After the State Elections in the East
The Risk of a Frozen German Democracy The election results in the eastern German states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg came as a shock to the government in Berlin. Not …
Europe Must Stand Firm Supporting Ukraine’s Independence
As the Ukraine conflict continues with no end in sight after over one and a half years of fighting, the European determination to stand up against Putin’s war of aggression …
Angela Merkel’s Germany
Her Legacy for the Next Government At the end of Angela Merkel’s long career as Chancellor of Germany stands a stunning defeat for her party, the Christian Democratic Union. But …
Returning to the Past to Win the Future: The SPD in Search of a Long-Term Strategy
Still in the midst of a pandemic and trying to unify a dispirited party with low poll numbers, Germany’s Social Democrats are now trying to revive the uplifting spirit of …
A Farewell to Power: Germany’s Social Democratic Party After the Election of a New Party Leadership
The Social Democratic Party, Germany’s oldest democratic party which emerged from an early German labor movement, survived the challenge of communism after World War I, was forced into exile during …
A Message to Brussels from the European Elections: We Accept the European Project but the Union Has to Change
European elections are a fundamentally democratic exercise, the second-largest (after India) democratic manifestation of the will of some 450 million eligible voters. There were attempts to interfere, manipulate, and even …
The 2019 State Elections in Bremen: A Mini-State of the Federal Republic of Germany with Maximum Political Impact on Germany’s Political Future
Bremen, with its 482,000 citizens, is the smallest state of the Federal Republic of Germany. Governed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as the strongest political force since 1946, last …
Geopolitics in the Trump Era: The Dual Challenge of Russia and China for Europe and the Need for a New Containment Strategy
Europe faces a serious new security dilemma. With the cancellation of the INF Treaty as a result of Russia’s treaty-violating nuclear build-up and modernization, Europe is now more than ever …
Angst of Demise: The Dilemma of German Social Democracy After the Elections in Hesse
Surviving in a Multiparty Political Environment After the recent disastrous election results in the states of Bavaria and Hesse, the ground is shifting rapidly for Germany’s Grand Coalition of CDU/CSU …
The 2003 Iraq War as a Turning Point in German–American Relations: Political Leadership and Alliance Cohesion
The article explores and explains Germany’s pre-emptive ‘No’ to the war in Iraq and argues that the ‘No’ was not a structural break in the relationship with the US, although …
Between Renewal and Responsibility: The SPD in the Face of the Paralysis of the Political Center in Germany
With the beginning of exploratory talks between SPD and CDU/CSU on January 7, 2018, the German political system offers a last opportunity to form a stable government after the September …
At War with Radical Islam: A Recipe for the Wrong Kind of Leadership in the Twenty-First Century
In the summer of 2014, Stephen Bannon gave a talk at the Institute for Human Dignity in Rome via Skype saying that “we are in an outright war against jihadist …