Despite spells of authoritarianism, Pakistan's rulers have never fully been able to subdue the media. In a world where the constant flow of information defies borders, such an endeavor becomes even more difficult.

A year ago, I would have responded to this question rather positively. Nowadays, I am not so sure. My relative optimism before was based on the replacement of a group of monopoly-holding (at least regionally) national operators, by an oligopoly of operators with a sizeable proportion of their activity outside of their countries of origin. These included EON, EdF, RWE, ENEL, GDFSuez, IBERDROLA, VATTENFALL and others.

It’s cold, inhospitable and deadly. The image of the Arctic in years past is one of bewilderment, ignorance and awe. How the image of the Arctic has changed in recent years can be directly linked to our recognition that the Arctic has a great deal to offer in meeting the basic needs of future generations. 

Community officials and heads of EU states and governments will meet this Friday February 4, 2011, at a Council called by President Herman VAN ROMPUY, to address energy security. There are many critical topics that could be on the table, but there is some considerable risk that the events in Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia and now Jordan could hijack the agenda. That would be unfortunate, as the problems in those countries are precisely why the Council should stay focused on energy and the growing European vulnerability to what happens in world energy markets.

Refugee and IDP camps, intended to protect civilians affected by conflicts and natural disasters, have an undeniable strategic importance, and their management can be critical for the resolution of crises.

Europe is seeking ways to decrease the growing negative impact of passenger cars on climate, currently responsible for up to 12% of total EU CO₂ emissions. After biofuels in the nineties and hydrogen in 2000, the new answer to climate change appears to be electric. But contrary to many marketing messages, electric cars are not zero emissions cars. They will not necessarily contribute to actual CO₂ emission reductions before 2020 and even then, not in every country. 

On the 28th September 2010, Angela Merkel announced her government’s publication of an “energy concept” describing the target which the Federal Republic hoped to give itself regarding its energy consumption in 2050.

This paper analyzes the future of migrations related to climate changes and environment degradations.

Space poses both an opportunity and a challenge for Europe. And so does the new provision of the Lisbon Treaty - article 189 TFEU - that awards the EU an explicit competency on space.

For several decades, French persons of Armenian origin have played a special role in Franco-Turkish relations. History explains this. Armenians originally came to France fleeing the massacres at the end of the Ottoman Empire, and for nearly a century they have integrated perfectly into the French social and political landscape, while keeping the memory of past traumas intact. Recognition of the 1915 genocide has been an explicit claim by the Armenian Diaspora scattered across the four corners of the world. In 2001, such recognition was voted by the French Parliament, and has thus become a subject of discord between France and Turkey.

Marie C. DONNELLY, DG Energy, reported that the EU is “unlikely to achieve a 20% reduction on the current set of policies” [1] by 2020. According to her, based on a modelling exercise, the estimate of energy savings “would be somewhere between 9 and 11% on current policies” in spite of the contribution of the economic crisis to decreasing the EU primary energy consumption.

The crisis, it is now widely accepted, means that markets failed. Meeting for the first time in Washington in November 2008, the G20 embarked in a ride of re-regulation. Months of negotiations later, it dramatically appears different to agree on principles and broad objectives, and to write and enforce rules and commitments. 

The European Union’s hydrocarbon energy supply depends heavily on imports. While the European Commission has recommended diversifying and increasing domestic resources, notably with renewable resources which should grow to 20% by 2020, dependence on hydrocarbon imports will remain not only substantial, but will increase.

Larry J. Sabato, Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, provides us with solid historical references and tools of analysis to understand midterms in general and those of 2010 in particular.

He points to the damaging effect of Tea Party candidacies on the Republican victory in the Senate, and on the impact of Republican gains on the 2011 redistricting process. But the bad economy seems to have been the key issue for 2010 voters - it may be key as well in the 2012 presidential election.

