GIGA Focus Middle East | 2/2025

Ten Things to Watch in the Middle East and North Africa in 2025

From the Gaza War and ethnic conflicts in Lebanon and Syria to the significance of a second Trump administration for the region, the MENA remains of central importance for Europe. We present ten topics that will play a prominent role in relations between the two regions in the year ahead.

Audio file X-Space Venezuela, 29.7.2024, a conversation with Sabine Kurtenbach, Maryhen Jimenez Morales, Jesus Renzullo, and Mariana Llanos
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Audio file X-Space Venezuela, 29.7.2024, a conversation with Sabine Kurtenbach, Maryhen Jimenez Morales, Jesus Renzullo, and Mariana Llanos

GIGA Insights | 31/01/2025

Venezuela at a Turning Point? The Elections and an Uncertain Future

On 28 July 2024 the people of Venezuela were called to elect a new president. The elections took place amid controversy, with the National Election Council declaring President Nicolás Maduro the winner without evidence. Despite far-reaching protests, Maduro was inaugurated as the new president in January 2025. Our experts delve into the elections’ credibility, the opposition’s counterefforts, and international reactions.


President (ad interim)

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach is President (ad interim) of the GIGA.

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

Regional Institutes

Africa|Asia|Latin America|Middle East

MECAM Papers English | 02/2025

The Effects of Imitative Capitalism on Integrating Women and Youth in Maghreb Labour Markets

Thirty years on from their initiation, neoliberal policies have weakened Maghreb countries’ labour markets, leading to unanticipated forms of employment and deteriorating working conditions. These countries need to re-evaluate and revamp labour market reforms with ones that correspond better with their status quo and encompass an understanding of the local economic, political, and social structures to enable a sustainable, comprehensive, and fair integration of women and youth into the labour markets.

MECAM Papers English | 01/2025

Female Agency and Colonial Repression: Memory and Archives in Tunisia

Laying the foundations for deciphering colonialism’s contemporary inertia, with its mechanisms continuing to broadly structure relations with the region, is key. European colonialism traumatically shaped both local societies and the categories typically used for their study. Deconstructing the latter and the dominant narratives inherited from colonialism in rejecting their uncritical use is vital for the present.