Myanmar is heading to the polls in November 2015, with an expected shift in power from the old elite to the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). However it remains unclear whether the new political space created by the transition away from military rule will bring significant legislative power to ethnic nationality-based parties.
“We must focus our vision on humans, but not on the substance. This is a complex phenomenon that must be addressed”
Milton Romani, during the UNASUR seminar in Quito.
Ignoring all the scientific evidence, Canada Health Minister Tony Clement will move to close Canada's only sanctioned safe-injection site, announcing it will appeal a British Colombia court ruling that Vancouver's Insite should stay open because reducing the risk of drug overdoses is a vital health service.
In order for fragile states and the concept of state weakness to be properly understood, they need to be considered in the contexts of political economy and world history. Four apparently disparate cases – Guatemala, Haiti, Kosovo and Angola – show surprising similarities, and highlight common lessons for international state-building efforts.
TNI has been involved in international drugs policy work since the 1998 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS). This new report summarises the lessons of 10 years of work in this field, emphasising drug controls that respect human rights: the rights of farmers caught in the illicit economy to a life in dignity; decriminalisation of drug use; and the promotion of harm reduction approaches where they are proven to save lives.
First TNI director (1973-75) professor Eqbal Ahmad passes away. TNI's work on drug policies, Burma and Bretton Woods' Institutions deepens. TNI holds 25th anniversary Festival of Ideas.
Jan Douwe van der Ploeg highlights the centrality of peasant agriculture to Food Sovereignty and tackles the question of whether peasant production can feed a global population of 9-10 billion. He draws on Chayanov’s agrarian economics to illuminate strengths and possibilities of peasant agriculture.
TNI turns 40 in 2014 and has received many birthday wishes from social movements, academics, activists, grassroots community groups, journalists, writers and policy makers. We are proud to have worked alongside them in a struggle for a more just world and deeply touched by their praise for our work.
In January 1974, Eqbal Ahmad wrote minister of Education in the Netherlands to inform him of the establishment of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. This is the original letter.
Part of the TNI Archives (and also the papers of the TNI Washington) are kept at the IISG (International Institute of Social History) in Amsterdam and can be viewed after appointment only. Research for this section on TNI History was done by Erik Heijmans and and Mariël Otten.
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TNI is known for its rigorous standards of research and high levels of expertise and its commitment to produce analysis that can assist our mission of achieving social and environmental justice. Our briefings and reports are appreciated by activists and policy-makers alike for their systemic analysis, visionary alternatives and pragmatic proposals.
