Articles

Turkey after the Parliamentary Elections. Back to Normal?

With its clear victory in Turkey’s parliamentary elections of July 22 this year, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has established a solid basis for continuing its work. These early elections, which enabled the AKP to increase its already high share in the vote even further, were triggered by the failure of the preceding presidential elections in which the foreign minister, Abdullah Gül, himself a member of the AKP, stood for office, causing vehement protest among laicist-minded Turks because of his close links with Islamism.

What is the good of the ECOWAS?

The ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, was founded in 1975 as an association of 15 West African states, its objective being to step up the development of its members by close economic and political cooperation. The results have so far been sobering. According to certain studies, many resolutions are taken but few are implemented. Yet this is not the entire truth, for there is progress as well: A free trade area has been established, intra-regional passenger transport has been facilitated, infrastructural measures have been realised, a mechanism for conflict resolution has been initiated, the question of the community’s income has been solved, and a functional court of justice has become reality.

Desperate People in the City. Shanghai and the Phenomenon of Migration

The 'Wai-di-ren', the migrant workers of which there are five million in Shanghai alone, are not least among those to whom China's soaring megacities owe thanks for their palaces made of glass and steel. For 30 to 100 Euros a month, they cook, wash, clean, repair, and build. The jobs they do are called '3-d jobs' – dirty, dangerous, and demanding. When the migration to the cities began in 1989, the People's Republic of China saw itself confronted with its greatest social challenge ever: Adding to the already-large army of migrants who have no permanent home, 200 million of so-called vagrants go on moving from place to place, working for a meagre wage which has to feed the entire family. Social distortions are increasing; the income gap is widening.

Editorial der Ausgabe: "Auslandsinformationen 7/2007"

In der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit nimmt die Forderungnach guter Regierungsführung eine zunehmendbedeutende Rolle ein. Sie ist auch Kernbestandteildes neuenKriterienkatalogs des BMZ, derseit Januar diesen Jahres die Unterstützung für Entwicklungs-und Schwellenländer künftig stärker ander Einhaltung dieser Kriterien orientiert. Die Sicherungguter Regierungsführung ist aus meiner Sichtohne die Etablierung demokratischer Rahmenbedingungennachhaltig nicht möglich. Deshalb mussDemokratieförderung ein integraler Bestandteil desKonzepts von Good Governance sein.

Italy in Transition

When, one and a half decades ago, shortly after the end of the Cold War, the Democrazia Cristiana made its exit from Italy's political stage, a period of transition began for the country. Now, under Romano Prodi, Italy seems to return to a state of chronic instability which recalls exactly those old days. Is the country lost to progress?

Measuring Democracy. Developments and Examples from Latin America

Entwicklungen und Beispiele aus Lateinamerika

Gone are the times when rankings and ratings were used as tools of measurement and identification only in the world of sports and business. Today, there are many walks of life in which we meet multifarious phenomena that call for systematic quantitative and differentiated identification and categorisation. Democratisation is one of these phenomena. Constant attempts are made to identify differences in its level and 'measure' its quality by diverse criteria, such as corruption, the freedom of the press, and governance.

Parteien in jungen Demokratien

Die Entwicklung in Kenia vor den Wahlen im Dezember 2007

Im Vorfeld der für Ende 2007 geplanten Präsidentschafts- und Parlamentswahlen stehen sich in Kenia zwei politische Kräftegruppen, NARC-K und ODM-K, gegenüber, hinter denen sich jedoch eine vielfältigere Landschaft von Parteien verbirgt, die in ihrer Gesamtheit keinen ideengeschichtlichen Hintergrund haben, schwach institutionalisiert sind und kaum eigene inhaltliche Positionen zu erkennen geben.

Political Parties and Their Societal Roots in Ghana

Early in March of this year, Ghana celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, pleased with the pioneering role it had taken up among the sub-Saharan states in the fight against colonial rule. Much has happened since then. When, early in the 1990s, the country set out on the path towards democratisation, the former opposition party NPP became the strongest force, and its candidate, John Agyekum Kufuor, prevailed over the former dictator, Jerry John Rawlings.

All That Glitters Is Not Gold: Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Mali

Präsidentschafts- und Parlamentswahlen in Mali

Ecuador is Moving Away from Democracy