DGAPinfo

Religion and Politics in the U.S.

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-06-29T08:34:27+00:00

At the 4th Alumni Conference of the Round Table USA at Stanford University, from June 26-29, 2008, Josef Braml gave a presentation on “Religious Groups in the U.S. and Their Influence on Politics and (Foreign) Policy Making.”

Perspectives for Transatlantic Cooperation

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-06-20T12:38:17+00:00

At a conference featuring “Europe in the World,” in Cracow from June 19-20, 2008, which was jointly organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and the Institute for Strategic Studies, Josef Braml presented perspectives for transatlantic cooperation after the US elections.

Globally Sustainable Energy Security Policy

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-06-11T14:07:29+00:00

Accepting the invitation of State Secretary Michael Mertes, the State Representative of North Rhine-Westphalia’s “NRgy Lounge,” a energy policy roundtable, Josef Braml presented on June 11, 2008 the policy recommendations of DGAP’s yearbook featuring “Globally Sustainable Energy Security Policy.”

The U.S. After the Elections: Domestic Arrangement of Political Powers and International Order

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-06-07T14:39:16+00:00

At a conference featuring “Order in International Relations,” in Passau, from June 6-7, 2008, organized by the University of Passsau and the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation, Josef Braml explained the interconnection between the domestic system of checks-and-balances and US ideas to rearrange international order.

Germany's foreign policy II

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-05-08T09:23:52+00:00

At the request of the United States Congressional Research Service, on May 8th, Jan Techau briefed American participants in this years Congress/Bundestag exchange program on current issues on the German domestic and foreign policy agenda.

Germany's foreign policy

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-05-07T09:22:52+00:00

On May 7th, Jan Techau was invited by Deutsche Post / World Net in Washington, D.C. to hold a luncheon discussion on Germany's foreign policy, the EU's agenda after Lisbon, and the results of the NATO summit in Bucharest.

US military personnel briefed on German perspectives

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-22T13:54:30+00:00

On April 22, 2008 in Beelitz/Brandenburg, Dr. Josef Braml and Dr. Henning Riecke discussed transatlantic relations with a group of 50 American civil servants and military officers.

Are structural conflicts straining the basically solid US-German relationship? Which misperceptions prevail on each side of the Atlantic? Which motives guide the international deployment of German Bundeswehr troops? These Questions were discussed in the U.S. Department of Defense’s Executive Leadership Development Program. Joined by William E. Moeller, in charge of political-military affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, DGAP’s experts gave short introductions and responded to the participants' questions. Patricia S. Bradshaw, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy, and in charge of the program, also participated.

Russia and Globalization

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-15T18:34:13+00:00

Alexander Rahr participated in the convention of the Kremlin party “United Russia” in Moscow on April 14th-15th.

In his speech on “Russia and Globalization” Rahr pointed out to the assembly that Russia should avoid conflict with the west as it main challenges lay in the South and East. The mayor of Moscow, Juri Luschkow, criticized Rahr’s speech saying that all conflicts between Russia and the West originated in the West.

Contradictions in NATO

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-15T17:56:45+00:00

On April 15, 2008, Dr. Henning Riecke gave a lecture on "NATO after the Bucarest summit - maintaining the multi-pupose alliance? at the DGAP Forum Munich.

At a breakfast meeting, Riecke summarized the results of the Bucarest summit and debated NATOs agenda until the coming anniversary summit in Strassburg and Kehl in spring next year. He described the frictions inside the alliance as structural contradictions between the purposes the members attach to it. The allies must create consensus on a number of issues: Contentious are the relation between military and civilian elements in conflict management, the strategic dialogue between NATO and EU and the global outreach of the alliance.
The meeting took place on the premises of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Munich

EU and Chinese Policies towards Africa

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-14T13:20:35+00:00

On April, 17th, 2008, an exclusive group of decision-makers and think tankers from the EU, China and African countries will discuss diverging and converging approaches of the two actors towards the African continent in the fields of peacekeeping and energy policy.

Please find the profiles of the participants here.

“Whereto navigates Russia?”

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-09T10:24:43+00:00

On the 9th April 2008 Alexander Rahr took part at the panel discussion “Whereto navigates Russia?” in Dresden. Within this discussion, Mr. Rahr argued with the former Minister of State of Saxony Heinz Eggert about current political topics concerning Russia.

During the debate the relationship between Russia and the NATO as well as the reasons for Russia’s negative attitudes towards the eastern enlargement of the NATO and the missile defence was discussed. Furthermore the energy and trade policy of the Russian Federation was a topic of the panel discussion. Mr. Rahr advanced the view that investments from Russia on the European market should not be refused generally. Afterwards the domestically circumstances of Russia were argued, whilst Mr. Rahr stressed out not to measure the Russian democracy with the western rules.

