today.  Besides providing a rough inventory of more than sixty projects and theaters of legal innovation, David Bollier proposes that these disparate initiatives be conceptualized as a new strategic framing, “Law for the Commons.”

The fight against corruption in the Middle East and North Africa has gone through several ups and downs. Four years after the “Arab Spring”, when demands to eradicate corruption took center stage, we thought it is time to shed some light on the evolution of this issue in the MENA region.

Political discourse and action is coordinated more and more through Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp. This edition of Perspectives Africa capture the complex and plural ways in which Africans are attempting to use new media to democratice democracy on the continent, the challenges they face, and the valuable lessons learned.

This paper describes how the commons perspective, as a new framework for understanding knowledge, can contribute to some important, long-overdue EU policy discussions.

Women’s bodies have regularly been – and still are – the central target of conservative and fundamentalist ideology and praxis. This essay provides analytical background information for critical and controversial debates and motivation to explore political intervention.

On the occasion of the third UN-conference on "Finance for Development" in Addis Abbeba between 13-17 July the G20 Update discusses the predominant role of the G20 in relation to the UN-processes hold parallely. It also refers to a proposal of financial experts of SOMO: "Making financing for development more accountable? Proposals for strengthening corporate accountability in the Financing for Development ‘outcome document"

Armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — more commonly referred to as drones — have become a central pillar of the United States’ counterterrorism strategy. A number of European actors have expressed growing concern regarding the lack of transparency, accountability, and clarity surrounding the U.S. drone program. Read the joint conference report by hbs and the Stimson Center on this pressing issue here.