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This article aims to analyze the Turkish foreign policy towards the African continent in the 21st century. With the end of the Cold War and the world order centered on a bipolar logic, Turkey has had greater autonomy to manage its international relations, maintaining a more active foreign policy by expanding its economic, diplomatic, and security affairs beyond the West. In this context, under the leadership of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the African continent has come to occupy an increasingly prominent place in Turkish foreign relations. Thus, since the early 2000s, there has been a substantial increase in Turkey's presence on the continent, characterized, among other aspects, by the intensification of bilateral trade flows, the expansion of the diplomatic network on the continent, its participation in the mediation of conflicts and the offer of humanitarian assistance to African actors. In this context, and based on the literature on Middle Powers and Regional Powers, this paper discusses the intensification of Turkey's ties with African countries since the beginning of the 21st century, comprehending it as part of a broader international projection strategy. To this end, the study adopts a hermeneutic approach, relying on the literature review on Turkish-African relations and the analysis, supported by quantitative data, of the developments of these relations in the political, economic, and security axes throughout the period in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uno de los elementos de reflexión y debate del sistema político español se vincula con la composición, funciones y posición del Senado. La Constitución, en su artículo 69.1, lo define como la cámara de representación territorial; pero como consecuencia del principio dispositivo y el despliegue del modelo autonómico, la composición y las funciones del Senado distan mucho de ser las de una cámara de integración de las entidades territoriales, a pesar de lo cual mantiene elementos federalizantes. Uno de ellos es la existencia de senadores designados por las asambleas legislativas de las comunidades autónomas. El paper analiza y modeliza la configuración de los senadores autonómicos a partir de su regulación, los procedimientos para su elección y la posición institucional que se les otorga en las instituciones de autogobierno con la finalidad de comprender el potencial que tiene este tipo de representantes electos para mejorar la representatividad del sistema.