Turkey has become a recurrent issue in France's domestic political debate, following the referendum campaign on the European Consti­tutional Treaty in spring 2005. While the question of Turkish EU membership is itself a point of discussion, evoking Turkey also tou­ches on other sensitive political issues in France. It elicits controversy that goes beyond the Left-Right cleavage. In this article, Alain Chenal* studies the trend in the evolution of the debate during the campaign for the European elections in June 2009.

Dorothée Schmid, Head of the Contemporary Turkey Program at the IFRI

This essay examines Chinese attitudes toward Russia as a great power, neighbor, partner and competitor.

Amaury de Féligonde has just spent one year in Kapisa and Surobi as a project manager within the Afghan-Pakistan Interministerial Unit. Back in France, he expresses his personal views and draws conclusions from his experience.

Armed groups, many affiliated to the Niger Delta-wide political organisation MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, proliferated throughout the oil producing states, particularly from early 2006 onwards. In January 2006, MEND declared war on the oil industry pending the resolution of long term political grievances relating to poverty and underdevelopment, the poor regulation of an environmentally polluting oil industry, and the alienation of local people from rights to land and resources in the Niger Delta.

A paper brought out last year treating the “Hunger Riots had made it possible, among other things, to point out the extreme difficulties encountered by the authorities in power when trying to control urban populations. Current demographic forecasts relating to sub-Saharan Africa all predict an extremely rapid increase in population and at the same time an even more dramatic rise in the size of urban populations.

This report aims to provide a first mapping of the global governance of biodiversity, through an investigation of the interactions between the various actors, institutions, norms, tools and processes that structure it. It chooses to do so by bringing together different visions or perceptions on the nature, shape and characteristics of the current global governance of biodiversity.

Galileo is one of the most ambitious programs ever managed by the EU. As such, it illustrates the challenges and the opportunities offered by the development of a European Space Policy at the political, industrial, economic and international level.

Since 2009 the influence of immigrant party Israel Beiteinu on foreign and security policy in Israel has grown. The party won 15 seats in the 2009 parliamentary elections and its leader, Avigdor Lieberman, became the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

One month after the midterm elections, it was time to step back and reflect upon the state of affairs at the time and future direction of President Obama’s Administration and deal with which campaign promises might be achieved in the remaining years and how the political parties would rally for the 2012 elections. 

The development of the electric car market, supported by public funding, needs to be monitored closely. Currently, except for Renault benefiting from its electric partnership with Nissan, batteries for electric vehicles will most likely be outsourced. A lot of joint ventures are being signed with Asian battery companies and automotive suppliers. As a consequence, some argue that there is no rational to develop further and fund the European battery industry: batteries are already made more cheaply elsewhere.

Today, Europe is taking initiatives both to prevent space weaponization and to develop space militarization. While national States remain the central players in this regard, the intergovernmental European Space Agency is increasingly involved in security-related activities and the European Union is showing growing political ambitions in this area.

The European defence sector generates €86 billion annually - and that is only taking into account the 2009 turnover of the European defence industry for the three areas - aeronautics, land forces and naval forces.

Russia's foreign policy towards Syria and the Greater Middle East is generally not aggressive. It is a defensive policy aimed mainly at developing its traditional political and economic interests in the region and protecting its Southern borders.

At the end of the Copenhagen Conference of December 2009, the attending parties failed to agree on a legally binding commitment, but ultimately signed the Copenhagen Accord. The countries signing this accord took different engagements in respect to their economic and emissions status. 

Many Europeans are unaware of Obama's commitment to secondary school reform. The US administration introduced administrative methods inspired by the private sector to combat poor test results in public middle and high schools with large minority populations. This approach is consistent with previous policies and should resonate with French observers. 

The emergence of a feminist thought in the 18th century gave rise to steady and regular exchanges between French philosophers and American activists. They illustrate in a very particular sector the wealth of the relation between both countries. This dialogue continues on renewed bases today: both in universities (with the exploration of the concept of gender) and in the militant world (with the defense of precise and limited causes).

Migration is a universal phenomenon rising complex issues in sending countries as in receiving or transit countries. Yet, issues and stakes linked to the migratory phenomenon are often simplified by public debates as in public policies supposed to solve this “problem”.