Asia

The 21st century has inherited the unfinished agenda of globalising democracy in a more vibrant form. In many instances there is a feeling of unease about the achievement of representative democracy because of the ongoing tendency of democratic nations to exclude or marginalise large sections of society. After 65 years of freedom and democracy India’s democratic structures continue to be restricted by their patriarchal foundations and women still fail to enjoy full and equal citizenship right across the country.

India will be witnessing a revival of communalism in the 2014 general elections, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, the Hindu nationalists party) making a decided pitch for power with their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The so called Hindutva agenda seeking to establish a theocratic state is being given a decisive push with the BJP hoping to divide the electorate along religious lines, and thereby consolidating the majority Hindu vote in its favour.

The recent local elections in India and the upcoming general electionhave opened up for speculation and debate on the role of smaller state-based regional parties. This article analyses how regionalism shapes India's political system.

The “rise” of regional political parties seems to be an eternal theme on the Indian political scene. The exponential increase in the number of parties contesting elections, particularly over the past two decades, and the shrinking margins of victory in parliamentary elections are direct results of the emergence of new regional power centers.

Emerged from an anti-corruption movement, the Aam Aadmi Party has made a spectacular entrance into Indian politics and challenged the rules of Indian politics.

In the late spring or the early summer of 2014 India will conduct its sixteenth general election. The battle lines between the two principal, national political parties, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are now being drawn.

The country’s natural resources, especially its abundance of water, could bring great benefits to the Afghans – but only if the right conditions can be achieved. A summary of "Afghanistan's Transition in the Making?"

Even though Afghanistan has a long track record of ballot stuffing, electoral fraud, and general impunity for well-connected and well-armed lawbreakers, there are limits to the lengths to which a candidate may go in seeking victory. To win in an Afghan election, one must engage in large scale vote-buying, collusion or corruption.

Afghanistan is on its way to becoming a forgotten and irritating issue. Nevertheless, we should think again about how it all began and to what extent the expectations in the military intervention of 2001 have been fulfilled.

The international community will play an important but secondary role in Afghanistan’s future as Afghans work to create a more sustainable state through strengthening their political consensus, , building their economy, and increasing security.

The country’s natural resources, especially its abundance of water, could bring great benefits to the Afghans – but only if the right conditions can be achieved. A summary of "Afghanistan's Transition in the Making?"

The opposition in Thailand continues to occupy Bangkok. The protests have been accompanied by widespread rumors of a coup as well as social tensions. Elaine Haller from our office in Bangkok analyzes the reasons for the escalation of the events.

Women parliamentarians from all political parties under the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) adopted a historic declaration to protect and preserve the provisions of reserved seats for women in the national assembly, senate and the provincial assemblies in Pakistan. It also urges upon the political parties to select women on direct elections and to increase their representation on leadership positions within political parties and other political forums.

Pakistan has been hit by one of the worst natural disasters in its history as massive floods inundated large parts of its territory. Like many international organizations, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s regional office in Pakistan along with its partner local organizations immediately responded to the challenge to help Pakistanis cope up with the disastrous humanitarian situation caused by floods. Our organization has responded in two phases, supported by the German Ministry of Development Cooperation.

In July Pakistan was hit by a flood crisis of unexpected dimension. Against this background, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung initiated a dialog with Pakistani and German representatives from politics, academics and the NGO sector on political and economic impacts of the flood and on current needs and challenges.

This launching of the study organized by Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Pakistan, is the first activity of the Working Series on Women Religion and Politics. The other activity includes national and international conferences which shall be held in the year 2010-11. However, publications are also envisioned in order to successfully accomplish the aim of the working series.

On April 8th, US-President Obama signed an agreement on nuclear missile reduction with the Russian President Medvedev. The reduction of the two largest nuclear arsenals is an important step to the future success of a global non-proliferation regime. The agreement comes in time for the US Nuclear Summit and upon the eve of the UN negotiations on the future of the non-proliferation treaty.

Born in 1960 in Peshawar, the Northwestern Frontier Province of Pakistan, Imtiaz Gul has covered Afghanistan/Tribal Areas/Kashmir militancy extensively since 1988 and traveled the length and breadth of the mentioned areas. Gul's Afghanistan travels brought him in contact with a number of Pakistani officials from different departments and agencies to trace and analyze Pakistan's involvement with different Afghan factions.

In nuclear-armed Pakistan, everyday cities plunge into darkness and factories grind to a halt for several hours as the electricity goes out. Some Pakistanis look towards importing nuclear reactors as a solution.

Based on the analysis of Pakistan’s current environmental and economic state, the paper outlines concrete challenges caused by climate change. Pakistan, as a developing country, has higher incidences of poverty and the country is facing a number of problems.