FEATURED COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

Hamburg as barometer: What’s happening in German politics?

New Atlanticist May 6, 2025

Is Merz’s double-take chancellor vote a sign of things to come in Germany?

By Jörn Fleck and Jurek Wille

It took two rounds of voting in the Bundestag to elect Friedrich Merz chancellor, a sign of division unprecedented in modern German history.
Defense Policy Elections
Hamburg as barometer: What’s happening in German politics?

New Atlanticist Feb 19, 2025

Germany’s economy has gone from engine to anchor. Here’s what the next chancellor faces.

By Piotr Arak

Revitalizing growth in Germany’s economy, which appears increasingly mired in stagnation, will demand urgent action from the next chancellor.
Economy & Business Elections
Hamburg as barometer: What’s happening in German politics?

New Atlanticist Feb 4, 2025

The next German chancellor must lead from the front, not the middle, on European security

By Rachel Rizzo, James Batchik

From support for Ukraine to defense spending, German leaders would be wise to take the phrase Führung aus der Mitte permanently out of their vocabulary.
Elections Germany

Events

Online Event Tue, May 6, 2025 • 10:00 am ET

What to expect from Germany’s next government
Elections Europe & Eurasia European Union Germany
Online Event Tue, February 25, 2025 • 9:00 am ET

Debriefing Germany’s federal elections
Elections European Union Germany Politics & Diplomacy

Program

The Europe Center promotes the transatlantic leadership and strategies required to ensure a strong Europe.

EXPLORE THE PROGRAM

Content

In the News

Feb 27, 2020

Hamburg as barometer: What’s happening in German politics?

By Atlantic Council

For the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Atlantic Council Resident Fellow Julian Mueller-Kaler joins AICGS’ Jeff Rathke and Eric Langenbacher for a new episode of the Zeitgeist, a podcast focused on Germany, the United States, and the transatlantic relationship.

Democratic Transitions Elections

Inflection Points

Feb 18, 2020

Munich special edition: Is it time to worry about Germany?

By Frederick Kempe

It’s easy to understand why Germans defend the status quo, which has served them well over the past few decades. What’s unclear is how Germany will react with so many certainties shaken: the shape of the EU, relations with the U.S., the stability of German politics, and the durability of economic growth.

European Union Germany

In the News

Feb 18, 2020

Wieslander in EURACTIV: Time for Germany to get vocal on European security

By Atlantic Council

Germany Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2020

The German center does not hold

By Michael John Williams

As Germans continue to come to grips with the political fall-out of the debacle in Thuringia and the selection of a new leader for the CDU, one thing is clear, the political stability offered by the dominance of the center-left and center-right that typified the Federal Republic of Germany is anything but certain in the months and years to come.

Elections Germany

In the News

Feb 11, 2020

Wieslander quoted in the New York Times on Angela Merkel’s tenure

By Atlantic Council

Germany Politics & Diplomacy

In the News

Dec 20, 2019

Morningstar and Fried quoted in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Nord Stream 2 sanctions

By Atlantic Council

Eastern Europe Economic Sanctions

New Atlanticist

Dec 17, 2019

Russia gas pipeline sanctions legislation (PEES Act): A way ahead

By Daniel Fried

Enacting the sanctions mandated by the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEES Act), for all its careful crafting, may not actually block Nord Stream II but may instead burden the US-German relationship. Rather than impose sanctions, the administration should waive them for now but prepare even stronger contingency sanctions to be implemented should the Kremlin once again use gas exports as political leverage against Ukraine, Central Europe, or the Baltics.

Economic Sanctions European Union

UkraineAlert

Dec 11, 2019

Russia-Ukraine Paris peace talks: The view from Berlin

By Mattia Nelles

Monday’s Normandy Four summit in the French capital saw German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron sitting down with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in a bid to end years of deadly stalemate and bring to an end the undeclared war between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbas. What kind of impression did the long-awaited Paris summit make in Berlin?

Conflict Germany

SyriaSource

Dec 6, 2019

Reconstruction and security sector reform in Syria must go hand in hand

By Nora-Elise Beck and Lars Döbert

The structure and characteristics of the pre-conflict Syrian security sector contributed heavily to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war; for decades, it stood for corruption, discrimination, violent repression, and large-scale human rights abuses. When the Arab Spring began to unfold in Egypt and Tunisia in early 2011, a group of Syrian school boys got […]

Germany Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

In the News

Dec 6, 2019

Social Democracy in search of its identity

By Atlantic Council

For the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Atlantic Council Resident Fellow Julian Mueller-Kaler takes a look at Germany's SPD, Social Democracy's search for its identity, and the related global rise of populism.

Economy & Business Elections
Load More

Experts

Fellow

Nik Foster

Nonresident Fellow

Global China Hub

China Energy & Environment

Fellow

Samuel Denney

Nonresident Fellow

Transatlantic Security Initiative

English Europe & Eurasia

Fellow

Tyson Barker

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Europe Center

Cybersecurity Digital Policy

Staff

James Batchik

Associate Director

Europe Center

Central Europe Digital Policy

Executive Leadership Intensive participant

Noel Coenraad

Strategy Advisor, Vattenfall AB

Millennium Leadership Program

Energy Transitions Germany

Fellow

Hanna Dohmen

Nonresident Fellow

Global China Hub

China Chinese
Load More