International Reports 5/2009

Ausgabe 5-6/2009 der Auslandsinformationen der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

by Gerhard Wahlers

It was evident even in the run-up to the presidential elections of June 12 that Iran was facing a decision about its political orientation. After two former presidents, Mr. Rafsandjani and Mr. Khatami, had tried to open up Iran both politically and economically, Mr. Ahmadinejad went into reverse, uttering polemics against the West and suppressing the freedom of opinion as well as the opposition.

by Oliver Ernst

On June 27 this year, when demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran to vent their fury at the official result of the recent parliamentary elections, the foreign secretaries of NATO and their Russian counterpart, Mr Lavrov, decided to resume work in the NATO-Russia Council. NATO’s leaders have come to appreciate by now that suspending activities was a mistake; it has become clear that solving security-policy problems is impossible without involving the Russian side.

by Thomas Kunze, Lars Peter Schmidt †

Rafael Correa´s Political Projekt Between Pretention and Reality

52 percent of the electorate confirmed Rafael Correa as Ecuador’s head of state on April 26th this year. The losers of the presidential elections in the Andean state are Lucio Gutiérrez of the Partido Sociedad Patriótica (PSP) at 28.2 and Alvaro Noboa of the Partido Renovador Institucional Acción Nacional (PRIAN) at 11.4 percent. Charges of electoral fraud as well as technical errors have so far delayed the announcement of the composition of the future Asamblea Nacional in Quito.

by Berthold Weig

On May 3 of this year, the Panamanians elected their next president, their next parliament, the members of the corregimientos – the lowest tier in the country’s administrative hierarchy – and Panama’s representatives in the Central American Parliament. At nearly 60 percent of the vote, the outstanding winner of the presidential election was Ricardo Martinelli of the Cambio Democrático (CD).

by Karl-Dieter Hoffmann

India’s new parliament was elected from April 16 to May 13 this year. The contest for representation on the Lok Sabah, the lower house of India, was joined by nine national, 47 state and 500 minor and/or regional parties. 714 million Indians were called upon to cast their vote on a total of five days. The strongest party to emerge with 206 seats in parliament was Congress (INC), which now forms the government. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came in second.

by Beatrice Gorawantschy, Martin-Maurice Böhme

On May 24 of this year, the Mongolians elected their next president. A total of 1.5 million registered voters had to choose between two candidates: the current incumbent, N. Enkhbayar of the Mongolian Revolutionary People’s Party (MRPP), and his challenger, Ts. Elbegdorj, who was standing for an opposition alliance consisting of the Democratic Party (DP), the Civil Will Republican Party (CWRP), and the Civic Alliance Party (Greens).

by Thomas Schrapel

There are several reasons why Africa should endeavour to improve its competitiveness: to begin with, Africans are not competing against each other for shares in the global market; rather, the continent as a whole should strive to secure its position on the global export and service markets. In this context, it is important to know not only what is happening in one’s own neighbourhood but also what strategies are being pursued by other countries.

by Greg Mills

An Agenda for a Competitive Africa

Today, the only way a country can suffer real injustice at the hands of the global economy is by being excluded from it. Reforming for competitiveness has thus emerged as a leading African priority. There is no one path to a competitive economy. But all countries that aspire to a future beyond aid must diagnose and remedy the shortcomings that limit their participation in global trade.