James D. Bindenagel is a retired U.S. Ambassador, Henry-Kissinger-Professor (Emeritus) at Bonn University, and Senior Non-Resident Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He has published: Germany: From Peace to Power? Can Germany Lead in Europe without Dominating it? (2020) and International Sicherheit im 21. Jahrhundert, Deutschlands Verantwortung (2015), both published by V&R Bonn for Bonn University.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Remembrance of a German Statesman
Hans-Dietrich Genscher was German foreign minister when I first met him. On 1 October 1982, I was in Bonn to consult with Wolfgang Ischinger, his office director. Our meeting was …
Taking Stock in United Germany at 25 Years
AGI is pleased to present this collection of essays reflecting on the 25th anniversary of German unification in October 2015. We are grateful to those who have contributed to this …
Building the Transatlantic Relationship
This speech was delivered as the Columbus Day Lecture 2014 at the Center for International Security and Governance, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, where Ambassador James D. Bindenagel is the Henry Kissinger …
The Miracle of Leipzig
This is a story about the secret of freedom—courage. Germans in Leipzig courageously faced down a regime that had killed fellow citizens, whose only crime was to seek freedom and …
Germany: Reluctant Leader and Indispensable Power
In this article in the Globalist, co-author of AGI German-American Issues 12 Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel outlines Germany’s post-election future in the euro zone, broader foreign policy, and leadership in the …
Germany’s Historical Euro Responsibility
In this Op-Ed, which originally appeared in Süddeutsche Zeitung on January 12, 2012, J.D. Bindenagel takes a brief look back at the history of Europe leading up to the push for a European Monetary Union. According to Mr. Bindenagel, the future success of the Euro rests on the will of Europe’s leaders, and Germany in particular, to make their monetary union work.
Germany’s Global Role at Risk: New Challenges for Stability in the Middle East
Germany’s struggle to understand and to define its global responsibilities through the euro crisis, Afghanistan, and now Libya has taken the country’s policy course through more turns than in the Nürburgring racetrack, writes Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel, vice president at DePaul University and a regular contributor to the Advisor. Because of its unclear policies, Germany faces the challenge of being sidelined when the danger of the moment in the Middle East urgently needs European leadership, Bindenagel argues. This essay originally appeared in the May 18, 2011, edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The Fall of the Wall at 20: Global Consequences Today
German-American Issues 12 When East Germans first crossed through the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, no one knew that the consequences of this one small act would have global …
