International Reports 8/2011

Alarming images are emerging from southern Somalia, where millions of people are starving. Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991. The population is suffering under the combined effects of a bloody civil war and recurring famines. A military solution alone could not solve the problems in Somalia. The acts of piracy off the region's coasts and the acts of terrorism on the mainland must be tackled via development policy measures.

by Gerhard Wahlers

The Somali Shabaab militias over the recent years have adopted a much more focused terror strategy which is aimed at the international community. To do this they are using young people from the West, who they recruit either via the Internet or through their global networks. The aim of their strategy is to indoctrinate and radicalise them so that they will spread Shabaab propaganda or even become suicide bombers. This strategy increases the danger of terrorist attacks in the West. Dirk Baehr

by Dirk Baehr

From the Holy Leaves to a Political Curse

The drug industry in Peru is dominated by cocaine. It has deeply rooted itself into the country that is the second largest producer of cocaine worldwide. Despite this fact, drug trafficking remains hidden from public view and is seen as a secondary problem.

by Mathias Mäckelmann

Another Triumphal Success for the AKP

The AKP was the triumphant winner during the parliamentary elections on the 12th June 2011. The party, ruling since 2002, has managed for a third time in a row to achieve the absolute majority and govern alone. Their chairman, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is by far the most popular Turkish politician. At present there are no serious contesters, neither in the opposition nor in his party. This gives him a large political leeway, but it also bears the danger of an increasing concentration of power.

by Jan Senkyr

Prerequisites, Positions and Expectations Before the Meeting of the UN General Assembly

The Palestinians are planning to apply to the United Nations (UN) in September 2011 for membership and for recognition as a state. According to Mahmoud Abbas, negotiations with Israel to try to find a solution to their final status however still are a priority. Still, the Palestinians feel that now is the time for them to move the conflict away from the purely political international stage and into the legal arena. Now they are trying to go down the route of international law.

by Felix Dane, Ilona-Margarita Stettner

Kim Jong Il has been heading North Korea since 1994. Ever since 2008, however, there have been increasingly more rumours about his bad health, reinforced further by the official promotion of his son Kim Jong Un into a high military and government position. Since 2010 Kim Jong Un is considered to be the official successor of his father nationally and internationally. How real is this succession, and will the DPRK open up under his regime?

by Colin Dürkop, Yeo Min-Il