Populism may not be entirely coherent (what ideology is in its lived form?) but it has a consistent logic, and a line of distinction along which it treads that marks it out and accounts for its power. We should beware of falling into the many traps it creates for democrats.
The ongoing protests have only emphasised the gap between the Turkish government and the EU, and between Turkey and Arab leaders whose fear of revolt doesn’t necessarily translate into political solidarity with Ankara.
A solution to the Cyprus conflict remains elusive, particularly since national elites use it to maintain their positions of power. Only moving the peace-related segment of Cyprus’s civil society away from the periphery will make a locally-accepted peace process viable.
The protests might even help to revive Turkey's moribund accession process to the EU.
Now, after a decade of electoral success and economic growth, governing without a coalition, the army neutralised, in control of the media, the judiciary and the police, Erdogan feels free to move on this crucial symbolic issue of alcohol and its venues.
Technically, if over seven people meet on the streets of Istanbul, you have to notify the Governor.
Each year around 400 children forced by war to leave their families and homes in Afghanistan seek sanctuary in the UK. Lisa Matthews writes for Young People Seeking Safety Week on the young adults who, having rebuilt their lives, are now at threat of return.
Unless Turkey begins to dismantle its media autocracy apparatus, it cannot hope to be considered a modern democracy.
Once the principles of the API were elaborated, 55% of the Israelis interviewed said they would support it to some degree, a figure that climbed to 69% if Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted it and reached a final status agreement with the Arab states.
Expecting new global powers to promote human rights abroad via the United Nations assumes that they will play by the old rules and - if such pressure is to be effective - that human rights factors will condition their bilateral relationships; neither is likely. A contribution to the openGlobalRigh
Arming Syrian rebel forces could tip the balance and break the deadlock - at the negotiating table.
Rather than giving the opposition a decisive means to victory, arms to Syria will only prolong the violence and suggest a grander agenda: rebalancing regional power.
