Date: Tuesday 16 March

Time: 12.00-1.30PM

Venue: Committee Room 18, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA (use Cromwell Green visitors' entrance)

Speaker: His Royal Highness Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, King of the Royal Bafokeng Nation, South Africa

Chair: Rt Hon Paul Boateng, Former British High Commissioner to South Africa

2010 represents a momentous year for the Republic of South Africa. It is marked by the twentieth anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela and the ambassadorial role the country will play as it becomes the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup. Beyond the fanfare and euphoria of these important historic events, what significant legacies does this provide as a launch pad to continue to build ongoing transformation and renewal domestically and across the wider continent? What is the impact of ancient African tribes and nations whose cultures, customs and values have had a longstanding role in shaping local governance and community advocacy? How do these ancient traditions co-exist in South Africa's young democracy? In an FPC public lecture to be addressed by His Royal Highness Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, King of the Royal Bafokeng Nation in South Africa, these and many other issues will be explored.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP by email to: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Invitation: Governance and leadership in Africa - Tue 16 Mar (220 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Monday 22 March 2010

Time: 6.30pm -8.00pm

Venue: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Room , Houses of Parliament, London SW1A 0AA (use Cromwell Green Visitors' Entrance)

Speakers:

• Mustafa Sarigül, Leader of Turkey's Movement for Change (TDH) and Mayor of Sisli Municipality
• Dr Faruk Logoglu, Former Turkish Ambassador to the United States

Chair

• Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre

The Foreign Policy Centre is delighted to be hosting Mustafa Sarigül, leader of Turkey's Movement for Change, that describes itself as a new progressive political force in the centre-ground of Turkish politics.

Since its breakthrough victory in 2002, the AKP party of Prime Minister Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics, leaving the old guard parties struggling to find an effective response. Despite its modest gains in last year's local elections, the main opposition party, the Kemalist CHP party, under the veteran leadership of Denis Baykal, is struggling to convince the Turkish public that it could form a plausible alternative government. It is in this environment that Mustafa Sarigül's Turkish Movement for Change is being formed and it has the potential to reach out across the political spectrum.

Sarigül started his political career as Turkey's youngest Parliamentarian in 1987 as part of the CHP. In 1999 he left Parliament to become mayor of Istanbul's central Sisli district, a post he still holds. Blocked from the CHP Presidency in a close-fought internal battle with the incumbent Baykal in 2004, this year he has founded a new party, backed by former members of both the CHP and AKP and high profile figures such as Hikmet Çetin and Faruk Logogu.

This event will explore the new movement's chances of success, the challenges it faces and what lessons can be learned from the fate of similar movements in recent Turkish political history.

Please RSVP by email to: events@fpc.org.uk

Download Invitation: A new politics for Turkey? (200 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

By Ella Rolfe.

Recent curbs on civil liberties are attempts to grasp slipping control over population

While Pakistan may seem to be descending into a pitched battle between state and Taliban, the current power relations are much more nuanced than this. To be sure, the Pakistani authorities are engaged in a large military operation against the Taliban in the country's north-western tribal areas; but there is a power struggle within the Pakistani polity as well. And the army, not the civilian government, is firmly in charge of efforts against militancy.

Full text 

By Chris Ogden .

New FPC Research Associate Chris Ogden looks into the future of India's Hindu nationalist opposition party - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP - Indian People's Party)- that faces a potentially uncertain and unstable future after its 2009 election defeat. Despite remaining as India's second largest political force, and indeed the country's only other national party besides Congress, the BJP faces a period of repackaging for India's electorate. Given that the BJP's current head, LK Advani who turns 82 on Sunday 8th November, and has announced his plans to step-down, any re-branding will be underscored by a phase of internal restructuring, most prominently involving the emergence of a new leader.

Download FPC Briefing: India's BJP Contemplate their Future (240 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

By Deen Sharp.

In June 2009 Lebanon held its first 'free' election since 1972. On the conclusion of the elections Western media and political analysts were particularly guilty of premature celebrations and hyperbole, regarding the Western backed March 14 coalition election victory. These past elections were not a battle in which: "President Barack Obama defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran"(1) or Western ideals of liberal democracy triumphed against Islamic totalitarianism. This confusion was immediately evident after the winning March 14 coalition soon began to fracture and Lebanon fell into all too familiar political paralysis. The reason for this misplaced euphoria by Western pundits was due to an essential misunderstanding about the battle being fought on the Lebanese political playing field. These elections were largely void of political ideology and were centered on the fight to represent certain sectarian groups, especially so for the Christian population, and the protection of patrimonial networks.

