Asset Publisher

Articles

Asset Publisher

The Philippines After the May 10, 2010 Elections

On May 10, 2010, elections were held in the Philippines. The president, vice president, the first chamber of parliament, half of the 24 senators (second chamber of parliament), the governors of the 80 provinces, and the mayors and council members of the cities and municipalities of the country were elected into office. Presidential elections take place every six years in a political system that is broadly modeled on the political system of its former American colonial ruling power. The presidential elections represent a decisive point in Filipino politics for the following reasons.

The Relations Between Great Britain and Reunified Germany

German reunification was viewed with skepticism in Great Britain, especially by the media. Since 1990 relations have repeatedly fluctuated between Great Britain and Germany. The causes for these fluctuations were the different administrations and their distinctive leaders, the influence of both their own and external perceptions of their countries, and above all the prospect of a political union in the form of the European project.

Union for the Mediterranean - Acknowledging Realities and Exploiting Opportunities

The foundation in July 2008 of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) has given rise to new creative opportunities to reshape multilateral European-Mediterranean relations.The occasion of UfM’s second anniversary has prompted the following questions: What effects has the union had? What should its future direction be? The author advises to acknowledge the lack of alternatives to regional and trans-regional cooperation.

“Nothing New in the South?” – Analytical Observations on the Conflict in the Southern Provinces of Thailand

It is now six years that the historic conflict has been going on in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, southern provinces of Thailand, and it has already caused more than 4,000 deaths. The beginning of the escalation dates to January 4th, 2004, when Muslim youths got away with nearly 400 machine guns in a barracks hijack. Since then, militant groups have been committing bomb attacks and aggressive acts almost on a daily basis in these three primarily Malay Muslim provinces.

A European Perspective on International Terrorism

Formulating a European perspective on international terrorism in 2010 is a difficult undertaking for various reasons. Initially, simply because – as all surveys illustrate – the citizens of the member states of the European Union don’t all perceive terrorism as a threat to the same degree. In states that have been directly affected by the activities of terrorist organizations, the awareness of public opinion with respect to the threats emanating from international terrorism for these states is far greater than in those states that have so far been unscathed by such attacks.

Afghanistan and Pakistan - A Paradigm Shift in the Fight Against Terrorism?

September 2001 can be seen as a historic turning point for Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is due firstly to the fact that the NATO Council passed resolutions citing Article 5 of the NATO Treaty of 4 April 1949 in response to severe terrorist attacks. This was a first in the history of the alliance. The creation of an International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in UN Security Council Resolution 1386 followed a short time later.

Al-Qaeda Organization in Yemen

The attempted terror attack on board a Northwest Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, 2009 was a wake up call for the international community. By claiming responsibility for the attack, al-Qaeda in Yemen clearly demonstrated that it would no longer limit its actions to the national “theater of operations” and that targets in the international arena were now within its reach.

Counter-Terrorism as a U.S. National Security Priority

In remarks given in January 2010, the U.S. State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism policy, Daniel Benjamin, declared that a critical test for anyone’s counterterrorism (CT) policy is “to see how they emerge from contact with a genuine terrorist event.” Perhaps not surprisingly, Benjamin gave relatively high marks to the Obama Administration of which he is a part, though he admitted that the “underwear bomber” episode of December 23, 2009 – which we shall discuss further below – showed that some of its most important “operating assumptions were no longer adequate”.

Editorial

International Reports 8/2010

The contributions in this issue argue how Germany and the West can appropriately engage in combating terrorism – from both European and transatlantic perspectives. Crucial in this respect are not only the international networks that threaten us from without, but also “homegrown terrorists” – those who radicalize within European societies. In Germany the spectacular case of the Sauerland Group demonstrated that a decisive political challenge lies at the interface of integration and internal security.

Fanatics in Our Midst: The Phenomenon of ‘Homegrown Jihadists’

“I had only been a Muslim for four months. But I knew my duty, I wanted to join the jihad. We followed the events in the jihad regions and watched films about how the mujaheddin fought against the crusaders. Hate grew in me”, wrote German jihad fanatic and convert Eric Breininger in his diary in 2007. These words sound strange coming from the mouth of a young man with a thoroughly western lifestyle.

Asset Publisher

About this series

International Reports (IR) is the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's periodical on international politics. It offers political analyses by our experts in Berlin and from more than 100 offices across all regions of the world. Contributions by named authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial team.

Ordering Information

Our periodical on international politics is published four times a year. We provide you with background information on what is happening in the world – free of charge. Use our registration form and with just a few clicks you can read the digital version of our political journal or order the print version in German or English.

Editor

Dr. Gerhard Wahlers

ISBN

0177-7521

Benjamin Gaul

Benjamin Gaul

Head of the Department International Reports and Communication

benjamin.gaul@kas.de +49 30 26996 3584

Dr. Sören Soika

Dr

Editor-in-Chief International Reports (Ai)

soeren.soika@kas.de +49 30 26996 3388

Rana Taskoparan

Rana Taskoparan

Referentin Kommunikation und Vermarktung

rana.taskoparan@kas.de +49 30 26 996 3623

Fabian Wagener

Fabian Wagener

Desk Officer for Multimedia

fabian.wagener@kas.de +49 30-26996-3943