WORKING PAPER 16 – Information Crises: the EU’s response and the South Asian digital...
Abstract
These are difficult days for democratic countries. Among other challenges, advances in technology have allowed the seamless dissemination of manipulated or fabricated text, video and audio. The pervasiveness of social media has facilitated false information to be rapidly amplified to receptive audiences, and geopolitical contexts like that of South...
COMMENT 171 – Does the US-Taliban deal serve Pakistan’s interests in Afghanistan?
On February 29, 2020, in Doha, after one year of direct negotiations between the US and the Afghan Taliban, an agreement to end the fighting between two of the major combatants in the multi-actor Afghan war was signed. It is publicly acknowledged by the parties involved that Pakistan played...
COMMENT 170 – Taxing the digital economy under the unified approach: Concerns of developing...
In an increasingly globalised economy, Digital Multinationals Enterprises (digital MNEs) have come to occupy a significant economic space. The new business models operating through digital platforms have posed new challenges to the Tax Authorities of different countries in their efforts to ascribe the basis on which revenues can be...
COMMENT 169 – India CAA: Europe should promote understanding, not hate!
Nearly forty years ago I was involved in the creation of an ‘Amnesty International local group’ in Ponta Delgada, the first ever created in the Azores. I remember vividly how we dedicated ourselves to publicise the work of the organisation and campaign for the release of our first ‘prisoner...
COMMENT 168 – A US-Taliban deal in sight: Will there be a change in...
During the last months, the international community once again stepped up its engagement to find ways of ending the war in Afghanistan, or at least to initiate a ‘reduction of violence’ in the war-torn country as a starting point for a broader political solution. Current negotiations within the larger...
POLICY BRIEF 9 – EU-South Asia trade perspectives: State of play
SADF Policy Brief 9 - EU-South Asia trade perspectives: State of play
Abstract
The European Union is South Asia’s number one trading partner and has thus far engaged with the region mainly on commercial grounds. This paper provides a thorough analysis of the trade relations between the two blocs, devoting...
COMMENT 167 – Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism in Bangladesh: Shedding light on the...
Pakistan is one of the most active sponsors of terrorism worldwide (Byman, 2005, p. 155). International experts confirm that the country not only sympathises with Jihadism but has also been using terrorism as an instrument of state policy for decades (Greig, 2016, p. 22).
Moreover, these claims are backed by...
COMMENT 166 – The Green deal, the rejuvenation of the Ganga and the Europe-India...
India and the European Union established a water partnership in 2016 which gave rise to a vast array of initiatives. In such context, the South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF) gathered a significant amount of contributions highlighting various challenges and opportunities for water cooperation in South Asia. This was published...
COMMENT 165 – 2020 – False start for democracy in Pakistan
For many observers, the year 2019 ended with a ‘twofold big bang’ in Pakistan’s unhealthy civil-military relations. The death sentence of a former army head (Wolf, 2019, January 19) and the interference into the re-appointment process of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) by the country’s judiciary (Wolf, 2019,...
WORKING PAPER 15 – Internationalisation – The Next Phase of Kashmir Conflict
The next phase of Kashmir conflict will be its internationalisation. Over the last 70 years, it has largely remained a localized conflict zone. However, social, political cultural and religious developments over the last decade have paved a way for the penetration of pan-Islamist attitudes in Kashmir’s society. Wahhabism had...