Full text 

Adam Hug

Download Kazakhstan at a Crossroads: Human Rights and Democracy (390 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

2010 stands as a landmark year in the history of Kazakhstan and for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It will be the first time a Central Asian nation takes the leadership role of a major international political organisation, but also Kazakhstan will be the first non-democracy to become the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office. Kazakhstan will be under the international spotlight to an extent it has not seen since independence. Against that backdrop the Foreign Policy Centre is publishing a series of three detailed background papers assessing a number of key issues in Kazakhstan that will be followed by a pamphlet. The first paper, focusing on human rights and democracy, is now available to download.

Adam Hug (Ed.)

£4.95, plus £1 p+p.

Download Spotlight on Georgia pamphlet (3.71 megabyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

The FPC's Spotlight on Georgia pamphlet examines the growing human rights and governance challenges facing Georgia. It highlights increasing concerns both, internal and international, about Georgian rule of law, media freedom, policing and electoral processes. The pamphlet recommends how Georgia must reform and what the international community should do to support it.

Spotlight on Georgia was edited by Adam Hug, FPC Policy Director. It contains contributions from authors including: Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner; EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby; the Deputy Public Defender of Georgia Giorgi Chekheidze; former UK Foreign Secretary Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP; Chair of the UK's Georgian All Party Parliamentary Group Bruce George MP; former US Ambassador to the USSR Ambassador Arthur Hartman; Author and Conciliation Resources Associate Thomas de Waal; former OSCE Policing Advisor Marco Kubny; Elsa Vidal from Reporters Without Borders; Giorgi Gogia from Human Rights Watch; and Dr Hans Gutbrod from the Caucasus Research Resource Centres.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Tahirih Danesh

Download Persian (Farsi) translation of 'From Cradle to Coffin' (420 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

The full text of 'From Cradle to Coffin: A Report on Child Executions in Iran' translated into Persian (Farsi)is now available to download here.

Date: Tuesday February 2nd, 6pm-7.45pm

Venue: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Room, Houses of Parliament.

2010 is a vitally important year for Kazakhstan and for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). For the first time a Central Asian nation has taken the leadership role of a major international political organisation, but Kazakhstan is also be the first non-democracy to become the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office. Kazakhstan is under the international spotlight to an extent it has not seen since independence. In light of this the FPC hosted a major Westminster Seminar, supported by the Civil Activity Fund, to discuss Kazakhstan's OSCE Chairmanship, the current human rights and political situation in the country and the role the international community can play to support reform in the country.

Speakers included:

• Chris Bryant MP, Minister for Europe
• Iva Dobichina, Director of Central Asia Programmes, Freedom House
• Bakhytzhan Ketabayev, Head of K+ Satellite TV Channel, and member of the Civil Activity Fund
• Vera Tkachenko, Director, Legal Policy Research Centre
• Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (Chair)

Download Transcript of Kazakhstan at a Crossroads Event: Feb 2nd (230 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Tuesday 9th February 2010, 4.00pm–5.30pm, Committee Room 18, House of Commons, London, SW1 0AA, SW1A 2JH. NB. Change of Venue

The All Party Parliamentary Russia Group, The EU-Russia Centre & The Foreign Policy Centre cordially invite you to a seminar on:

The Russian Judiciary - Priorities for Change in a New Decade

Guest Speakers:

• Ms Olga Borisovna Kudeshkina, Former Judge of the Moscow City Court
• Professor Alena Ledeneva, Professor of Politics and Society at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) at University College London.
• Chair: Bob Wareing MP, Treasurer, Russia APPG

RSVP : gd@eu-russiacentre.org

Info: Olga Kudeshkina was a Russian judge for over 20 years until 2004 when, as a Moscow City Court Judge, she was dismissed over her statements to public media where she claimed to have come under pressure from the Moscow City Court chairman and the Prosecutor General's Office in a high-profile criminal case. Subsequently, the European Court on Human Rights upheld Ms Kudeshkina's complaint and ruled that her dismissal from office was a violation of the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the Russian Constitution. In 2003 Ms Kudeshkina stood as a candidate in the general election for seats in the Duma, the parliament of the Russian Federation and included a programme for reform of the judiciary on her platform.

Download Invitation to The Russian Judiciary- Priorities for Change (70 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Thursday 19 November 2009, 4pm-5.30pm, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Room, Houses of Parliament

Speakers:

• Aida Touma-Sliman, General Director, Women Against Violence
• Shmuel Ben-Tovim, Minister - Economic Affairs, Embassy of Israel
• Leo Williams, Manager UK Friends of the Abraham Fund Initiatives
• Adam Hug, Policy Director, Foreign Policy Centre

Chair: Sir Jeremy Beecham, New Israel Fund

The Foreign Policy Centre hosted the launch of its Full and Equal Citizens: How to deliver equality for Israel's Arab Minorities? project, supported by the Pears Foundation. The project will explore some of the main challenges facing Israel's Arab minorities including: community relations, housing, education, economic development, employment, political representation and policing.

It will also examine what lessons can be learnt from UK anti-discrimination practices and how international donors can best support community cohesion in Israel.

Download Full and Equal Citizens event invitation (190 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)