International Co-operation

Hannah Arendt would have found a lot to dislike about today’s Russia. But she would have loved Pussy Riot. An excerpt from the lecture of Ralf Fücks upon the occasion of the 2014 Hannah Arendt Prize.

Newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in September to make his first official visit to the United States. On January 26, US President Barack Obama will visit India.

How do you organise a drama festival with international guests on a 6,000 € state subsidy? Well, you need a lot of enthusiastic volunteers, as well as visitors, who are completely committed to the cause.

According to its mission statement, Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in Budapest is a receptive venue unique to Hungary, where various genres are presented in an individual and authentic manner. An Interview with Managing Director György Szabó.

A presentation by Ulrich Kühn (The Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy) at the conference "The Impact of the Crisis in Ukraine on the Future of Arms Control" held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in December 3, 2014.

The Middle East is burning and, as usual, all eyes rest on Washington. What, then, is Germany willing and capable to contribute to the crisis management in Iraq? The diffuse reactions by politicians across the political spectrum point toward a significant paradigm shift.

"In a globalised world that is closely interconnected through trade, investment, migration and the Internet, a ‘without us’ attitude just isn’t realistic", emphazised Ralf Fücks in his opening speech of our 15th Annual Foreign Policy Conference, which asked for current status of Germany's foreign policy.

In his speech at the opening event of the 15th Annual Foreign Policy Conference Prof. Dr. Heinrich August Winkler illustrates the historical development of Europe. The German opening towards the political culture of the West is the most important lesson drawn from the Age of Extremes, according to the historian.

Video:  At the opening event of our 15th Annual Foreign Policy Conference, international guests discussed whether German foreign policy is ready to respond appropriately to current challenges

The EU cannot give up on the project of a unified and free Europe without giving up on itself. This includes the promise that all European nations on the path to becoming a democracy and constitutional state can become a member of the European Community. Ukraine is the touchstone of this promise today.

A conversation with Mykola Rjabtschuk, a writer based in Kiev, regarding some issues that have led to heated discussions within the EU.

Most important now is that the international community responds speedily and clearly to what amounts to a Russian occupation of the Crimea and the additional threat of Russian troops being stationed in Ukraine. Europe is in no way powerless in the face of Russian actions, as Ralf Fücks and Walter Kaufmann illustrate in a ten-point plan.

All Meat Atlas graphs are published under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-SA 3.0). You can download them here as PDF files.

Above all, the West wants stability in Syria. Because he has managed to sit out everything that has happened in recent years, the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad seems to offer this very stability. But accepting the kind of stability Assad offers would mean having to forget the atrocities committed by his regime.

"At the heart of the problem is the existence of two competing logics for how arms control discussions in the Middle East should proceed: immediate focus on the elimination of Israel’s assumed nuclear weapons (Egypt’s view), or dealing first with the very problematic context of inter-state relations in the Middle East, creating essential channels of communication and dialogue, and establishing a basis of mutual confidence and trust (Israel’s view)."

Besides threats to effectiveness, the multilateral export control system for nuclear weapons faces a separate challenge of political will and legitimacy.

The United States intent to deploy a new Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS). This short paper assesses the chief challenges the United States faces in allaying Russian concerns about about CPGS deployments.

Ben Coetzee reminds "that the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons were left unchecked and unregulated until it reached a point where it is costing the world billions of dollars to mitigate the damage caused by these weapons."

The global system of nuclear security has many gaps and weaknesses. Des Browne points out why Russia is a key player and what needs to be concentrated on at the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands in 2014.

"In May 2010, the 189 members of the Review Conference to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons endorsed holding a Middle East Conference (MEC) in 2012 whose aim would be to create a zone in the Middle East 'free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of destruction' (WMD)."