International Co-operation

Industry says it can feed the world. But total food production is not the issue; access to food is. The key solution is to fight poverty.

The reclamation of seed as a common good has begun. Following the concept of open source, new approaches evolve that result in the cultivation of a large number of species and varieties.

Since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, Germans have lost trust in the United States. Will Merkel cozy up to Trump after the election or continue to criticize his actions? Commentary in Foreign Affairs.

President Donald Trump declared that he would start measures to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, putting his country back into the “rogue state” category in international climate negotiations. 

The G20 Hamburg Summit in July 2017 will be about nothing less than how globalization should be governed in the future. The G20 countries will have to respond to the key question of our times: How should a globalized world economy be coordinated for the benefit of all humanity against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, higher levels of inequality, climate change, refugees and migration?

At the moment regulations for the trade with genetic material help to safeguard the rights of providers of genetic resources. This could change with the use of digital gene sequences.

Negotiations on a treaty declaring nuclear weapons illegal are planned for 2017. So far, Germany and others have tried to block this process, even while officially supporting a nuclear-weapon-free world. These contradictions will soon end, however: states will have to pick sides.

Currently the debate on nuclear weapons in the European Union is not making any progress, this could be due to the failure of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2015. Nevertheless, a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Europe should still be envisaged.

The reasons behind people’s radicalization are individual. However, anger over lack of social recognition often plays an important role. Salafism and Islamophobia must be tackled simultaneously.

Days after the Paris attacks, Europe is only slowly awakening from a state of shock. The events served as a painful reminder of our vulnerabilities from within and the daunting threats we face from abroad. A reflection on seven challenges looming on Europe’s horizon. 

From China to Russia to Iran, voices questioning the universality of liberal democracy are growing louder. How confidently can and should the West stand up for democracy and human rights in the world? 

While Russia’s recent military involvement in the Syrian war theatre has caught much of the West by surprise, the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine has increasingly slipped off the public’s radar. We spoke with Marieluise Beck, Member of the German Bundestag.

Last week, negotiators attempted a final push for a nuclear agreement with Iran. While points of disagreement remained, both sides haven’t walked away from the negotiations. But what happens once both sides agree to a deal?

Violent conflicts and security crises around the world have many different causes and effects. The vast majority of them, however, are in one way or another related to energy policy. Yet making this link apparent to policy makers has been challenging. Experts from the foreign policy, security and energy communities have been reluctant to fully grasp the security implications of promising green energy technology and market developments.

A new study released by the Pew Research Center finds that many European publics are highly conflicted over whether to defend a NATO ally against a potential future attack by Russia. In order to gain insight into the way the study was perceived in Washington’s policy circles, we interviewed Julianne Smith, Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Under Germany’s presidency, the G7 convened for the second summit in a row in the absence of Vladimir Putin. As long as Putin does not change course in Ukraine, the G7 are well advised to stick to their suspension of Russia from their ranks.

In the conflict with Russia, the EU has considerd military action only as the last resort. This should not change in the future, says Rebecca Harms, president of The Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European parliament.

Bloody wars are waged, democracy and human rights are challenged, climate change advances: Within a world out of joint, what are the international norms, political actors and concrete initiatives breathing life into a Green vision for peace, social justice and environmental stability?

Today, the future of European nations is at stake in eastern Ukraine. If not effectively addressed, the Ukrainian crisis will pose the biggest threat the EU’s member states have experienced since 1945.

While Russia is redrawing the European map, Ukraine needs to move forward: A hybrid war cannot be ended with a hybrid peace and an economic crisis cannot be overcome with hybrid reforms. Changes have to be fast and radical.