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Summary 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…

Europe’s initial enthusiasm about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is tempering. BRI is undermining the EU’s internal cohesion, has the potential to impact European security, and is creating stiff competition for European companies on trade, investments, and market access in Europe and Asia.…

Is he up to it? Can he stand up to Putin or Erdogan without flinching? Tackle reforms in Europe? Manage an increasing number of crises? With ever-growing expectations for German foreign policy, experts and journalists alike have a lot of questions about the new German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.…

In 2017, the German government adopted the ‘Guidelines on Preventing Crises, Resolving Conflicts, Building Peace’ to make its crisis engagement more political, strategic and coherent. Germany’s civilian stabilization efforts in Iraq, as well as the Federal Armed Forces’ deployment in the country –…

Kann er das? Mit einem Putin oder Erdoğan verhandeln, ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken? Reformen in Europa anpacken? Immer mehr Krisen managen? Selten war Außenpolitik so entscheidend für Deutschland und Europa. Entsprechend viele Fragen haben Experten und Journalisten zu dem neuen Außenminister Heiko…

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…

These days, there is no lack of international crises. During the new German government’s first couple of days in office, the Bundestag has already discussed six mandates for Germany’s armed forces. It did so with much controversy and media attention. But what about those crises that have not yet…

As the Islamic State of Iraq swept through central and northern Iraq in 2014, Iraqi forces crumbled and state control collapsed. A range of local, sub-state, and hybrid security forces mobilized to fill the gap, helping Iraqi Security Forces retake and hold territory. Although an immediate solution…

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…

European 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…

More than 70 years after the Holocaust, the German government has elevated the prevention of mass atrocities as a key goal in German foreign policy. In its new Guidelines on Preventing Crises, Resolving Conflicts, Building Peace, adopted by the federal cabinet in June 2017, the German government…

Tomorrow, we’re going to learn who Germany’s new foreign minister will be. Sigmar Gabriel, the incumbent, is no longer an option. Either of the rumored front-runners, whether Katarina Barley or Heiko Maas, would be new to an international affairs portfolio. “Foreign Minister of Germany?” you might…

Digital and cyber issues were recurring themes during Germany’s recent election. The coalition agreement, which gave Angela Merkel another four years as Chancellor, picked these themes up, but left many questions unaddressed. Nevertheless, here’s what we can expect from the new German government…