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.

Twenty years on from the Kosovo War, the collective memory of both parties in the conflict remains burdened by myths and incontestable truths about what actually took place. In this issue of Perspectives we aim to highlight the fact that Kosovo is not just a toponym, but a country burdened by its recent violent history, where common people are struggling to rebuild the broken societies that the conflict has left behind.

The EU fails anew to defend European values in the Balkans. Raging destructing ideologies, which have forged ahead during the 1990ies, now bounce back into the EU and endanger the cohesion inside the Union and its very foundations.

A decline in democratic quality can be observed worldwide. The terms populism, nationalism, illiberalism, and authoritarianism are omnipresent in attempts to explain and describe this development. The e-paper examines overlaps, differences and their relationship to one another, highlights global and regional trends of autocratization and highlights the consequences of this development for civil society in the affected countries.

More than half a century ago, France tested its first atomic bombs in the Algerian desert. This E-Paper examines the environmental and political legacy of these tests: a story of post-colonial injustice and radiological irresponsibility.

This special edition of Perspectives was compiled with the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s North Africa offices and the Transform Africa project. It is dedicated to the emerging conversation of alternative approaches that challenge the historical bias towards the industrialisation of agriculture and the food system as the main strategy to address food insecurity while preparing for a +2°C world.

Is the delivery of human rights a consequential outcome of liberal democracy? This paper explores the role of human rights in democracy, and specifically whether human rights is a necessary ingredient for its sustenance.

In Lateinamerika wird ein Großteil der Energie aus fossilen Quellen oder großen Wasserkraftwerken gewonnen. Doch nicht nur diese, sondern auch erneuerbare Energieproduktionen haben oftmals negative Auswirkungen auf die lokale Bevölkerung und lösen vielfach Proteste aus. Perspectivas 5 setzt hier an und zeigt, dass eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik immer auch den gesellschaftlichen Kontext einbeziehen und soziale, ökonomische und ökologische Faktoren gleichermaßen berücksichtigen muss.

This edition of Perspectives Asia presents the work of climate change activists in Asia who are calling their governments and people to action. With contributions from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, India, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.