Foreign & Security Policy

Intense political discussions have repeatedly taken place around Nuclear Sharing. The website "Nuclear Sharing" is a one-stop resource for technical, historical, legal, and political information. A common project between the IFSH and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

This web dossier from our Tbilissi office examines how feminist foreign policy can be applied in practice in the context of the South Caucasus.

Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine does also reflect how China and Russia are interlinked with each other to challenge the current global order. The Black Sea region has become a key area where the new European security order will be negotiated.

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s Foreign Policy Conference in February gave a snapshot of the German Green Party’s foreign policy priorities vis-à-vis Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

The ‘Global South’ and ‘Global North’ diverge in how they view and relate to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Differences in means, risks and perceptions explain the gap but do not have to be an unsurmountable obstacle.

Russia's war in Ukraine is changing the balance of power in Eastern Europe. This has implications for the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and provides new options for mediation for the EU and the West.

The Russian aggression against Ukraine weakens Russia's hegemony in the post-Soviet space. Countries such as Turkey and China are becoming important players in the reorganization of the regional order. The EU must improve its policy towards the eastern neighborhood in order to remain a relevant stakeholder.

In Iran, feminist foreign policy demands both short-term interventions to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population and a long-term approach to deal with the state’s structural violence against its own citizens.

Hungarian foreign policy has been standing on two pillars in the past decade: building multilateral ties with great economic powers in order to boost trade, foreign investment, and development, and in the meantime maintaining traditional commitments to EU and NATO allies in the security and defence realm. However, with the tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalating to a war, Hungary has had to change its long-established attitudes overnight. In such a situation, any pro-Russian stance and balancing became practically impossible.

How will the world’s biggest developing country bring down the world’s highest greenhouse gases emissions to net-zero in the shortest period of time? (How) is China’s decarbonisation different from the rest of the world?

At the third session of the 22nd Heinrich Boell Foundation Foreign Policy Conference, the penultimate panel will focus on the German-Indian relationship - and the blurred lines between environmental and climate issues.

A different policy mix of climate protection in the U.S. and EU creates tensions that make a close alliance very difficult. The deep political divide in the U.S. also raises doubts about the durability of climate policy cooperation.

Brussels and Beijing are entering a new phase in their climate relations. Gone are the days when the EU and China were only climate partners. Now Brussels would be well-served to compete and spur China on when it comes to climate protection.

At the Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit on 15 December, Chancellor Scholz is to meet with high-ranking representatives of the EU, the member states and the EaP countries. How can the traffic light coalition contribute to a more effective Eastern Partnership?

The EU and the US have to navigate bilateral differences and work with like-minded countries to formulate a response to China’s techno-authoritarianism. This effort should go beyond industrial policy towards shaping a positive and inclusive digital agenda.

The EU lacks leverage in Belarus. Doubling down on policies that failed in the past makes no sense and can only have unintended consequences. To gain relevance in Belarus and become “geopolitical” the EU should recognise painful truths about itself and the world.

The concept of ‘digital sovereignty’ has become more prevalent over the last few years, although its meaning remains diffuse. Between Chinese techno-authoritarianism and the U.S. model of surveillance capitalism, Europe is heading towards a third way.

The EU has traditionally been timid about its use of sanctions in foreign policy. Will this change with the current EU leadership’s plans to speak “the language of power”?

As part of a larger geopolitical region, the Wider Black Sea requires greater commitment from the EU in the areas of security, renewable energy, and connectivity. Turkey and Russia are the key competitors for influence and resources in the region.

The world economy has become the central battleground for hegemonic rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Several factors have led to this development, first and foremost the economic rise of China.