Contested Cultures

Burma's Cease-fires at Risk

September 2009
Tom Kramer

In August the Burma army occupied the Kokang region after several days of fighting, ending two decades of cease-fire with the ethnic minority group. The resumption of fighting in northern Burma raises speculation about the other cease-fires. Tensions are rising and the cease-fire groups have put their armed forces on high alert.

The great capitulation

September 2009
Praful Bidwai

Indians and Pakistanis have to develop a common, rational understanding of the partition story that is free of nationalist prejudice -- although Jaswant Singh makes little contribution to this.

The convergence of fundamentalisms and new political closures – What next in the struggle for pluralism?

August 2009
Praful Bidwai
Neither War nor Peace report cover

Burma: Neither War Nor Peace

July 2009

Whilst a twenty year ceasefire still holds, there is unlikely to be peace and democracy in Burma without a political settlement that addresses ethnic minority needs and goals.

Factional War Grows As The Party Sinks

June 2009
Praful Bidwai

The BJP’s multiple crises are now set to worsen—including its ideological confusion, its political mobilisation crisis, and its organisational crisis.

New Politics News

February 2009
New Politics

News from the New Politics programme (last updated in February 2009).

Universal disorientation: Reading newspapers, watching TV and listening to radio

January 2009
Saul Landau

We need media that empower citizens, not produce universal disorientation.

Das gefährlichste Land der Welt?

December 2008
Jochen Hippler

Jochen Hippler, ausgewiesener Kenner des Landes, gibt einen umfassenden Überblick über Geschichte und Gegenwart Pakistans. Er zeigt Pakistan als multiethnisches Entwicklungsland und zugleich als außergewöhnlichen Krisenherd und untersucht die Frage, welche Chancen - trotz Militärdiktatur und religiösem Extremismus - die Entwicklung einer eigenständigen Demokratie hat.

The West and the Muslim World: The Muslim Position

September 2008
Jochen Hippler
(editor)

Six Muslim academics share their perspectives on the major issues affecting relations between the Muslim world and the West

Beyond “New Terrorism” – Local roots and the transnationalisation of ‘Islamist’ Violence

August 2008
Jochen Hippler
Hippler in a research paper argues that "terrorism" attributed to Islam does not differ substantially from previous terrorist groups and obscures real political objectives.