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2. Britain, Germany, and the Rise of Competitive Virtue Signaling
- Author:
- Roderick Parkes
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- In 2016, British and German officials were clear: they wanted quickly to put Brexit behind them and cooperate on big ticket items like the international rule of law. Now, in 2022, the pair in fact seem to be competing more than they cooperate. Germany wants to shine in comparison with Britain, and the UK sees advantages for its own standing if Germany falls short. This “competitive virtue signaling” defines Germany and the UK’s post-Brexit rivalry, and – oddly – might lead to tighter relations.
- Topic:
- European Union, Brexit, Rivalry, Cooperation, and Competition
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Europe, and Germany
3. Don’t Panic! How to Give Germany’s Crisis Management Strategic Footing
- Author:
- Tobias Bergner and Roderick Parkes
- Publication Date:
- 07-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Crises cannot be predicted. But that is no excuse for being unprepared. By evaluating how previous crises were handled, governments can improve future crisis management and give it strategic footing. This paper presents reforms based on past experience, and it shows how they might fit into Germany’s planned National Security Strategy (NSS). As such, it rethinks the relationship between crisis response and strategy.
- Topic:
- European Union, Democracy, Crisis Management, and International Order
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
4. Germany’s Role in Europe’s Digital Regulatory Power: Shaping the Global Technology Rule Book in the Service of Europe
- Author:
- David Hagebölling and Tyson Barker
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Four elements help to map the strengths and, at times, the limits of German power in digital rule-making. First, Germany anticipates EU digital regulation and attempts to establish facts on the ground. Second, Germany has outsized influence in the formal stages of EU digital regulatory policymaking. Third, the EU, in turn, provides Germany with a launch pad for influencing worldwide regulatory norms. Fourth, a belated reawakening of the capacity of the German private sector and affiliated technical standard bodies to influence global technical standards is occurring. Germany, as an EU member state, is engaging in three significant areas of data governance and cybersecurity: digital identities and open data, lawful access to electronic messaging systems, and rules for sovereign cloud usage. Germany’s largely successful role as a key incubator for the EU’s regulatory approach to digital technology and, therefore, as a proponent of the “Brussels Effect” of influencing global markets is not widely appreciated or understood at home. The lag among regulations, tech-nology, and international context is evident in areas such as data protection, content moderation, and market power of online platforms. Even meaningful regulatory debates on quantum, the metaverse (AR/VR), and 6G have yet to arise in Germany. Germany must change its approach to digital regulation to more accurately reflect the dynamic, general-purpose nature of emerging digital technologies against an increasingly fraught international landscape in which technological rules are a dimension of geopolitical power. This includes more fully addressing political trade-offs associated with digital regulation choices, expanding reviews and sunset clauses in digi-tal regulation to encourage flexibility, and making greater use of multi-stakeholder regulatory approaches that incorporate civil society, companies, and other non-state actors. Germany must also increase the engagement of its foreign policy and national security communi-ties in EU technology diplomacy and in global regulation enforcement.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, European Union, Regulation, and Digital Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
5. The Geopolitics of Digital Technology Innovation: Assessing Strengths and Challenges of Germany’s Innovation Ecosystem
- Author:
- Tyson Barker and David Hagebölling
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- The COVID-era public and private investment influx into Germany’s digital technology R&D is reversing amid inflation, fiscal consolidation, and geopolitical pressures coming from the Zeitenwende. Germany’s future in an EU that is among the top-tier technology powers requires a profound and rapid transition of the country’s R&D strengths into data-intensive, systems-centric areas of IoT and deep technology that are linked to the domestic manufacturing base. New policy approaches in three areas – money, markets, and minds – are needed. New technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced material science, biotech, and quantum computing tend to have broad general-purpose applications. But uncoordinated funding vehicles, universities’ civil clauses, and restrictive visa and onboarding guidelines for skilled foreign workers slow innovation in these sectors and hamper German techno-geopolitical competitiveness. In the mid-term, Germany could look at a scheme to bundle the Future Fund together with new institutional investment in a sort of embryonic German Sovereign Wealth Fund, with a proportion of funding specifically geared toward strategically important VC endeavors.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, European Union, Geopolitics, Innovation, and Digital Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
6. Gas and Energy Security in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe
- Author:
- Guntram Wolff and Alexandra Gritz
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Russia’s weaponization of gas supplies caused a shock to the energy security of Central and Eastern Europe. Countries responded by increasing alternative gas supplies and LNG import capacity. Gas flows shifted from the east-west axis to west-east and north-south axes. In the short term, the usage of coal is rising; in the longer term, renewable and nuclear energy. Mitigating the effects of this shock requires the EU to prioritize policies that foster the integrity and security of its energy market.
- Topic:
- Security, Natural Resources, European Union, Gas, Energy, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, Germany, and Central Europe
7. Building European Resilience and Capacity to Act: Lessons for 2030
- Author:
- Roderick Parkes, Anna-Lena Kirch, and Serafine Dinkel
- Publication Date:
- 07-2021
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Containing twelve scenarios for the world in 2030, this report offers insights into how the EU can maintain and build up its capacity to act in the face of the major disruptive changes that are likely to come over this decade. It is being released in the run-up to German elections in September 2021 that will serve as a kind of referendum on ten years of government-heavy crisis management.
- Topic:
- Elections, European Union, Crisis Management, and Resilience
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
8. Germany’s Debt Brake and Europe’s Fiscal Stance after COVID-19
- Author:
- Shahin Vallée, Jérémie Cohen-Setton, and Dominik Buhl
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Germany’s plan to return to its debt brake creates a serious risk of premature fiscal tightening. Given that the fiscal divide between Europe and the US will widen sharply in 2021, a hasty return to European and German fiscal rules would stifle recovery and undermine efforts to rebuild transatlantic ties in trade and macroeconomic cooperation. This paper proposes several practical options to attenuate the fiscal drag associated with a return to the debt brake and calls for a broad debate on its reform.
