This paper analyzes the declining importance of political parties in the Central African Republic (CAR). It argues that the problematic attitude of elites who are fluctuating between violent and peaceful behavior in order to further their own careers is jeopardizing both peace and democracy. The...

Little attention has been paid to the factual effect of the state's security forces on the security of African citizens. Reports about security forces - contribution to widespread insecurity are frequent: the protectors become violators and their appearance causes fear, not security. In many...

Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt die Frage nach den Auswirkungen des seit 2003 hohen Erdölpreises in Iran. Theoretisch basiert die Untersuchung auf dem Rentierstaats-Ansatz. Kernelement ist hierbei die freie Disponibilität der Rente für den Empfänger. Empirisch werden die Politikfelder...

The Iranian revolution still appears to be a puzzle for theoretical approaches linking political instability and/or violent conflict to the resource wealth of a country. It therefore works well as a case study for the purposes of this paper: to show the necessity of a broader approach to the...