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Publications by Thorsten Benner
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Testimony 05 Apr 2018
China’s Relations With U.S. Allies and Partners in Europe
By Thorsten Benner, Thomas WrightSummary of Key Points China is interested in a stable — but pliant and fragmented —EU and the large and integrated European single market that underpins it. Properly managed, the CCP leadership has concluded, parts of Europe can be a useful conduit to further its interests. China wants to dilute the… -
Interview 05 Apr 2018
“The German Car Industry Has to Stop Allowing Itself to Be Used by Viktor Orbán”
SZ: Mr. Benner, what are the implications of the upcoming election in Hungary for the EU? Thorsten Benner: Sunday will decide whether Viktor Orbán will be able to continue his project of building what he calls an “illiberal state” in the heart of Europe, where the rule of law and other key norms of… -
Commentary 23 Mar 2018
How Germany Can Get the Facebook Scandal Right
In her policy speech on Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel delved into the scandal around Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. She argued that the current issues with regard to Facebook “are only a detail of an overarching question,” namely: How to create a “just system of the sovereignty of the… -
Podcast 20 Mar 2018
The Ramaphosa Era: Challenges at Home and Abroad for South Africa
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Interview 15 Mar 2018
“China Is the Most Difficult Strategic Challenge the West Has Faced to Date”
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Some now argue that the assumption that China would open up and democratize as a result of being interconnected with the Western economic system and the liberal international order has proven to be false. Do you agree? Benner: That was indeed an overly optimistic and misguided… -
Commentary 15 Mar 2018
Europe, Don’t Let China Divide and Conquer
By Thorsten Benner, Jan WeidenfeldEuropean leaders are toying with a risky idea: reducing the flow of structural funds to Hungary and other EU members who challenge key norms of liberal democracies. Not only would this proposal put further strain on already rocky relations between those countries and the rest of the Union, it may… -
Commentary 26 Feb 2018
Handlanger für Autokraten
Alfred Gusenbauer und Romano Prodi sind prominente Ex-Politiker, die sich gerade in öffentlichen Erklärungen winden. Sie behaupten, sie hätten sich vor ein paar Jahren für eine engere Beziehung Europas zur Ukraine eingesetzt, sonst nichts weiter. Sie tun das, weil die jüngste Anklageschrift des US-… -
Commentary 25 Feb 2018
The Dark Arts of Foreign Influence-Peddling
These days, it’s never good news for Paul Manafort. On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller released his latest indictment against President Donald Trump’s one-time campaign chairman. It charged that Manafort “secretly retained” a small group of former European leaders to “act informally and… -
Commentary 19 Feb 2018
Europe Needs to Step Up Vigilance on China’s Influence
By Thorsten Benner, Kristin Shi-KupferMike Pompeo, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, said last month that Beijing’s efforts to exert influence in liberal democracies are just as concerning as those of Moscow, citing China’s “much bigger footprint”. Indeed, China’s rapidly increasing political influencing efforts and… -
Commentary 12 Feb 2018
Europa süßsauer
By Thorsten Benner, Kristin Shi-KupferDer Deal des Deutschen Fußball-Bunds klang verlockend. Regionalliga-Teams bekommen 15 000 Euro für ein Freundschaftsspiel gegen die chinesische U-20-Mannschaft. Für den DFB ist es Teil einer größeren Strategie. Der Verband will gern etwas von den Abermillionen abhaben, die Präsident Xi und der… -
Study 05 Feb 2018
Authoritarian Advance: Responding to China’s Growing Political Influence in Europe
China’s rapidly increasing political influencing efforts in Europe and the self-confident promotion of its authoritarian ideals pose a significant challenge to liberal democracy as well as Europe’s values and interests. While Beijing’s efforts have received much less scrutiny than the efforts of… -
Commentary 19 Jan 2018
Die Unschärfe der scharfen Macht
Chinas zunehmende Bemühungen, auf westliche Demokratien Einfluss zu nehmen, geraten immer stärker in den Fokus der öffentlichen Diskussion. Ende letzten Jahres widmete der Economist dem Thema eine Titelgeschichte mit der Überschrift „Scharfe Macht“ (sharp power). Damit greift das Magazin einen von… -
Commentary 22 Dec 2017
Der Weg zu neuen Strategien
Es ist selten, dass die Rede eines amtierenden Außenministers solch hohe Wellen schlägt. Die Kritiker von Sigmar Gabriels „Grundsatzrede“ beim Körber-Forum Anfang Dezember 2017 in Berlin fahren schweres Geschütz auf. Von „giftigen Narrativen“ ist die Rede. Mit dem „Abgesang auf die USA“ wende sich… -
Commentary 24 Nov 2017
German Liberals: Better Off in Opposition
The failure this week of negotiations over a four-party “Jamaica” coalition in Germany has a face: Christian Lindner. It was the 38-year-old leader of the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) who pulled the plug and decided to walk away just before midnight on Sunday.Leaving his stunned… -
Commentary 23 Nov 2017
Imagining a Post-Merkel Europe
"Political uncertainty has crossed the Rhine," French academic and Emmanuel Macron adviser Jean Pisani-Ferry declared. The New York Times, which has put its bets on German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the new "leader of the free world", warned that the collapse of coalition talks in Germany "portends… -
Article 01 Nov 2017
Autokraten auf dem Vormarsch
In den ersten 20 Jahren nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges war internationale Einflussnahme eine Einbahnstraße: Sie ging von liberalen Demokratien aus, die ihr Regierungsmodell weltweit zu verbreiten suchten. Dank dieser Demokratieförderung, so die Annahme, würden autoritäre Systeme auf dem Müllhaufen… -
Commentary 29 Sep 2017
Feigenblätter des Illiberalismus
Zum „Glück für die liberale Demokratie“ gebe es den „Eigennutz global operierender Kapitalisten“, argumentierte ein Leitartikler jüngst im Tagesspiegel. Er verbreitete die Hoffnung, dass sich Apple, General Electric & Facebook sich mit ihrer ganzen Kraft gegen Trumps nationalistische Engstirnigkeit… -
Commentary 29 Sep 2017
Handling the Alternative for Germany
“We will hunt her,” Alexander Gauland exclaimed to a crowd of supporters in Berlin late on September 24. “We will hunt Mrs. Merkel and whomever else. And we will take our country and our people back.” Gauland’s party, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), had just won a historic victory in… -
Commentary 26 Sep 2017
The German Shake-Up: Rocky Road Ahead for Angela Merkel
It would seem that German voters reserved the big bang for the ballot box, as if to counteract what many observers had decried as a "boring election". In a major shake-up, a record number of seven parties secured seats in the Bundestag following Sunday's election, including the extreme right-wing… -
Commentary 21 Sep 2017
Distanziert euch von den Autokraten!
Die Regierungen in Ungarn und Polen ernten schon seit Längerem Kritik von ihren europäischen Nachbarn. So sagte der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron erst kürzlich, mancher politische Führer aus Osteuropa offenbare eine „zynische Herangehensweise“…