Yearbook 2011 United Arab Emirates. According to Countryaah official site, the country remained largely untouched by the Arab Spring. In a manifesto addressed to President Khalifa ibn Zayid Al Nayan in April, intellectuals and human rights activists demanded free elections and legislative powers for the country’s parliament. The manifesto, which was signed “your loyal children”…
Ukraine 2011
Yearbook 2011 Ukraine. The year was dominated by bitter power struggles between President Viktor Yanukovych and former Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko, who had lost the presidential election against Yanukovych in 2010. In April, prosecutors launched a preliminary investigation against Tymoshenko, where she was suspected of abusing her power as head of government. Tymoshenko felt that…
Uganda 2011
Yearbook 2011 Uganda. According to Countryaah official site, Yoweri Museveni was re-elected in February for another five years as president. He received just over 68% of the vote. The opposition complained about a number of shortcomings and partly received support for its criticism of observers from the Commonwealth. After the election, opposition leader Kizza Besigye…
Tuvalu 2011
Yearbook 2011 Tuvalu. In early October, the government in Tuvalu declared disaster state due to severe drought and lack of drinking water. It had not rained properly for seven months and according to the weather forecasts, the drought would last until December. Usually, Tuvalu receives 200-400 millimeters of rain a month. The small country is…
Turkmenistan 2011
Yearbook 2011 Turkmenistan. At the beginning of the year, President Gurbanguli Berdimuchammedov gave the impression of wanting to liberalize the closed political system. He called on Parliament to finalize the work on a bill that would open to multi-party systems. In July, he declared that political dissidents in exile should return and stand in the…
Turkey 2011
Yearbook 2011 Turkey. On June 12, the ruling Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) won its third straight parliamentary election with 49.8% of the vote. The second largest was the secular CHP (Republican People’s Party) with 26%. These two parties advanced compared to the previous election, while the third, the right-wing extremist MHP (Nationalist Party…
Tunisia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Tunisia. During the year, Tunisians became the guiding star for the entire Arab world when they first ousted their one-term president Zayn al-Abidin Ben Ali and then held a democratic parliamentary election. The revolt had begun around the turn of the year since an unemployed academic, Mohammed Bouazizi, had taken his life in…
Trinidad and Tobago 2011
Yearbook 2011 Trinidad and Tobago. According to Countryaah official site, a limited state of emergency was introduced in several areas in August in an attempt to put a stop to a violent crime wave. The decision was made when eleven murders had been committed in just a few days. According to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar,…
Tonga 2011
Yearbook 2011 Tonga. On January 4, the prime minister and nobleman Tu’ivakano presented his new government after the first democratic elections in the country’s history had been held in November 2010. Of the government’s twelve ministers, only two came from the Democratic Party of the Friendship Islands, who had received the majority of the elected…
Togo 2011
Yearbook 2011 Togo. According to Countryaah official site, a half-brother to the president was sentenced in September to 20 years in prison for planning a coup in 2009. Kpatcha Gnassingbé was arrested while trying to seek protection at the US embassy in Lomé, the day after soldiers stormed his home under fire. Since then he…
Thailand 2011
Yearbook 2011 Thailand. Since the parliament adopted in February a couple of constitutional amendments on changed rules for the distribution of seats in elections, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva promised to announce new elections until later this year, provided no new unrest erupted. After a tumultuous 2010 “red shirts”, supporters of the deposed Prime Minister Thaksin…
Tanzania 2011
Yearbook 2011 Tanzania. Virtually the entire leadership of the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM) was replaced in April. The only one left was the President, President Jakaya Kikwete. Although the party won big in the last election in 2010, it declined significantly in terms of mandate. The record low turnout, only 42%, also indicated a fatigue…
Tajikistan 2011
Yearbook 2011 Tajikistan. In January, Tajikistan agreed with China in a century-old border dispute. The settlement meant that Tajikistan gave up a thousand square kilometers of land to China, which was said to be one-twentieth of what the Chinese demanded. But the opposition said that Tajikistan bowed to China, which is the largest investor in…
Taiwan 2011
Yearbook 2011 Taiwan. A general, Lo Hsien-che, was arrested in January on suspicion of spying on China’s behalf. He was reported to be the highest ranking officer arrested for spying for over 40 years. Lo was indicted in a military court and sentenced in July to life in prison for selling military secrets. According to…
Syria 2011
Yearbook 2011 Syria. The year was marked by the regime’s brutality against the protesters who, in the spirit of the Arab Spring, demanded the departure of President Bashar al-Asad. The protest rallies broke out in March when some teenagers were arrested in the city of Daraa in the south where they spread political slogans on…
Switzerland 2011
Yearbook 2011 Switzerland. An attempt to revoke the right to keep military weapons in the home was voted down in a referendum in February. The proposal was supported by groups such as pointed out that suicide with firearms is three times more common in Switzerland than in the rest of Europe. A key argument for…
Sweden 2011
Political Anarchy in the Late Middle Ages Continued political development in the late Middle Ages was filled with civil disputes and frequent regime changes. During certain periods, the Union kings were also recognized in Sweden: Christophers of Bavaria (1441–48), Kristian I (1457–64), Hans (1497–1501) and Kristian II (1520–23). Political power lay mainly with the supreme…
Suriname 2011
Yearbook 2011 Suriname. According to Countryaah official site, Finance Minister Wonnie Boedhoe resigned on June 10. The departure meant a severe loss for President Desi Bouterse. Admittedly, Boedhoe was succeeded by another woman, Adeline Wijnerman, so that the government still has two women. But unlike the unpolitical Boedhoe, Wijnerman belongs to the president’s own party…
Sudan 2011
Yearbook 2011 Sudan. According to Countryaah official site, the year was completely dominated by Sudan’s split in July, when the southern part of the country declared itself independent. It was one of the most profound political changes in Africa’s post-colonial history. Although the South Sudanese referendum on independence in January could be carried out in…
Sri Lanka 2011
Yearbook 2011 Sri Lanka. The aftermath of the long civil war between the army and the Tamil guerrillas continues to poison relations between the Sri Lankan government and the outside world. According to Countryaah official site, the commission appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon in 2010 to investigate possible human rights violations during the…
Spain 2011
Yearbook 2011 Spain. As one of the last countries in Western Europe, Spain introduced a ban on smoking from the beginning of the year. The resistance was great and reports were made in their quarters about the obvious when smokers defied the ban. According to Countryaah official site, the economic crisis worsened during the year….
South Sudan 2011
The peace process The peace negotiations on South Sudan began in 2002, but only in 2005, after international mediation, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, with several agreements and protocols signed over a longer period. Negotiations were led by the regional organization Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); Norway and the US also played a…
South Korea 2011
In a few decades, South Korea has become one of the most prosperous countries in the world. The Hangang River crosses the Metropolia of Seoul of ten million people, whose past can be glimpsed in the courtyards of the restored Imperial Palace or in the Historical Museum. The surroundings of Gyeongju, the ancient capital of…
South Africa 2011
Yearbook 2011 South Africa. The government announced in February that it had decided to start a fund to create new jobs. Over the next three years, the equivalent of SEK 9 billion would be put into the fund in the hope of being able to push down unemployment, which is still a major problem despite…
Somalia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Somalia. According to Countryaah official site, Somalia suffered its most severe drought and famine disaster for many decades during the year. Only in June did the world start to take on the data seriously, but by then 135,000 Somalis had already been forced to leave their homes to seek help in neighboring countries…
Solomon Islands 2011
Yearbook 2011 Solomon Islands. Political instability continued to characterize the country during the year. In January, several ministers left the government and, together with some MPs, went over to the opposition. An intelligence report accused Australia of offering bribes for government politicians to go to the opposition. Australia was thought to want to remove Prime…
Slovenia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Slovenia. According to Countryaah official site, Borut Pahor’s center-left government worked head-on during the first half of the year. Several ministers jumped off and voters voted down proposed changes in labor law and the pension system in two referendums. By mid-year, two out of four government parties had withdrawn from government cooperation. When…
