This second issue of "Perspectives Asia" provides a forum for the voices of authors from various Asian countries to express their thoughts on possible development models for the region. How can we achieve prosperity for all, without doing long-term damage to nature or threatening the subsistence of entire populations?

While legal entitlements to equality and justice for women have been achieved over the years, a persistent gender-bias in the administration of justice prevents those hard-won successes from becoming a reality. This issue of Perspectives provides insight into some country-specific challenges and controversies.

As Turkey enters into a period of elections, Perspectives analyzes the strategies of main political actors and emphasizes the role of urban politics for the municipal elections in March 2014. The Democracy section is supported by two extensive articles on the foreign policy of Turkey and cultural politics of the Gezi Protests.

Publication Series of the Gunda Werner Institute 10: In post-war periods and in the aftermath of serious, systematic human rights violations, gender-based forms of violence are usually forgotten during the processing of the past and reconciliation phase. This study details these problems and presents the resulting challenges facing politicians and society.

Millions of Syrians have fled their homes, either inside the country itself or sometimes very far from home. The magazine highlights some key aspects of the Syrian refugee problem through those affected who are living this tragedy.  

Study „Biofuels: Effects on Global Agricultural Prices and Climate Change“ by Harald Grethe, Andre Deppermann und Sandra Marquardt, Universität Hohenheim.

More than twenty years have passed since the historic handshake between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in Washington D.C. The authors in this volume look at the Oslo years from various angles, including political, legal and economic aspects.

This report summarizes the general content of each keynote presentation and conference stream of the conference "Economics and the Common(s): From Seed Form to Core Paradigm", with verbatim excerpts of the more interesting aspects of the proceedings.

We prepared this issue for highlighting ongoing reforms in the field of rural development and agriculture in Turkey. Gökhan Günaydın, Abdullah Aysu and Sibel Caşkurlu are some of the authors who contribute in our feature articles section.

Publication Series on Democracy 34: Inter* individuals are socially barely visible worldwide, since intersex is still a strong taboo. This study names the largely invisible discrimination against intersex individuals and, in doing so, brings it to light.