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2.5.2017
According to recent reports, there are serious ongoing talks of Brazil requesting full membership to the OECD in the next couple of weeks. If this process does indeed go through, the country would be the largest emerging economy in the Organization, and the third in Latin America, following Mexico and Chile. This would also make Brazil the first of the OECD’s “Key Partners” – the others being China, India, South Africa, and Indonesia – to take the leap from the “Enhanced ...
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28.4.2017
The first round of the 2017 French presidential election has brought with it surprises and hopes. France will go to the second round of elections where the candidates of the main political parties from the right and the left will not be competing for the first time in the last 60 years. And it will probably have for the first time a young president, who has never held elected office and who does not have an organized political base. How has 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron ...
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11.4.2017
South Africa’s foreign policy contends that our national interests are better safeguarded by not just focusing on our own national interests, but broadly, on the interests of our region and our continent….as a member of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa bloc (BRICS) is playing an important role towards the shifting and distribution of power internationally. This shift is expected to give rise to a multi-polar world order. Nkosana-Mashabane, 2013 We must ...
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10.4.2017
If the recent US (59) missiles’ attack against Assad’s Al-Sharyat Air Base northwest of Damascus early April 7th is considered symbolic coming in response to deadly Syrian chemical attacks against innocent civilians then one would anticipate that no further attacks will be forthcoming. In short has the Syrian regime learned the painful lesson? A troubling question only time will tell if turns to be true. However, the news coming from Washington has indicated that if the ...
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31.3.2017
Turkey’s Syrian policy has undergone several shifts since late 2010 when the first popular revolts occurred against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. From the early stages of the crisis until the break with the Assad government in mid-2011, Ankara exerted great diplomatic effort to convince Damascus to introduce democratic reforms in favour of the opposition. However, Ankara’s attempts remained fruitless. After cutting off relations with Assad, Turkey openly supported the ...
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25.3.2017
The rift between Turkey and Europe is growing. From a Turkish perspective, Ankara’s long and winding quest to join the European Union, which began in 1987, has never been less likely than it is today. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has invoked Nazism in his criticism of his European counterparts. And a recent dispute between the Turkish government and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte over Turkish ministers campaigning in Rotterdam cast a shadow over the March 15 ...
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6.3.2017
Germany’s cooperation with rising powers is in our own interest – and also a goal in itself: only through cooperation can we create sufficient trust to engage in joint solution-seeking. We are increasingly engaging in a “world of uncertainties”, and thus need partners for problem-solving, both regionally and globally. There are hardly any reasons to engage in “traditional development cooperation” with rising powers, if we understand development ...
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5.3.2017
Is liberalism in retreat? And with it, are the related concepts of multilateralism, openness and democracy also in disarray? Is nationalism inimical to globalization? This set of issues preoccupies discourse in many fora currently, including the Tokyo Dialogue organized by the Genron NPO earlier this month. Views there were as divided as they are more generally. But I am also struck by how much room there is for a convergence in views when a dedicated attempt is made to ...
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18.2.2017
It’s all fine and good “to officially put Iran on notice” as Michael Flynn has affirmed. The rapidly escalating American punitive anti-Iranian measures came in response to both; an Iranian – missile test and in reaction to Houthi attack on a Saudi warship in Yemen. However, the main critical question centers on Trump’s Gulf geo-political approach whether it can embolden or disrupt the Gulf-Middle Eastern regional order? Washington under Trump will have to frame the main ...
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17.2.2017
The end of communism was heralded as a critical ‘juncture’ for the global diffusion of democracy. Three decades since, the record of democratic gains defies initial expectations. To be sure, democracy has become the end goal of regime change across regions previously infamous for boosting political alternatives- former Soviet territories, Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans and more recently the Middle East. By now, political parties, governing actors and civic groups ...