The Influence of Religious Groups in Germany and the U.S.

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-05T13:28:21+00:00

At the Annual Meeting of German and American Journalists on April 5, 2008 in Berlin, Josef Braml spoke about “Religious Groups in Germany and the United States and their Influence on Media, Science, Education, Business, and Politics.

Transatlantic Relations after the elections

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-04-01T16:56:59+00:00

On April 1st, 2008, Jan Techau discussed scenarios and issues for the coming Euro-American agenda at a conference sponsored by the Stanley Foundation at Airlie Center, Virginia.

Europe and Nuclear Disarmament

Andreas Alvarez — 2008-03-27T13:20:00+00:00

On march 27, 2008, Dr. Henning Riecke gave a lecture in The Hague on “European Players in Nuclear Arms Control“, at a panel discussion organized by the Atlantische Commissie.

In the Societé de Witte in the Dutch Capital, Ivo Daalder of Brookings and Riecke debated US, French and British plans for their nuclear arsenals. Riecke gave attention to the most recent cuts in the French nuclear force, announced by President Sarkozy about a week earlier. While London and Paris still rely on nucklear arms as instrument against possible new threats, Berlin is trying to devalue this kind of weapon for security. Directly after the debate, the Dutch foreign minister Maxim Verhagen gave a lecture on the security risks in a gloablized world.

Doing more in Afghanistan?

Patrick Wagner — 2008-03-04T15:38:43+00:00

Alexander Skiba and Jan Techau gave a talk on 4 March 2008, at the Potsdam chapter of the Deutsche Atlantische Gesellschaft on the topic of “Doing more in Afghanistan? Germany at the crossroads”.

Skiba and Techau discussed the relationship between the low approval ratings of the German population for Germany's military engagement in Afghanistan and the federal government's reluctance to provide combat forces for the south of the country, as requested by some of its NATO allies. To improve Germany's capacity and freedom to act militarily in theaters such as Afghanistan in the longer term, politicians would be well-advised to tell the German public the plain truth about Germany's national interests and to debate the Bundeswehr's missions more courageously and vigorously.

New Program Officer Russia/Eurasia

Patrick Wagner — 2008-03-01T09:19:55+00:00

Carolin Savchuk is new Program Officer in the Russia/Eurasia Program since 1 March 2008.

She studied languages, business and cultural studies (specializing on Eastern Europe) at the University of Passau, and worked at Samara State University in Russia teaching German as a foreign language. Before joining DGAP she worked for a Berlin consulting company managing projects concerning Ukraine, Central Asia and Caucasus.

Think Tank Role in Enlargement Debate

Patrick Wagner — 2008-02-22T14:20:57+00:00

On 22 February 2008 Cornelius Adebahr informed a high level delegation of government representatives of the Western Balkan states about the role of think tanks in the German enlargement debate.

Among the participants were the deputy foreign minister of Serbia, the deputy minister for European integration of Albania, the director of the department for European integration of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the deputy prime minister of Montenegro.

The confidential meeting took place in the Berlin House of Representatives and was organized by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the European Stability Initiative (ESI) and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECRF).

Global Economic Institutions in Flux

Patrick Wagner — 2008-02-12T08:44:15+00:00

On 12 February 2008, Katharina Gnath gave a presentation on global economic institutions in flux at the Bundesakademie für Öffentliche Verwaltung in Berlin.

Katharina Gnath presented the main global economic and financial institutions WTO, IMF, World Bank and G-8 and outlined their main characteristics and functions. Furthermore, she explained that these institutions are – in differing forms and degrees – confronted with new challenges, most importantly with the changing economic balance of power and the increased importance of emerging countries.

U.S. Elections: Hope for UN?

Patrick Wagner — 2008-02-11T14:56:37+00:00

On 11 February 2008, Josef Braml gave a presentation at the Bundesakademie für Öffentliche Verwaltung in Berlin, featuring transatlantic challenges.

Regardless of the US elections’ outcome, the United States may turn their attention even more towards other organizations, declare the United Nations irrelevant and withhold funding, expects Josef Braml. In the 1990s it has become clear that the United States’ attitude towards the UN has a significant impact on the scope and substance of the world bodies’ activities.

Russia After Putin

Patrick Wagner — 2008-02-05T18:00:00+00:00

In the radio broadcast “Forum” by RBB Inforadio, Alexander Rahr discussed Dirk Sager’s new book on 5 February 2008.

Russia wants to come back to the international stage as a super power at all costs. Dirk Sager’s new book “Pulverfass Russland” analyzes the Kremlin’s aims and which implication these have, for the rest of the world.

Together with Alexander Rahr he looked into Russia’s future: What comes after Putin?