Stories Archive | Page 61 of 87

Analyses

For decades, Latin America’s authoritarian regimes were seen as a right-wing phenomenon, with Cuba as the lone exception — a dictatorship born not from a betrayal of democracy, but of revolution. As Washington’s embargo returns to the headlines, this piece asks what that framing has long obscured: that Cuba has never had just one embargo, but two.

Human Rights
Securitization in the Gulf, narrowed Freedoms not only in Saudi Arabia
Eleonora Ardemagni 6 November 2018

Regional polarization, coupled with domestic problems and/or daring economic processes resulted into a more securitized Gulf, where citizens have higher expectations vis-à-vis states’ duties and their own prerogatives, but civil freedom remain a top-down matter: when regime security juxtaposes with national security, human security always loses.
International Affairs, Society
Secularists and Ennahda, how the Tunisian Laboratory is Changing
Federica Zoja 3 November 2018

A year ahead of legislative and presidential elections, Tunisian politics appears to be in a period of intense upheaval. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed’s position has been wavering for months. Meanwhile, the economic malaise of the population deepens by the day.
Human Rights
Blasphemy, Asia Bibi’s Death Sentence Acquitted
31 October 2018
Human Rights, International Affairs
Europe’s Mistakes and the Rise of Turkish Ethno-Nationalism. Interview with Nilüfer Göle
Luca Steinmann 30 October 2018

Nilüfer Göle, is a well-known Turkish sociologist based in Paris. In the last 30 years she has been dealing with the development of the Islamic religion in Europe. Her studies are mainly concentrated on the disputes about the presence of islam in the European public space.
International Affairs
Why are Indian Farmers Marching against the Government of Narendra Modi
Floriane Bolazzi 18 October 2018

At the origins of the anger of the Indian farmers is a complex combination of deep agrarian crisis coupled with a lack of opportunity outside of farming sectors. The feelings of injustice are compounded by a sense of exclusion from Narendra Modi’s India Shining campaign since 2014. Now, in the run-up to national elections in 2019, peasants’ demands generally enjoy public sympathy and widespread support — instilling some fears of a possible upset within the ruling party.
International Affairs
How the “Hezbollah Model” is penetrating Syria
Luca Steinmann 12 October 2018

The Syrian war seems to slowly be reaching its end and Assad’s regime may no longer require a strong military presence of foreign fighters on its soil. But what about the welfare system those foreign fighters have helped establish? Would it also disappear with the retreat of Shiites militias? If so, then the government will remain interested in having Hezbollah on its territory to support its very delicate attempts to mend the deep fractures that the war created inside the Syrian society.
International Affairs
The Middle East Chessboard and the Clash between Lebanese and Syrian Christians
Luca Steinmann 5 October 2018

The political rift between Christians is an element of powerful destabilisation for the entire region.
International Affairs
China’s Growing Economic Role in Algeria
Gianni Del Panta 25 September 2018

In contrast to European strategies of one century ago, Chinese influence in Africa does not take place via military campaigns or colonization. By contrast, pointing to economic and, above all, infrastructural projects Chinese leaders describe their model as a win-win cooperation.
Society
3 Ideas of Europe Are Failing, but a New One Can Rise
Ivan Krastev 21 September 2018

Seventy years ago, Europe managed miraculously to turn the destruction of World War II into the foundation of its peace project. It succeeded at turning the antiestablishment anger of 1968 into political progress. It succeeded in less than two decades at uniting a Europe divided by 50 years of Cold War. If Europe has managed to turn so many failures into success, one can certainly hope that it will achieve the same miracle again today.
Society
The Tv-Web-Groundwork Trinity: Matteo Salvini’s Neo-Trumpian Propaganda
Martino Mazzonis 18 September 2018

The 45-year old Matteo Salvini has led the Lega through its metamorphosis from a regional-localist-pro EU party and key ally of Silvio Berlusconi, into a nationalist, anti-European and xenophobic parliamentary block whose strength seems likely to keep growing through next year’s European elections.