- Topic:
- Debt, European Union, Finance, Transatlantic Relations, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Germany, and United States of America
9. A Capable EU Is No Utopia: Strategic Lessons from the German Presidency
- Author:
- Anna-Lena Kirch
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Overall, as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, the EU proved capable to act. Crisis management addressing the pandemic benefited from the fact that Germany held the presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2020 and could build upon its traditional approach: developing European capabilities, including all governments, and being prepared for the unexpected. Now, going forward, Germany needs to use its experience with complexity and uncertainty to help form a strategic doctrine for the EU.
- Topic:
- European Union, Crisis Management, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
10. Towards More Effective Deradicalization: Urgent Recommendations for Addressing Violent Islamist Extremism
- Author:
- Sofia Koller
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Violent Islamist extremism is still one of the biggest threats to internal security as well as societal cohesion in the EU. As a crucial part of any comprehensive counterstrategy, tertiary prevention encompasses measures designed to encourage and support (violent) extremists in prison and in society to leave their milieus, deradicalize, decriminalize, and reintegrate into society.
- Topic:
- Security, Violent Extremism, European Union, Islamism, and Deradicalization
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
11. Presidential Election in Belarus Tensions Are Likely to Prevail
- Author:
- András Rácz
- Publication Date:
- 08-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- The impending presidential election in Belarus on August 9, 2020, is highly likely to result in the smooth victory of incumbent Alexandr Lukashenko. Despite this fact, the unprecedented – and still growing – politicization of Belarusian society constitutes a challenge to the regime that will not fade even after a clear-cut election. The resulting tensions will require more diplomatic attention from Germany and the European Union.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Politics, European Union, Society, and Presidential Elections
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe, Germany, and Belarus
12. Macron Looks East: The French president’s visit to the Baltics offers an opportunity for closer coordination with Germany on Russia policy
- Author:
- Claire Demesmay and Milan Nič
- Publication Date:
- 10-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s European policy is to improve the position of his country in the Eastern European member states of the European Union. Although this is not a change of strategy, but only a new method, it creates favorable conditions for intensified Franco-German dialogue on European strategic issues
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Regional Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, and European Union
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, France, Germany, and Baltic States
13. War in NagornoKarabakh A Two-Track Strategy for the EU
- Author:
- András Rácz
- Publication Date:
- 10-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- After two weeks of heavy fighting, the new war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh is likely to escalate further. International actors have so far been unable to broker a ceasefire. In this case, the EU, with its limited leverage, can add most value by leading a response to the inevitable humanitarian catastrophe. EU diplomatic efforts should be led by France and Germany, coordinated with other member states, and also with Russia, to the extent necessary.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, War, European Union, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia, France, Germany, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh
14. Pushing the EU to a Hamiltonian Moment: Germany’s Court Ruling and the Need to Build a Fiscal Capacity Force a Constitutional Debate
- Author:
- Daniela Schwarzer and Shahin Vallée
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- The recent ruling of the German Constitutional Court on the ECB was an economic and political bombshell. The deep controversy that resulted – within Germany and on a European scale – illustrates that the ambiguity surrounding the euro area’s legal order and architecture may have reached its limit. The ruling, combined with the plan to build a fiscal capacity to address the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis, presents the EU with an important opportunity to complete and solidify the euro area.
- Topic:
- European Union, Constitution, Economy, Fiscal Policy, and Judiciary
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
15. Berlin’s Preliminary 5G Decision: Limiting Damage and Learning Lessons
- Author:
- Kaan Sahin and Didi Kirsten Tatlow
- Publication Date:
- 11-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Despite the security concerns of the US, EU, and Australia, Germany plans not to exclude any telecom equipment vendors, including Chinese companies such as Huawei, from its 5G network. This stance reflects a narrow view of the issue that prioritizes short-term economic interests and fails to uphold national security and democratic values. Widespread criticism, including from within the government, shows that political decision-makers in Germany need a more sophisticated, forward-looking approach to 5G.
- Topic:
- Security, Science and Technology, European Union, and Internet
- Political Geography:
- China, Europe, Germany, Australia, North America, and United States of America
16. A New Dimension of Air-Based Threats: Germany, the EU, and NATO Need New Political Initiatives and Military Defense Systems
- Author:
- Torben Schütz, Christian Mölling, and Zoe Stanley-Lockman
- Publication Date:
- 06-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- The range of air-based threats is expanding with considerable speed and intensity. The main reason is the proliferation of technologies and weapons systems. Germany could play a leading role in the necessary adaptation of arms control regimes and in the development of new air defense capabilities. To this end, Germany should initiate a PESCO project on short-range air defense and an air defense capability cluster within NATO.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, NATO, Military Strategy, and European Union
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
17. German Leadership in Arms Control: Three Pillars to Achieve More Realism
- Author:
- Christian Mölling and Torben Schütz
- Publication Date:
- 06-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
- Abstract:
- Arms control is traditionally at the core of Germany’s cooperative security approach. It is therefore a natural leader for a new Western arms control policy. But Germany must overcome the Cold War approach that no longer suits today’s security environment. A new approach should build on three pillars: security, military, and alliance realism. While such a change entails risk and uncertainty for German decision-makers, the price of upholding existing outdated arms control architectures is already higher.
- Topic:
- Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Military Strategy, European Union, and Alliance
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany