July 1997

Post-Mobutu Africa is showing distinct signs of change. A number of countries are intervening actively in the affairs of the continent and are no longer looking to the West, which has much to learn from the recent upheavals and their geopolitical repercussions. To one of Africa’s most respected leaders, former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, it is “intolerable and unacceptable” that the historic event unfolding in central Africa should be reduced to a struggle for influence between the (...)

Childbirth remains an untold risk throughout the developing world, bringing death and permanent disability to the world’s poor. Two million women suffer from fistulae, a degrading condition which makes them outcasts in their own society - and which could be treated... In Nigeria the situation is particularly grim, with 1 in 25 dying of childbirth complications

The major foreign powers had no influence over the recent developments in the former Zaire: the formation of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (ADFL), the progress of the seven month war, the fate of the refugees or the establishment of a new government in Kinshasa. It was Africans who brought Laurent Kabila and his men to power. But it remains to be seen whether the new government can meet the people’s aspirations and satisfy the allies which helped it to victory.

Egypt continues its close alliance with the United States but is giving increasing leeway to public opinion, which is often highly critical of the US. This new freedom has resulted in a blossoming of books, press and TV in a “paper democracy” in which the secular left and conservative (often Islamist) circles are making common cause. But with a number of paradoxes...

The time has passed when electorates can be fooled. The French voters’ response in the ballot box turned President Jacques Chirac’s opportunism into a miserable failure. It is now up to the new prime minister, Lionel Jospin, to keep his promises.

Three men dominate Europe: Helmut Kohl, Theo Waigel and Hans Tietmayer. They are are the high priests of convergence and a strong currency, and they dictate the monetary policy of the Fifteen. This, despite the hopes raised by the new governments in France and the UK and the preponderance of the left-of-centre in the rest of Europe.

India has had to adapt to the end of the bi-polar world. This wide-ranging review of New Delhi’s regional and international relations 50 years after independence shows the present government of Inder Kumar Gujral successfully balancing the country’s economic and geopolitical priorities.

The people of Northern Ireland have shown their desire for peace at the polls. New governments in London and Dublin, and encouragement from Washington, have brought fresh hopes of a cease-fire. But on the ground seasonal violence has begun once more and the situation remains tense.

After wars and insurrection, the prospect of a settlement in the dispute over Kashmir is now emerging. Pakistan has long claimed Kashmir on account of its largely Muslim population, while India has affirmed its legal possession of the territory since 1947. The views of the Kashmiri population must also be considered. But Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral’s conciliatory approach is opening the way to progress.

In May the Founding Act ended a long diplomatic battle over NATO enlargement. This was a victory for the United States, seeking to continue its domination of Europe, but a decided failure for France’s policy of “European autonomy”

In the search for a fresh new economic model, the media has turned to the Netherlands in admiration, hoping to raise flagging hopes in the run up to the euro. But the Dutch experience is not exportable. And in Amsterdam the picture is not so rosy.

The impact of the photograph continues to grow in the modern world. It influences political, social and cultural life. Often used to condemn or to liberate, it is sometimes also used for propaganda or to manipulate. At the international conference on photography in Arles on 6-7 July, a seminar on “pictures and politics” analyses the conflicting relations between photography and the law, the authorities and culture.

As a result of Turkey’s special characteristics, which differ from the other countries of the region, a brand of purely Turkish Islamism has evolved. Recently in government, the Islamists pose a serious threat to the secular establishment. Through their energetic grassroots activities they have won over both the poor and the middle classes of Anatolia. In response to this challenge, the secular middle classes have started rebuilding their own civil society.

Turkey’s press has merged into powerful media conglomerates backed by public and private funding. These empires have used their increasing monopoly to sideline independent voices. They have also engaged in political machinations, covering up ex-Prime Minister Tansu Cillers’s unsavoury dealings and conspiring to bring about the Refah Party’s fall.