International Reports 5/2006 - International Reports

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International Reports 5/2006

Issue 5 | June 2, 2006

China and the European Union: Ambivalent Relations / Problems and New Challenges in East and Southeast Asia / The Reconciliation between Germany and Poland / The Saudian Kingdom after Transition / Indigenous People in Ecuador. Living between Institutional Influence and Street Fighting / Magic, Vitality, and Tristesse in the Barcelona of the Early Franco Era

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China and the European Union: Ambivalent Relations

by Pierre Baudin
Problems and New Challenges in East and Southeast Asia

It appears that Asia and particularly China, India, and Japan have a claim on the future. There is no denying that large portions of east and southeast Asia as well as, to an increasing extent, India are rising swiftly in the political and economic sphere of the world.

by Manfred Mols
The Reconciliation between Germany and Poland

The Vision of Europe Seen from the Perspectives of John Paul II and Benedict XVI

Communism would not have collapsed in Europe had it not been for Solidarnosc (solidarity), Lech Walesa, and, not to forget, the Polish pope. For Europe, the 21st century began at the Gdansk Lenin Shipyard; for Germany, the present began when the Wall came down at the Brandenburg Gate.

by Bernhard Vogel
The Saudian Kingdom after Transition

Slumbering Giant or Powerless Great Power?

On August 1, 2005, Fahd Bin Abd al Aziz, the king of Saudi Arabia, died. Since it had been known for a long time that the monarch was in bad health, his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdallah, had taken over the business of government as early as 1995. Immediately after the death of the head of state became known, Abdallah was appointed his successor. Prince Sultan, another half-brother of the deceased as well as of the new ruler, became minister of defence.

by Babak Khalatbari, Marawan Abou-Taam
Indigenous People in Ecuador. Living between Institutional Influence and Street Fighting

Zwischen institutioneller Einflussnahme und Straßenkampf

In Ecuador, political daily routine has for a long time been characterized by road blockades, protest marches, and uprisings of the indigenous population. In March of this year, the indígenas organized violent demonstrations to express their protest against the policy of the Palacio government. Most of the 14 indigenous ethnics groups registered in the South American country, which make up 30 to 40 percent of the total population, live close to the subsistence level.

by Nina Schierstaedt
Magic, Vitality, and Tristesse in the Barcelona of the Early Franco Era

Lizard Tails arguably is one of the most gripping novels of Barcelona-born Juan Marsé in which he, as in his earlier narratives, perpetuates the memory of his Catalan hometown in literature. The novel is set in the Barcelona of 1945, a metropolis marked by the traces of poverty, hunger, and dictatorship; a city in which the henchmen of the regime chase their opponents, and life and survival are impossible without sacrifice.

by Benedikt M. Helfer