Protests against Covid-19 policies and conspiracy theories about Russia's war in Ukraine, and how the two are linked and spread, provide insight into anti-democratic sentiment in German society - and how it threatens both domestic and foreign policy.
The analysis after the vote takes four structural dimensions into consideration, which are worthy of increased attention: (1) generations and their different voting patterns, (2) regional differences, (3) women and their political representation, and (4) changes in the Bundestag.
Platforms can empower groups that have previously been silenced. However, platforms also host hateful and illegal content, often targeted at minorities, and content is prone to being unfairly censored by algorithmically biased moderation systems. This report analyzes the current environment of content moderation, particularly bringing to light negative effects for the LGBTIQA+ community, and provides policy recommendations for the forthcoming negotiations on the EU Digital Services Act.
Existing content moderation practices, both algorithmically-driven and people-determined, are rooted in white colonialist culture. Black women’s opinions, experiences, and expertise are suppressed and their online communication streams are removed abruptly, silently, and quickly. This paper explores algorithmic misogynoir in content moderation and makes the case for the regular examination of the impact of content moderation tactics on Black women and other minoritized communities.
Current EU migration policies' increased focus on returns raises concerns on the adequacy of such measures with EU standards and fundamental rights. This publication highlights the problems and difficulties returnees face in Afghanistan, Syria, Tunisia, Senegal and Kosovo.
In voter surveys, the German Greens regularly come out as the party deemed to have by far the greatest competency in this area and in energy policy as well. This study by Arne Jungjohann tries to answer if this image is justified, as it looks at the subnational level of the federal states.
The EU-Africa migration summit in Valletta in November 2015 gave birth to a new European funding instrument: the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). This study comes to the conclusion that the implementation of migration policy projects supported by EUTF funding primarily benefits the (wealthier) member states of the EU.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been part of the “Balkan route” for smuggling people, arms and drugs for decades, but also a migrant route for people who have been trying to reach Western Europe and the countries of the EU in order to save their lives and secure a future for themselves. This report offers insight into the situation on the field: is there a system responsible for protection, security, and upholding fundamental human rights? What has the state response been like? What is the role of the international community?
Despite the presence of migration in the discourse of politicians, media and the general public in recent years, there is a persistent lack of facts about the life situations and motivations of newcomers to Europe. With this book the the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Institute for Public Affairs aim to contribute to a fact-based debate on the politics and policies of migration in Central Europe.
The program’s participants represented city governments and agencies, non-profits and social services, immigrant and refugee organizations, faith communities, local businesses, law enforcement, and others who work to integrate refugees and immigrants in their local communities and to engage receiving communities in the welcoming process. WCTE participants were selected to represent this diversity of local experiences. They brought a unique understanding of the challenges facing local communities on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as a commitment to cultivating the positive potential of increasingly diverse communities.
Democracy is not an automatic success - it must be fought for, revitalized, and renewed. Learn more about what the Heinrich Böll Foundation and our partners are doing to support democratic engagement worldwide.
Over five million Iranians are in exile – about 120,000 of which live in Germany. They are influencing political and cultural debates in Iran on a daily basis. The aim of this publication is to promote a process of reflection within the diaspora and provide an input concerning the role and potential of the diaspora community in the US and Germany as well.
Scenes of migrants stranded at the southern borders of the European Union and the United States have become increasingly regular news items, causing debates on immigration policies to intensify. Meanwhile, child migrants face dangerous conditions, detention, and deportation. How are these policies enacted in the EU and US and in comparison to the standards set by international law? By Nicole Johnson, intern at the HBS North America Office.
In the run-up to the 2013 German federal elections, this publication considers three decades of a changing political landscape with the emergence of the Green Party. The authors discuss how the Green Party built its “brand” and, in so doing, ushered in a fundamental change in German politics and society.
Relationships between democracy and more particularly democratization on the one side and climate change and responses to that on the other are underexplored in the two literatures on democratization and climate change. A special issue of the journal DEMOCRATIZATION, with contributions by several Heinrich Böll Foundation authors, explores a variety of facets of this complex and interdependent relationship.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation will close its office in Ethiopia at the end of 2012. The current political and legal situation in the country is such that the Foundation is unable to carry out its work in a politically sustainable and practicable manner. We can no longer fulfil our mission of working with local partners to support democracy, gender justice and sustainable development.
The presidential election this year in the United States, like in many years before, is going to hinge on the outcome in just a couple of "swing states." Why is it that just a few jurisdictions in the country hold the keys to the White House, while other whole regions are largely irrelevant to presidential campaigns? What is the Electoral College and where did it come from? How could a modern democracy still maintain a system that is clearly anti-democratic? Is there any real possibility of reform?
Having fulfilled their historic mission to build the welfare state, social democrats struggle to articulate a vision beyond the status quo. Where should they turn after the third way?
Looking at the upcoming parliamentary election in Iran, Dr. Hosein Ghazian analyses the challenges of this election in the light of recent political developments in Ira.
Representatives of the Afghan civil society call for further cooperation and the creation of a unified vision shared by the Government of Afghanistan, the international community, and Afghan civil society institutions in order to bring peace and a prosperous future to the country and the Afghan people
