Publication & Media

The precarious balance between the need for security and the right to privacy will continue to characterize “risk societies” of the 21st century. This compendium by Thorsten Wetzling and Kilian Vieth provides robust oversight practices and good laws that can serve as bulwarks against the erosion of fundamental rights in Europe and America.

The reader for the 19th Annual Foreign Policy Conference about the current geopolitical power shifts in the Asia-Pacific region and their effects on Europe and Germany.

German foreign policy is often described as peace-oriented, moderate and scarcely militarized. But the image of Germany as a "civilian power" cannot be upheld against Berlin's record in defense spending and arms exports. There is little evidence that Germany prioritizes civilian instruments over military power in its foreign policy. A feminist critique by the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy and the German section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

The five-yearly Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is taking place from April 27 to May 22, 2015. In order to increase pressure for nuclear disarmament and to strengthen the non-proliferation regime, nuclear weapons need to be banned under international law, as other weapons of mass destruction already are. A ban treaty would complement and strengthen the NPT. Germany should therefore stand up for a ban on nuclear weapons at the Review Conference.

The future international security landscape will be critically impacted by the military use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Meaningful human control over weapon systems and the use of force must be retained.

Publication Series on Democarcy 37: The escalation of the armed conflict in Syria has been a painful reminder of the need to strengthen arms control and non-proliferation efforts. This publication is an opportunity to figure out what steps should be taken to strengthen cooperative efforts in controlling and reducing military capabilities.

Although political debates were for the most part overshadowed by the Corona crisis at the beginning of 2021, this E-Paper wants to address the question of how the European Union could find its place in a more competitive world. The buzzwords of this debate were the concepts of strategic autonomy and strategic sovereignty of the EU.

It is time to upgrade the current debate on multilateralism, to make it greener and more global. We tried to do just this at our 20th Foreign Policy Conference, which took place in Berlin on 30-31 January 2020. This reader provides some insights into our major topics, from trade to climate to security policy, with perspectives from South Africa, India, Brazil, the US and the EU.

Feminist perspectives are gaining strength in foreign and security policy. This leads to new questions for the politically contested field of arms transfers. The authors of the policy paper analyse the phenomenon of gender-based violence, which can be exacerbated through the transfer of weaponry to certain regions, and call for a more gender-sensitive arms export policy.

Armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — more commonly referred to as drones — have become a central pillar of the United States’ counterterrorism strategy. A number of European actors have expressed growing concern regarding the lack of transparency, accountability, and clarity surrounding the U.S. drone program. Read the joint conference report by hbs and the Stimson Center on this pressing issue here.