Slovakia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Slovakia. During the year, Slovakia became an example of how a single coalition party in a member state can stop a major EU process – temporarily. The Liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) said no when the government would decide in the autumn to strengthen the eurozone crisis fund EFSF for assistance to the…
Singapore 2011
Yearbook 2011 Singapore. According to Countryaah official site, the government decided to announce parliamentary elections in May, one year before the term of office expired. The position was advantageous in terms of opinion; Singapore was one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with growth in 2010 of almost 15%. Still, the ruling party People’s Action…
Sierra Leone 2011
Yearbook 2011 Sierra Leone. The prospects for an economic upswing continued to look pretty bright in 2011. For the first time since the civil war broke out two decades ago, the cocoa cultivations went off with a profit, albeit insignificant, and tourism increased strongly. In the first half of the year alone, tourists pumped in…
Seychelles 2011
Yearbook 2011 Seychelles. In February, ten Somali pirates were sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Seychelles court. As Somalia lacks a functioning legal system, trials are being conducted against pirates in Seychelles and other East African countries. The first pirates were convicted in Seychelles in 2010. The trials abroad are a step forward…
Serbia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Serbia. After 16 years of escape from international justice, former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić was arrested in May. According to Countryaah official site, Serbian special police found Mladić in a relative’s house in the province of Vojvodina. Within a few days, he was transferred to the War Criminal Tribunal in The Hague….
Senegal 2011
Yearbook 2011 Senegal. The year was marked by protests against the government, partly for political reasons and partly because of the protracted electricity shortage in the country. In June, the worst demonstrations so far under President Abdoulaye Wade’s eleven years broke out in power. According to Countryaah official site, the reason was that the president…
Saudi Arabia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Saudi Arabia. According to Countryaah official site, the Arab Spring meant no revolution in Saudi Arabia. But some regime-critical demonstrations were held, including around the city of al-Qatif in the country’s Shiite-dominated eastern part where four protesters were killed in November. The human rights organization Amnesty International strongly criticized the arrest of several…
Sao Tome and Principe 2011
Yearbook 2011 São Tomé and Príncipe. An old dictator came back to power when São Tomé and Príncipe held presidential elections in July and August. Manuel Pinto da Costa, president 1975-191, received 52.88% of the votes in the second round after being close to victory already in the first attempt. According to Countryaah official site,…
San Marino 2011
Yearbook 2011 San Marino. From the beginning of the year, San Marino introduced extra taxation of labor commuting across the border from Italy. According to Countryaah official site, criticism was raised in the European Parliament against the decision, which is estimated to affect about 6,000 people, most of whom are EU citizens. Country data Area:…
Samoa 2011
Yearbook 2011 Samoa. In the March elections, Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaois’s ruling party HRPP (the Party for the Protection of Human Rights) resigned but still won and received 29 of Parliament’s 49 seats. The opposition party Tautua Samoa received 13 seats, while seven seats went to individual candidates who support the government. According to…
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2011
Yearbook 2011 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Floods and landslides in April caused major damage to roads, bridges, housing and crops. According to Countryaah official site, the country, which was hit hard by Hurricane Tomas just six months earlier, ended up in an acute payment crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved loans to help…
Saint Lucia 2011
Yearbook 2011 Saint Lucia. Elections held in Parliament’s lower house in November led to a change of government. Saint Lucia’s Workers’ Party (SLP) regained power after five years in opposition. According to Countryaah official site, Kenny Anthony, who was prime minister in 1997-2006, returned as head of government. The election loss for the conservative UWP…
Saint Kitts and Nevis 2011
Yearbook 2011 Saint Christopher and Nevis. In elections to the Legislative Assembly on the smaller island of Nevis in July, the ruling Nevis renewal party (NRP) was re-elected for a new term. According to Countryaah official site, the Opposition Party The Citizens’ Movement (CCM) questioned the official result and boycotted the work of the Assembly…