Suchergebnisse

The new millennium continues to present us with increased complexities in dealing with racist practice and racialised discourses. The continued unrest across the world fuels debates around national security and the war on terror, debates that in turn focus on and demonize marginalized groups in society. The overarching reach of the media increasingly exacerbates moral panic in the public arena around asylum-seekers, Muslims and all those who are visibly different. State paternalism has led to increased attempts to control the lives of Indigenous Peoples even to the extent of suspending protective legislation, such as anti-discrimination legislation. Questions of national identity and citizenship continue to hold centre-stage, often conjoined with fears of the 'other'. Racism continues to permeate our lives in both subtle and overt forms, even as many people continue to assert either that 'racism does not exist' or, in a modified form, that 'all people are racist'. The replacement of overt forms of racism by indirect and covert forms of 'new racisms' that use ideas of insurmountable cultural differences brought about by alien cultural values and lifestyles has made the task of challenging racism all the more difficult. And yet, racism continues to impact severely on the life chances of large sections of people across the world and, as such, cannot be ignored.

On 12 June 2011, Turkey held its general elections. The government AK Party (Adalet ve Kalk(dotless i)nma Partisi) was able to maintain its absolute majority and win a third consecutive term in office. This article assesses the key issues of the previous parliamentary term, examines the 2011 election campaign and provides an outlook on the key issues that Turkey and its government are facing post elections. This includes an explanation of the controversy about some parliamentarians who were elected whilst under arrest or being subject to criminal proceedings. Other than that, our analysis focuses particularly on previous and planned constitutional reforms, developments in the area of freedom of expression and Turkey-European Union relations. Adapted from the source document.