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When Chancellor Angela Merkel recently cited the “challenges” concerning the National Security Agency as an area that the German government has “tackled excellently” this term, many observers were surprised – not least because, two years into the “NSA affair,” the German government continues to…

Environment, Development and Security The Global Energy Challenge provides a comprehensive overview of today’s three most topical energy challenges, or the “energy trilemma”: climate change, energy poverty and energy security. The book addresses the rise of energy geopolitics and the related…

Aid Workers, Agencies and Institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo This book examines the practices in Western and local spheres of humanitarian intervention, and shows how the divide between these spheres helps to perpetuate Western involvement. Using the Democratic Republic of the…

When OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría criticizes the Swiss government for its failure to adopt international tax standards, when Strasbourg tells the British that depriving prisoners of the right to vote violates European human rights law or when the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to…

Less than a month after the signing ceremony of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, another global financial institution was launched 1200 kilometers further south. Based in Shanghai, China’s financial hub, the New Development Bank’s creation marks an important step…

What is wrong with refugee policy in Europe? Ten years ago, European heads of state agreed to create a “Common European Asylum System” establishing minimum standards and harmonizing them across Europe. In many ways, the European Union has been a driver of new and progressive laws. But too often has…

The African Union’s Agenda 2063 outlines a clear vision for structural socio-economic transformation on the continent. The idea is that through better mobilization of Africa’s minerals and energy resources, the continent will be able to promote accelerated industrialization, efficient and…

The negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are changing the system of world trade. But the far-reaching implications for third-party states, particularly developing countries, remain hardly an issue in the public debate. TTIP…

Das Thema Freihandel ist mit TTIP in der öffentlichen Debatte angekommen. Potenzielle Auswirkungen auf Drittstaaten und speziell Entwicklungsländer stellen dabei jedoch ein Randthema dar. Zu Unrecht – denn TTIP bedeutet eine Veränderung des Welthandelssystems, die auch für Entwicklungsländer…

The European Union Regulatory State and the Global Political Economy of Energy Since 1992, the European Union has put liberalization at the core of its energy policy agenda. This aspiration was very much in line with an international political economy driven by the neo-liberal (Washington)…

In December 2013, Jan Eliasson, the United Nations deputy secretary-general, went on a selling spree. In a series of briefings, he presented a new initiative to UN member states and to the rest of the world. In his address to the General Assembly, Eliasson said, not mincing words: “In improving the…

It has been more than 20 months since Nigeria’s militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, abducted 276 girls from a high school in the town of Chibok, Nigeria. Today, more than 200 of these girls remain missing despite the global campaign to rescue them. This has exposed the Nigerian government’s…

The European Union uses a confidential, institutionalized Dialogue to raise human rights concerns with China, but little is publicly known about its set-up, its substance, its development over time and its impact. This book provides the first detailed reconstruction and assessment of the EU’s…

This opinion piece is part of the the Global Governance Futures 2025 program which brings together young professionals to look ahead and recommend ways to address global challenges. The United Nations (UN) is a picture of the world 70 years ago and is no longer suitable for or representative of…

The Human Rights up Front Initiative of the United Nations Too often has the United Nations system failed to mobilize all of its tools to protect populations from serious human rights violations. A notable example is the UN’s inadequate human rights response in Sri Lanka in 2009, during the…