After 50 years of isolation Myanmar, formerly named Burma, is finally opening up to the outside world. According to the media the country is now welcoming tourists, foreign investment and development aid. But exactly what does the picture of openness
Pakistan: a consolidated democracy?
Intervention at a conference arranged by South Asia Democratic Forum on the occasion of the UN Human Rights Council’s periodic review of “Pakistan”, Palais des Nations, Geneva, October 30, 2012. by Stig Toft Madsen Senior Research Fellow NIAS – Nordic
Slaget om Kinas framtida ledarskap av Johan Lagerkvist
Med början den 8 november ska det kinesiska kommunistpartiet hålla sin 18:e nationella partikongress. En hel värld som har blivit samberoende med Kinas ekonomi kommer att påverkas av det förestående maktskiftet. Omgivningen svävar dock i ovisshet om den nya politbyråns
Xi Jinping: My road into politics
An interview from 2000 with China’s Vice President Xi Jinping Translated into Western language for the first time At the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China to be held in November 2012, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping is
Mo Yan på tryggt avstånd från politiken av Johan Lagerkvist
Svenska Akademiens beslut att 2012 års Nobelpris i litteratur går till den kinesiske författaren Mo Yan är ett val som får enorm uppmärksamhet i Kina. Det är svårt att överskatta Nobelprisernas betydelse i ett land och en kultur där dessa utmärkelser
What happened to political reform in the second term of China’s Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao administration?
In a recent blog-article by Deng Yuwen the outgoing leadership of Hu-Wen was given its score-card, titled “Ten grave problems”. Number ten was the problem of lack of political reform, after the original promising start. While we are waiting for
Ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres 65 years ago by Ishtiaq Ahmed
One of the completest cases of ethnic cleansing – that entailed the murder of 500,000-800,000 Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs – took place in 1947 in the Punjab Province of British India. Until now very little research had been conducted on
Incredible India Designs by Ravinder Kaur
In 2002, the government of India embarked upon a highly ambitious image campaign to create a new brand identity for the nation. The idea was to transform India into “a global brand, with worldwide brand recognition and strong brand equity”
So..what is the definition of Genocide, again?
Rohingya: Rohingya is an ethnic minority with dark skin, Muslim beliefs and, for the most part, no citizenship anywhere. Some groups live as sea nomads. Others live as illegal immigrants in Thailand, India or Bangladesh. Some live in refugee camps
Tracing the local effects of the South China Sea Dispute by Edyta Roszko
The nineteenth century notion of the ‘sovereign state’ brought by Europeans found fertile ground in Asia as it sought a way to liberate itself from the yoke of colonialism. While nowadays Europe is inclined towards more inclusive and porous notions