International Policy

No parliamentary elections in Slovakia have ever caused so much surprise, consternation and dismay as those held on 5 March 2016. The results can be readily characterised as shocking.

Following peaceful protests against a contested third term of the president, violence has once again escalated in Burundi. Efforts to end the crisis will continue to fail if they ignore the country’s history and its political landscape.

The annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the launch of a hybrid war against Ukraine was Russia’s answer to the revolution triggered by Euromaidan. The conflict continues to pose fundamental challenges for the European Union, and raises the question of whether the EU will maintain its commitment to the political and economic consolidation of those of its Eastern neighbours which aim to make sovereign choices based on the rule of law and democracy.

Ukraine presents a crucial challenge for the EU, as well as an opportunity to prove its ‘transformative power’ and its ability to protect its goals and interests in the neighbourhood.

Some Turkish analysts and international observers believe the AKP has little reason to change its policies after obtaining a strong mandate from the public. Erdoğan will be uncompromising on Syria and opposed to el-Sissi. 

Triggered by Russia’s push to turn the military tide in Syria in Assad’s favor, Washington D.C. is currently seeing renewed debates about the need to revise the administration’s Syria policy. Prominent voices, such as former White House Coordinator for the Middle East Phil Gordon, have advocated for striving for a negotiated interim solution in Syria that defers the question of Assad’s fate. Bente Scheller, hbs office director in Lebanon, addresses some of the underlying myths and arguments shaping the current debate.  

The Gezi protests have given new, sustainable boost the LGBTIQ movement in Turkey. The history of the movement, however, the begins at the latest in the beginning of the last century.

The world needs a framework for global migration governance. Inaction means no more and no less than moral and political failure to address one of the most pressing issues of our time.

The European Union needs a humane refugee policy. Find here the declaration of leading politicians of the German Green party.

In the aftermath of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action a heated debate has erupted in the United States. Our interview with Barbara Slavin sheds light on the pros and cons of the nuclear agreement.