International Reports 7/2009

Ausgabe 7-8/2009 der Auslandsinformationen der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

by Gerhard Wahlers

At the end of June this year, Pope Benedikt XVI published his new social encyclical, ”Caritas in veritate”. Appearing in the age of globalization forty years after ”Populorum progressio”, it marks the Vatican’s return to the social question. Guided by the Catholic social doctrine, the document is intended to provide orientation in the face of the changes induced by globalization in the state, the markets, and civil society.

by Peter Molt

The degree to which the industrialized nations are committed to promoting the developing countries depends not only on their official development assistance (ODA) but also on other factors such as the opportunities enjoyed by the receiving countries with regard to foreign trade, direct investments, migration, and the protection of their environment and resources. Further factors include their own security requirements and their level of technological innovation.

by Paul Kevenhörster

Russia’s National Security Strategy until 2020 defines Russia as ’one of the key subjects within the reconfigured system of multipolar international relations’. At the end of the 20th century, it says, Russia has managed to hold its own against nationalism, separatism, and international terrorism while defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. On 17 pages, the document lists the dangers that are threatening Russia’s security. It also describes the country’s security interests as well as the priorities, objectives, and tools of its security policy.

by Aschot Manutscharjan

On World Press Freedom Day, about 200 journalists met in the Macedonian capital of Skopje in May 2009 to protest against unfair trials of journalists and pillory political pressure and the level of press freedom in general. To be sure, Macedonia’s constitution guarantees freedom of opinion and the press. Moreover, laws such as the electronic media act of 2005 and the radio act do allow a certain latitude for journalists. Yet problems remain: many media depend on the state, wages are low, journalist training is defective, and outrages against reporters are still happening.

by Dirk Förger, Vladimir Zlatarsky

A Clear Victory for the PRI - A Disaster for the PAN

When they elected their next house of representatives, the Mexicans dealt a crushing blow to the governing party, the Partido Acción Nacional: the PAN was unable to defend more than 143 of the 206 seats it had in the previous parliament. The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), which had been governing the country alone before 2000, increased the number of its MPs from 106 to 237, while the left-wing Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) retained 71 of 126 seats. The Greens, who had held 17 mandates before, won 22.

by Frank Priess

Colombia in the Year Before the Election

In the run-up to the parliamentary and presidential elections that are scheduled to take place successively in the spring of 2010, there is one question which agitates all Colombia: how will president Uribe secure his candidature for yet another time? The political parties feel uncertain because they lack this information, which is crucial for their campaign. A word from the president’s palace would be enough, but the head of state observes strict silence.

by Stefan Jost

Held on July 7 this year, the Lebanese parliamentary elections gave a boost to the ruling pro-Western ’coalition of March 14’. While 71 of the 128 seats in parliament went to the ’cedar revolution’, the opposition ’coalition of March 8’ only won 57. Moreover, the result is a personal triumph for the incoming prime minister Saad Hariri, a Sunnite, because it gave him a chance to step out of the shadow of his father Rafiq al-Hariri, the former prime minister who was murdered.

by Michael Däumer, Sebastian Grundberger, David Lüngen