By Willemijn Bertels To many, the mafia is perceived as something mythical, a legend of Italy’s past. Books and movies such as The Godfather often portray romanticized images of bold men defending their family’s honour, theatrically murdering anyone standing in their way. A contrasting, but equally...
The war in the Donbass region, following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, served as a flagrant reminder for the international community of similar conflicts in Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan in the 1990’s. Indeed, the separatist movements in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts...
The ongoing back and forth between the people of Hong Kong and Beijing is the literal embodiment of David and Goliath. Only this time David is equipped with a mask and umbrella, dodging teargas and baton, and Goliath is sitting safely in one of the...
By Giles Longley-Cook When vast swathes of Syria rose up in rebellion in 2011, many commentators predicted that Assad’s regime would fall. Eight years later, not only is the grueling civil war winding down, but Assad looks set to win it. Much less attention was paid to...
By Koen de Hek For more than a decade, the Nigerian government has struggled to contain an Islamic inspired uprising in the northeast of the country. Behind this rebellion is a group called Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, popularly known as Boko Haram. The group gained...
Earlier this summer, on the 25th of July, Beji Caid Essebsi, the first democratically elected president of Tunisia since the Jasmine Revolution, passed away. Essebi embodied the bridge between the post-independent past and post-revolutionary future. His death presents new challenges for the already uncertain future...
On the 9th of April, the activities committee of the JASON Institute for Peace and Security Studies and the study association for BA International Studies (BASIS) organized a special lecture on the background of the border conflict between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland...
By Rik van Dijk Since last month, the European Commission acquired a new weapon in the fight against cyber-attacks on EU soil. The European Council, the heads of the European member states, decided that to protect the EU’s interest, a set of ‘tools’ is needed to...
By Aileen Schuurmans Last month, the Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina passed away, author of the essay ‘How to write about Africa’. The essay, published in 2005, is a cynical parody of the way in which Western journalists and writers tend to write about Africa, as if...
By Charley Steur This article first appeared in JASON Magazine 43-2: Opportunities in a changing world For most time in history, men have dominated leading positions at the negotiation table. However, women and men experience conflict differently. Therefore, the inclusion of women is critical to reduce violence...