The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a health emergency but a multi-dimensional crisis for Afghanistan, casting “a huge shadow” over daily lives, Deborah Lyons, newly appointed head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan told the Security Council on Thursday, June 25.
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Pubblication
After 6-years of rapid development, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has entered a new era in terms of quality development. In this grand picture, cities acting as sub-state actors along the BRI, have gained new momentum for displaying geographic significance and economic attractiveness. This paper intends to define cities’ role in the joint promotion of BRI, exemplify how cities will prosper in the process and explore new opportunities of investment after the COVID-19 pandemic.
07 July 2020
Pubblication
Most countries along the BRI are developing countries and emerging economies. They account for 31 percent of the global GDP, but constitute about 62 percent of world’s population(1). At the same time, the ecological environment is very fragile, due to the distribution of most of the global biodiversity hotspots(2). 58 percent of the world’s deserts are also concentrated in this area(3). In a certain sense, the historical Silk Road is also an international transmission channel for dust and pollutants(4).
07 July 2020
Pubblication
“Serbia isn’t a democracy anymore”. This will be the most important assessment that will follow the vote to renew the parliament in Belgrade on 21st June. The downgrade from democracy to “hybrid regime” was certified by the last report issued by Freedom House that confirmed the decline of the Serbian democracy in the last 10 years.
18 June 2020
Pubblication
This article analyzes the evolution of protest participation in Sudan from 2011 to 2018 using the data provided by the Arab Barometer Surveys. It finds that participation evolved substantially in both size and demographic determinants, reflecting the strong deterioration of the population’s socio-economic conditions over the last decade. The Arab Barometer surveys are the only cross-country source of data available for Arab countries. They were collected over five different waves in the last two decades.
22 May 2020
Pubblication
2011 was not the end, but the beginning, and maybe it wasn’t even that. Perhaps the deep crisis of the traditional social contract that underpinned most of the MENA region’s ruling regimes since independence had begun even before. The first cracks could be already be heard by sensitive ears in the 2000s, when the liberal reforms introduced by several Arab governments failed to address the increasing needs (and new expectations) of fast-growing populations and the first, scattered protests began to pop-up.
08 May 2020
Pubblication
During the last four decades, China experienced impressive economic growth, becoming one of the leading powers of the global economy. After a century of humiliation imposed by Western and Japanese colonial powers, today the country is demonstrating a strong desire to achieve its national rejuvenation (guojia fuxing).
08 May 2020
Pubblication
Since October 17, 2019, unprecedented popular protests have erupted in Lebanon motivated by demands for socio-economic rights and the reform of a highly corrupted and sectarian political system. The deterioration of economic and social conditions in Lebanon has also affected the 1.5 million Syrian refugees as well as the Palestinians and other communities of displaced people living in the country.
13 March 2020
Pubblication
More than 30 Turkish soldiers were killed on Thursday 27th in the Idlib region by an airstrike carried out by the Assad regime’s air force. Ankara has asked an emergency meeting of the NATO alliance on Friday – during which it may ask to trigger NATO’s Article 5 – while after 4 years Turkish authorities have reopened their western borders to allow the passage of Syrian refugees headed towards Europe. Such a rapid escalation contradicts the impression that many have shared over the last 3 years.
28 February 2020
Pubblication
The European Commission in December 2019 declared that “an ambitious 5G introduction is essential for Europe to have a leading position and to take early advantage of the new market opportunities”. 5G will be a physical overhaul of essential networks that will have decades-long impact: it will entail the conversion to a mostly all-software network and future upgrades will be software updates much like the current upgrades to smartphones.
11 February 2020