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Following more than 130 days of solitary confinement, IPF group advisor and mentor Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh has been released on bail from Tehran's Evin prison. He has not yet been formally charged with any crime. Nevertheless, he is not permitted to travel outside the country for at least the next two months as the authorities complete their investigation. We continue to be concerned for the safety and well being of our colleague and friend. A collection of background news articles and commentary continue to be updated at: news & commentary and on the FreeKian.org website.

Fresh policy studies and recommendations for reform on issues including ethno-sectarian discourse in the media of Iraq, corruption and state capture in Serbia, poverty reduction in Pakistan, and Central European regulatory responses to global climate change are currently available from www.policy.hu as well as the CPS Policy Documentation Center. A searchable section highlighting new studies will be available shortly. While the 2005-06 IPF working groups collaborated on research encompassing similar broad themes
(see http://www.policy.hu/themes05/index.html), each project targeted several specific policy problems and objectives. All issue papers by 2006-07 fellows are also available on individual fellow websites at http://www.policy.hu/themes06/list.html.

Policy Perspectives: Islam and Tolerance in Wider Europe, offers a refreshing new look at the complex interplay between religion, nationalism and expansionism in an increasingly globalized world. The authors - fellows and colleagues of the IPF program - are all actively involved in national policymaking processes. With research covering Western Europe, the Caucasus, Russia, Turkey, Central Europe, and the Balkans, their policy perspectives offer uniquely insightful insider stories and comparisons across countries and regions. (View publication at http://www.policy.hu/ipf/policyperspectives/ and www.amazon.com)

Together with the OSI Information Programs, International Policy Fellows in South Africa, India and Uganda are leading advocacy efforts promoting developing country access to scientific and scholarly information online. Scientists and policymakers including IPF fellows Eve Gray, Prashant Iyengar, and Dick Kawooya, at an OSI-sponsored workshop in Bangalore, India agreed upon guidelines for promoting open access for developing countries. In addition, fellow Yaman Akdeniz is continuing his project on internet governance in Turkey, which earned him an invitation by the Prime Ministry of Turkey to discuss issues related to the modernization of Turkey's policy processes with senior civil servants. His fellowship report Internet Governance: Toward the Modernization of the Policymaking Process in Turkey, published by the Turkish Informatics Society, attracted significant media coverage and public debate. Open Information Policy studies and further information about the projects are available from http://www.policy.hu/themes06/opinfo/index.html and the CPS Policy Documentation Center.

International Policy Fellows in Afghanistan and Pakistan are engaging in initiatives to promote greater transparency and accountability in policymaking. In 2005-6, Ahmed Idrees Rahmani organized research teams, community focus group discussions, and extensive interviews throughout Afghanistan examining the roles of religious institutions and newly established Community Development Councils in Afghan local governance. In Pakistan, Mehr Latif evaluated the country's new Citizen Community Boards, Mukhtar Ali scrutinized freedom of information law and practice, and Syed Mohammad Ali investigated the lack of civic participation in donor-driven poverty reduction programs. Their findings and policy recommendations are available at http://www.policy.hu/themes05/muslim/index.html and the CPS Policy Documentation Center.

OSI International Policy Fellows in countries from the Czech Republic to Indonesia have recently helped establish new policy institutes and programs designed to provide independent policy analysis and research. Fellows with new initiatives include Jiri Schneider with the Prague Security Studies Institute (www.pssi.cz), Islam Yusufi with Analytica in Macedonia (www.analyticamk.org), Asima Yanti Siahaan in Indonesia, and Liliana Proskuyakova in Russia (strategy-spb.ru/en/), who helped launch an IPF-inspired fellowship program at Strategy.

As a result of her International Policy Fellowship project, Neda Milevska-Kostova was invited as a member of an official working group established to draft Macedonia's first Law on Patients' Rights. Urska Lunder's policy fellowship implementing a palliative care model within the Slovene health system earned her nomination as a candidate for Slovenian of the Year 2005 and recognition in national award ceremonies held at the Parliament and Opera House. She continues to work with the Ministry of Health and practitioners on the project. Various studies and further information about fellows' public health projects are available from www.policy.hu and the CPS Policy Documentation Center.

International Policy Fellows feature prominently in the international media. Recently, BBC News quoted fellow Nicu Popescu on the European Union's efforts to influence the economic and democratic reforms of its Mediterranean and former Soviet neighbors (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6194928.stm). "How to Deal With NGOs - Part II, Russia" by Liliana Proscuryakova is featured in YaleGlobal Online Magazine along with "Preventing Misuse of Development Aid" by Syed Mohammad Ali, also available from YaleGlobal at http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/, republished from the original in the Daily Times of Pakistan. Recent articles and publications by International Policy Fellows are available from working group and fellow websites at http://www.policy.hu/themes05/index.html and http://www.policy.hu/themes06/index.html.

International Policy Fellow Ekaterina Sokirianskaia worked to defend the victims of rights abuses and reduce ethnic tensions in the North Caucasus with the Russian human rights organization Memorial and as a professor at Chechen State University in Grozny. Her fellowship research developed strategies for the return of Ingush internally displaced persons (IDPs) to North Ossetia and analyzed the role of local institutions in the post-conflict area. Katya presented her work in 2006 as a keynote panelist at the International Human Rights Funder's Group meeting in New York. Her article "Reliable and Unreliable Peoples: the Ingush-Ossetian conflict and prospects for Post-Beslan Reconciliation" in the IPF book Islam and Tolerance in Wider Europe is available online at www.policy.hu/ipf/policyperspectives and www.amazon.com.

Together with partners including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, and the Center for Intercultural Studies and Partnership in Sofia, the International Policy Fellowships (IPF) program co-hosted public seminars to discuss fellow policy studies highlighted in the IPF book Islam and Tolerance in Wider Europe. Central questions addressed by the book and by panelists during events at the Woodrow Wilson Center and elsewhere attended by policymakers and media representatives included: How has 'global war on terror' political rhetoric played out on the ground in post-communist and post-colonial societies engaged in nation-building? What are the links between marginalized Muslim communities and political Islam in Wider Europe? How can the West re-orient public policies to better address "Islam crises"?

Together with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the International Policy Fellowships program co-hosted a public seminar at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC and distributed advance copies of the IPF book Islam and Tolerance in Wider Europe. WWC East European Studies Program Director Martin Sletzinger opened the mid-summer 2006 event attended by DC-based policymakers, researchers and media representatives, while several media organizations broadcast portions of the seminar and participant interviews read more: Woodrow Wilson event

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read more: Romania Policymaking