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Washington Viewpoints: Assessing Berlin’s Role in EU Energy Security

Europe is confronted with a new geopolitical landscape, with energy a major nexus.  The Russian annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine has shattered assumptions about the postwar and …

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Germany Rethinks Its Security Policy

At the Munich Security Conference in 2014, German President Joachim Gauck challenged the Federal Republic to assume greater responsibility in security policy, emphasizing German leadership in conflict prevention, but also …

“The Great Divergence”: Elements for an Early Assessment

At the beginning of 2015, as many investors grew increasingly skeptical about the prospects of the euro area’s economy and its central bank’s capacity to fight what appeared to be …

The G20 and Its Contribution to Growth and Global Governance

The G20 at leaders’ level was created in November 2008, shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, at the height of the global financial crisis. Growth was therefore immediately at …

The Tattered German-American Relationship Needs the USA FREEDOM Act…More for What It Doesn’t Do than for What It Does

Congress is debating the USA FREEDOM Act in the next days. The House approved Representative Jim Sensenbrenner’s version of the law on Wednesday and the Senate is expected to vote …

Soft Power: Its Use in German and American Cultural Diplomacy

At an AGI workshop about Germany’s cultural policies in 1998, Harvard historian Charles Maier summarized his critical observations in one sentence: “Germany is a country that wants to run without …

Which Carrots and Which Sticks? Searching for a Strategy to Deal with Russia in the Ukraine Crisis

The Western community faces a dilemma in Ukraine. On the one hand, Putin is known to react to pressure with fierce counter pressure.[1] If you bully him into a tight …

An Aging Germany in a Young World: Adapting to Demographic Changes

In most of the developed world, birth rates have been falling.  Population decline results in economic and social strains and can even threaten national security.  Germany is a particularly severe …

Developing Advanced Work-Based Higher Education: What Germany and the U.S. Can Learn from Each Other

Currently, many countries are experiencing a strong renewed interest in work-based training.[1] When it comes to discussions in this field, American policymakers usually identify dual apprenticeship training as the “crown …

Ostpolitik Reset: How Germany is Re-Evaluating its Relationship with Russia

The Chancellery recently announced that Angela Merkel will not attend the May 9 Moscow celebration to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II. She will, however, …

Rethinking Trust: U.S.-German Relations Beyond the NSA Affair

In political rhetoric, trust is a powerful trope.[1] Various speeches, policy papers, and internal notes use the term trust and emphasize its crucial meaning for bilateral partnerships. The benefits of …

Second Life of Political Leaders: A Case Study of Adolf Hitler

The Role of Adolf Hitler’s Image in American Popular Culture In recent times, the term “second life” relates to a web game in which people create characters of themselves. However, they …