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The Internet in Iran

Touchpad of the Revolution

Media scholar Marcus Michaelsen's study about the role played by the Internet in the Iranian reform movement shows that blogging for regime change is a serious business. The resulting book is no Facebook thriller, but the story of blanket media suppression at national level. By Sarah Schaschek
The civil war in Syria

When minorities become pawns in a power game

The Assad clan is exploiting the multi-religious composition of Syria and holding its minorities in a fatal grip of dependency. By Haid N. Haid and Bente Scheller
Presidential election in Tunisia

The temptations of the gentle restoration

Stability and security, rather than revolutionary turbulence and Islamist experiments: the good showing by veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi in the first round of Tunisia's recent presidential election can be read as a desire for a revival of the Bourguiba era. An analysis by Beat Stauffer
After the first free parliamentary elections in Tunisia

New horizons or back to square one?

Does the election victory of Nidaa Tounes mean a return to old mechanisms, cronyism and entrenched power structures? Or will the political alliance of convenience succeed in setting a new course for Tunisia's future, fostering socially acceptable compromises and swiftly tackling urgently required economic reforms? By Isabel Schäfer
Death Penalty in Tunisia

On the Way to Class Justice

The death penalty has not been carried out in Tunisia since the early 1990s. But there are still prisoners on death row to this day. In their book "The Siliana Syndrome", authors spotlight an issue that still represents a major social taboo. By Sarah Mersch
NGO report on the Jasmine Revolution and security in Tunisia

How to make the transition from dictatorship to democracy

Reform of the security system is one of the biggest challenges facing Tunisia – one that the country has not yet undertaken. But now the non-governmental organisation "Le Labo' Democratique" (The Democratic Lab) has released the first comprehensive analysis of the Jasmine Revolution and the security challenges faced by the country. Sarah Mersch was at the launch
The West and the Islamic world

The despotic temptation

Unable to contain the violence, suffering, and chaos engulfing the Middle East and North Africa, Western leaders are falling back into the Cold War trap. All they want is for someone – and now virtually anyone – to enforce order. By Ana Palacio
Political rule before and after the ″Arabellion″

Internal colonialism and counter-revolution

When an elite ruling class controls state institutions and resources and uses them for its own benefit, this can be called ″internal colonialism″. Such systems exist in their worst form in the Arab world. The Syrian author Louay Safi believes, however, that all signs indicate that the Arab peoples will rid themselves of this colonialism and that the repressive military regimes will be smothered by their own crimes and corruption
Popular unrest in the Middle East

Who says popular demand for change is off the agenda?

Recent protests in Beirut against government corruption and incompetence highlight a growing revival of non-violent dissent across the Middle East and North Africa. As well as an end to corruption, protesters in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon have been taking to the streets demanding improvement in basic public services such as waste management, accountability and transparency. By James M. Dorsey
Interview with Asma Jahangir, winner of the Right Livelihood Award

"Every restriction is based on religion"

This year, activist and human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir became the first woman from Pakistan to win the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the "alternative Nobel Prize"). She spoke to Roma Rajpal Weiss about the difficult circumstances facing human rights activists in Pakistan