Politics in the High North - International Reports

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Politics in the High North

Issue 5 | May 16, 2012

A country on the brink of a region? Germany’s Baltic Sea policies | Foreign-Policy Discussions in Sweden after 1990 – From Neutrality to NATO? | Iceland – a reluctant EU candidate | The Arctic Region – European Interests and European Policy in the High North | Indigenous Participation in LatinAmerica – The Gulf between Documented Rights and Everyday Reality | Poverty, Social Inequality and Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Latin America | Parliamentary Elections in Kazakhstan – Controversial Outcome, Uncontroversial President

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Politics in the High North

Editorial

In a few weeks time, Germany’s presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) will draw to a close. On 1 July, at the conclusion of the country’s twelve-month term of office, Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, will pass the baton to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, who will take over the rotating presidency on behalf of the Russian Federation.

by Gerhard Wahlers

Other Topics

A country on the brink of a region? Germany’s Baltic Sea policies

What is Germany’s interest in the Baltic Sea region (BSR) and regional cooperation? What are the country’s motivesand incentives? It seems that it is not that easy to answer these questions as certain contradictions in the German stance as well as contradictions in the perspectives on the region of the different actors and observers in Germany have been evident throughout the years.

by Tobias Etzold
Foreign-Policy Discussions in Sweden after 1990

From Neutrality to NATO?

Sweden’s foreign policy has undergone fundamental changes since 1990. Whilst having relied on neutrality both in foreign and security policy for almost two centuries, the country has actually been sending troops to NATO missions for quite some time. Nevertheless, Sweden has not become a full member of the military alliance to this day. The rapprochement with the West in the area of security policy has been progressing relatively steadily and smoothly since 1990. However, in public political discussion the change has been neither fast nor smooth.

by Carl Johan Blydal
Iceland – a reluctant EU candidate

Iceland submitted an application for membership to the European Union in a letter dated 16 July 2009, the same day the Icelandic Parliament, Althingi, passed a resolution empowering the Government to submit application, and, upon the completion of negotiations with the Union, to hold a national referendum on a prospective Treaty of Accession. But the Icelandic Government is split on the membership issue.

by Björn Bjarnason
The Arctic Region

European Interests and European Policy in the High North

The Arctic region is attracting more and more attention, due to the effects of climate change, the main trigger of developments. Its effects are of a larger scale than in other parts of the world. At the same time, those changes are affecting other regions, through rising sea levels on the one hand and consequences for adjacent regional climates on the other.

by Steffen Weber, Iulian Romanyshyn

Indigenous Participation in Latin America

The Gulf between Documented Rights and Everyday Reality

When Evo Morales of the Aymara people was elected President of Bolivia in 2005, the expectations of Bolivia’s indigenous population were running high. One of the reasons for Morales’ electoral success was his promise to involve indigenous people in government and to address their needs through his policies. In Europe, Morales was viewed as a shining light, with his rise to power and his policies being characterised as having almost mystical qualities. But after six years in office, this kind of euphoria is now all but forgotten.

by Susanne Käss
Poverty, Social Inequality and Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Latin America

One of the many things that the countries of Latin America have in common is their extreme social inequality. Nowhere else in the world is there more income inequality than in Latin America; nowhere else do the richest 10 per cent of the populous earn a greater proportion of total income; and nowhere else do the poorest 10 per cent earn a smaller share of the total aggregate income.

by Karl-Dieter Hoffmann
Parliamentary Elections in Kazakhstan

Controversial Outcome, Uncontroversial President

The Kazakh parliamentary elections of 15 and 16 January 2012 resulted in a clear victory for the ruling Nur Otan party headed by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s President. Whereas OSCE observers adjudged these elections to be undemocratic due to lack of transparency, election observers from the CIS described them as being open and transparent. But regardless of any assessment of these elections, the results will not have any impact on the forming of a new government or the future work of that government.

by Amos Helms