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Public outrage over the imprisonment of Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi has born first fruits. In 2014, the 31-year-old internet activist was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with 1,000 lashes. Thanks to international outcry, the flogging was recently suspended. As the media uproar fades,…

Twenty-five years ago, German reunification ushered in an era of expansion of Western institutions (NATO and the European Union) toward the East. The current Russia-Ukraine conflict marks the definitive end of this period. With its annexation of Crimea, the Russian government made clear that it will…

The ongoing Ukraine crisis has further politicized Russian energy trade with Europe and added a geopolitical dimension to already strained Eurasian gas relations. Fearing natural gas interruptions and Moscow’s political influence, Europe’s leaders are keen to phase out Russian gas. But Europe will…

Following the 2015 report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, chaired by the former South African President Thabo Mbeki, there has been much greater awareness across Africa of the magnitude of illicit financial flows and their implications. Now, more than ever,…

Back in September 2000, 192 states assembled at the United Nations to adopt the Millennium Declaration, a framework for accelerating the development and security of poorer countries. However, while the importance of human rights and good governance for development featured prominently in chapter V…

The transformation of the BRIC acronym from an investment term into a household name of international politics and, more recently, into a semi-institutionalized political outfit (called BRICS, with a capital ‘S’), is one of the defining developments in international politics in the past decade.…

It is not without irony that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided an asylum case involving a former US army soldier with the surname “Shepherd” at the same time US pop culture celebrates a film built around a metaphor of protecting sheep. In Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper, we…

This interview was conducted by Mirko Hohmann and Joel Sandhu for the the Global Governance Futures 2025 program which brings together young professionals to look ahead and recommend ways to address global challenges. MH & JS: Akiko, you were personally involved in the UN climate change negotiations…

The increasingly prosperous, mighty and assertive China is arguably the most powerful country blocking democracy today. In addition to withholding democratic rights of one-fifth of the world's population, authoritarian China represents an alternative development model that has gained significant…

A new report published by the United States Institute of Peace sheds some light on the inner failings of one of the most critical security institutions in Yemen: Yemeni prisons. Although Yemen is often in the headlines because of security crises or threats emanating from its territory, less is known…

Thomas Thiel interviews Wolfgang Reinicke, GPPi president and founding dean of the School of Public Policy at Central European University. Mr. Reinicke, you recently started accepting applications for the Global Challenges Fellowship program (GCF) for non-Western researchers at Central European…

Angola Since the Civil War Based on three years of research in and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, Magnificent and Beggar Land is the definitive account of the fast-changing dynamics of this important yet misunderstood African state; a major exporter of oil, minerals and other raw…