Episode 50: German Interests, a New Coalition, and a Changing World

Jeffrey Rathke

Jeff Rathke

President of AGI

Jeffrey Rathke is the President of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining AICGS, Jeff was a senior fellow and deputy director of the Europe Program at CSIS, where his work focused on transatlantic relations and U.S. security and defense policy. Jeff joined CSIS in 2015 from the State Department, after a 24-year career as a Foreign Service Officer, dedicated primarily to U.S. relations with Europe. He was director of the State Department Press Office from 2014 to 2015, briefing the State Department press corps and managing the Department's engagement with U.S. print and electronic media. Jeff led the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that, he was deputy chief of staff to the NATO Secretary General in Brussels. He also served in Berlin as minister-counselor for political affairs (2006–2009), his second tour of duty in Germany. His Washington assignments have included deputy director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs and duty officer in the White House Situation Room and State Department Operations Center.

Mr. Rathke was a Weinberg Fellow at Princeton University (2003–2004), winning the Master’s in Public Policy Prize. He also served at U.S. Embassies in Dublin, Moscow, and Riga, which he helped open after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mr. Rathke has been awarded national honors by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as several State Department awards. He holds an M.P.P. degree from Princeton University and B.A. and B.S. degrees from Cornell University. He speaks German, Russian, and Latvian.

__

jrathke@aicgs.org

Josef Joffe

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Josef Joffe is Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Senior Fellow of the Kissinger Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Publisher of Die Zeit, and author of numerous books on global affairs. He is also a former AICGS trustee.

Peter S. Rashish

Vice President; Director, Geoeconomics Program

Peter S. Rashish, who counts over 25 years of experience counseling corporations, think tanks, foundations, and international organizations on transatlantic trade and economic strategy, is Vice President and Director of the Geoeconomics Program at AICGS. He also writes The Wider Atlantic blog.

Mr. Rashish has served as Vice President for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he spearheaded the Chamber’s advocacy ahead of the launch of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Previously, Mr. Rashish was a Senior Advisor for Europe at McLarty Associates, and has held positions as Executive Vice President of the European Institute, on the Paris-based staff of the International Energy Agency, and as a consultant to the World Bank, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Atlantic Council, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Mr. Rashish has testified on the euro zone and U.S.-European economic relations before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade and the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia and has advised three U.S. presidential campaigns. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jean Monnet Institute in Paris and a Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre in Brussels. His commentaries have been published in The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, and he has appeared on PBS, CNBC, CNN, and NPR.

He earned a BA from Harvard College and an M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford University. He speaks French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

__

prashish@aicgs.org


On this episode of The Zeitgeist, AGI president Jeff Rathke and Senior Fellow and Geoeconomics Program Director Peter Rashish talk with Dr. Josef Joffe about Germany’s foreign and economic policy direction under the newly formed government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. How are German interests evolving in a changing world, and are there fundamental differences of interest between Berlin and Washington? How should Germany deal with the problems of Russia’s authoritarian development at home and its coercive approach to its neighbors? What balance will Chancellor Scholz strike between Germany’s traditional approach of economic engagement with China and the growing values-driven concerns about Beijing’s policies?

Josef Joffe is Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Senior Fellow of the Kissinger Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Publisher of Die Zeit, and author of numerous books on global affairs. He is also a former AGI trustee.


Host

Jeff Rathke, President, AGI

Guest

Peter Rashish, Senior Fellow; Director, Geoeconomics Program, AGI
Josef Joffe, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Senior Fellow of the Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

The views expressed are those of the author(s) alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the American-German Institute.