Russian NGOs have traditionally looked abroad for their funding, and are dismayed at recent legislation setting up new barriers to this practice. Almut Rochowanski argues, however, that this should be seen as a challenge to increase the involvement of the Russian public in the development of civil society.

As the two cities of Cairo and Port Said remain engulfed in the worst violence seen since the Revolution, the entwining in Egypt of ‘football and the game of politics’ could hardly be more complete. And the game, it would appear, has not even reached half-time, says Leila Zaki Chakravarti.   

Accusations of corruption against members of the “Partido Popular” far outstrip previous corruption scandals involving Government members. Liz Cooper asks whether the technically independent Judiciary will keep faith with the people, hold its nerve and bring the cases to court without delay to be tried free of political interference 

Last week saw the lifting of the ban on women in combat in the US military.  How will this change the dynamics within and perceptions of the American military, and will it help reduce the current epidemic levels of sexual harassment and sexual assault within the armed forces?

Instead of sanitizing the Muslim right as a way of fighting racism in the North, Meredith Tax argues that the left should develop a strategy of solidarity with democrats, trade unionists, religious and sexual minorities, and feminists struggling in the Global South against both neo-liberalism and fundamentalism.

Twenty years after the United Nations declared violence against women to be a violation of their human rights, we are still a long way from gender violence becoming unacceptable in a society. The outrage in India has ignited a necessary international conversation about rape and violence against women worldwide

Whilst women are struggling to gain access to parliament in Morocco, in the religious field they are gaining ground as a legitimate authority. Whether female religious authorities will contribute to the empowerment of Moroccan women in the long-term remains to be seen.

Agnes Woolley examines the implications of the UK Government’s new rules on family migration and argues that if families are the building blocks of a secure and stable nation, then the right to family life must be upheld

The social movements of the 60s gave American women the skills to name and address the injuries they faced in their own lives, and led to a global women’s movement that is now facing a violent backlash. We need to know this history in order to fight for women’s rights today