Demokratie International

Wei Chen dropped out of school and embarked to work at a construction site in Inner Mongolia. He stayed there for eight years: It was like living in a black-and-white film, he says – no colors, only desert.

On February 7 2015, a referendum "on protecting the family" to define marriage as a "unique union between one man and one woman" will be held in Slovakia. The article outlines how Slovak parties deal with the referendum.

The main victims in the fight to reach peace and security are young people. Nonetheless, in government decision making, the role of young politicians is negligible; this shows what the government’s motivations actually are.

Why leaving Afghanistan might be the preferred choice for the young and restless.

More than six million Syrian refugees are in search of a different, a safer place in their home country and yet only arrive at places that are currently slightly less ghastly.

“We were born to the world to be at home in it somewhere,” wrote the Hungarian author Áron Tamási. Yet not only the feeling of being at home, but also that of homelessness may be a common denominator among people who live in the same space – in the same cyberspace.

Since May this year, when I started writing this blog, I have started appreciating the strength of Indian democracy. As I followed the unraveling of the national elections, and thereafter the elections in various states of our country, I became acutely aware of the power of Indian voters and their ability to choose their own destiny in a peaceful and democratic manner.

There is still no trace of the students of Escuela Normal Rural of Ayotzinapa who disappeared towards the end of September. We spoke with María Luisa Aguila from the Tlachinollan Centre about the situation, the role of the Mexican government and the responsibility of the European Union in the Ayotzinapa case.

PM Modi faced its first stern test in the elections to the state assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana. Avani Tewari explains in the India-Blog why the Modi magic works.

What is the state of the caste monster in twentieth century India? Have the forms of discrimination and inequality altered? What is the experience of belonging to a less privileged caste?

An international conference on the situation of Syrian refugees has been arranged for 28th October in Berlin. Yet in view of the magnitude of the crisis, this is a mere drop in the ocean. Western states keep concentrating on ways to ease the symptoms of the crisis which they cannot gain control over without political underpinning.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation honors with the Petra Kelly Prize 2014 four human rights activists from the Violations Documentation Center in Syria. A laudatory for the prize winners by Petra Stienen.

With fewer reporters willing to enter the killing fields of Syria, the coverage of the conflict is dominated by ideological types, hack reporters and embeded correspondents.

The year 2014 was supposed to be a year of success stories for Fidesz in Hungary. But demonstrations against the internet tax have become a channel through which the people have been able to express their dissatisfaction.  

Narendra Modi campaigned on the slogan that “good days will soon happen”. His promised reforms did not happen yet. But it is too early to judge him.

Despite the poignant victory of Fidesz: The elections showed losses for all parties. Juhász Attila, analyst at Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute, explains why.

This year’s election is not the first fraudulent election the country has experienced. An assess of the structure of power and the behavior of Afghanistan's elites vis-à-vis democratic forms of power.

Local municipal elections will be held in Hungary on 12 October 2014. The most important question is how spectacular the gains of the far-right party Jobbik will be.

In his first Independence Day speech the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed himself as a master orator. And he projectet an unknown inclusive persona. Which isn't Modi's known public image so far.

The most important change underway in Ukraine is not in economics or politics. What changed during the Euromaidan is the consciousness of the Ukrainian people.