AGI

Society, Culture & Politics

The AGI Society, Culture & Politics Program focuses on crucial topics within the German-American dialogue, including: demographic change, migration/integration, and aging societies; electoral politics at the national, state, and European levels, and comparative analysis of Germany and the United States; diversity within Germany, Europe, and the United States; the politics of collective memory and identity, Holocaust remembrance and reconciliation, and shifting conceptions of national identity that shape perspectives and policy responses.
Reset

Documenting German and Japanese War Crimes prior to 1945: The UN War Crimes Commission

Dan Plesch’s new book, Human Rights after Hitler: The Lost History of Prosecuting Axis War Crimes, sheds light on the existence of a little-known agency founded amid the atrocities of …

Working for Reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians: The Example of Friendship Across Borders

Working for reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians is arduous but rewarding—it keeps providing glimmers of hope in a situation that often seems beyond hopeless politically, motivating us to persevere. …

From Kristallnacht and Back: Searching for Meaning in the History of the Shanghai Jews

When the Jews sought refuge from the Nazi regime, they were most often met with hatred and indifference. Most of the world closed its doors on the Jews, and, for …

A Grassroots Movement for the Transatlantic Partnership

The transatlantic partnership is currently in a state of uncertainty. Not only the transition from President Obama to President Trump, but also the populist eruption in many European countries reflects …

Immigration, Integration, and a New Transatlantic Generation: Giving Voice to Diversity

German-American Issues 20 AGI is pleased to present two essays from the second round of the AGI New Transatlantic Exchange Program: Giving Voice to Diversity. This innovative program establishes new …

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German-American Issues

Recent Authors

Simon Schütz

The Past, Present, and Future of LGBTQ+ Communities in North Rhine-Westphalia

Kevin Ostoyich

The Entertainer: Mark Newton’s Raison d’être

Annie Chen

Documenting German and Japanese War Crimes prior to 1945: The UN War Crimes Commission

AGI provides knowledge, insights, and networks as tools to solve the challenges ahead.

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Civil Society Can Provide Needed Climate Leadership

The United States is fast abandoning leadership of the liberal world order. The withdrawal of the U.S. from the recently negotiated and signed Paris Agreement is the latest self-inflicted wound. …

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A Tale of Two Countries: The Privatization of Immigrant Detention in Germany and the United States

Germany and the United States have the two largest migrant populations in the world. Almost 47 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2015 and around 12 million in …

Transatlantic Perspectives

Policy Recommendations for Civil Society: Insights from the Next Generation

Different Anniversaries, Same Purpose: War Memory and Reconciliation in Central Europe and East Asia (2014-2015)

The Case of Polish-German and Japanese-South Korean Relations Poland and Germany. Japan and South Korea. Countries that experienced the tragedy of war. Countries that are involved in different kinds of …

Democracy Is Being Questioned? Let Us Invest in Civic Education!

Current discussions about the role and force of civil society in different countries around the world mark a situation in which democratic structures are in various ways endangered by political …

Encouraging German-American Youth Exchange through Film

How to keep young Americans interested in Germany is one of the key questions in maintaining solid U.S.-German relations for future generations to come. The nature of the asymmetric relationship …

The Implications of a Diplomatic Kerfuffle

At the end of April, Germany’s foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel traveled to Israel to pay his respects on Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum overlooking Jerusalem. Rather …