Globalisation and Transformation

In the "Transatlantic Manifesto" published by DIE ZEIT in October 2017, the authors emphasise the necessity of a strategy based on fostering transatlantic relations. Critics are calling for a "new post-Atlanticism foreign policy", an attitude that is based on fundamental misunderstandings.

The media perception of the summit meeting of the G20 in Hamburg 2017 was marked by Trump and Violence. Hardly any attention was given to the Hamburg Update of the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda.

Competing trade agreements and planned infrastructure investments are dilemmas that ASEAN can only successfully solve if they approach the challenges as group that lets go if its consensus decision-making and allows for countries´ flexible participation.

When the 19 member countries and the EU gathered in Hamburg for the G20 Summit one important topic was not on the agenda: from China to Mexico, Turkey to Russia, Saudi Arabia to India – the respect for fundamental human rights can no longer be taken for granted.

On 22 June 2017 international experts Gerald Knaus, Rebecca Vincent, and Berit Lindeman spoke with Anar Mammadli and other representatives of Azeri civil society about the critical human rights situation in the country, ways to potentially solve it, and European strategies.

We all come into contact with it, especially when shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables, hardly anyone is aware of it: many hours of ‘invisible’ labor – often by migrant workers from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe toiling in agriculture in the Mediterranean region.

On Tuesday, 13 June, Hungary’s National Assembly passed a law that requires NGOs which receive foreign funds above the annual threshold of 24000 EUR to register and label themselves as “foreign-funded organisations” on their websites and in their publications.

Sixty years after the signing of the Treaties of Rome, Europe finds itself at a crossroads. Understanding what this wake-up call means for a liberal Europe was the subject of discussion at an international conference titled “Moving Forward with Europe!”.

Corporate lobby groups have created a broad network of influence channels around the G20, with the Business20 (B20) at its core. At the G20 Sherpa meeting in Frankfurt on 23-24 March the B20 presents its policy recommendations to the governments. It is time to counterbalance the corporate influence in the G20.

Apart from the G20’s apparent lack of effective strategy and implementation of its own pledges, its growth vision lacks full coherence with sustainable development. Instead of wishfully hoping to retrace an economic growth trajectory of the past, the G20 should advance coherent sustainable development.