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2019, The Quint
The state-sponsored terror in Kashmir and the atrocities in the rest of the country in the name of Hindu supremacy apparently do not fall under the purview of Angela Merkel's agreement with Narendra Modi to jointly counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism.
CounterCurrents.org, 2018
What is the fruit produced by the Hindutva tree? From the seeds sown by Savarkar, what harvest has been reaped? After Golwalkar’s pivotal leadership of the RSS and founding of the VHP, did these outfits whither or flourish?
The Shifting Power and Human Rights Diplomacy series focuses on rising powers and their current and potential roles in the international protection and promotion of human rights. It contains volumes with original essays on the external human rights policy of rising global and regional powers. Ten authors from German academia, think tanks and NGO’s write about Germany’s relations with other EU member states and rising powers like China and India and the impact on the country’s external human rights policies. Among the contributors to this volume are Ulrike Guérot (author off Warum Europa eine Republik werden muss! Eine politische Utopie), Katrin Kinzelbach (Global Public Policy Institute), Michael Krennerich (Friedrich Alexander University), Andrea Berg and Alexia Knappmann (both working at Amnesty Germany).
New Formations, 2019
Inspired by Hall et al.'s Policing the Crisis (1978), the authors provide a conjunctural analysis of present-day Germany. It is based on a periodisation of Merkelism-the dominant political mode of managing the economic, political and cultural crisis tendencies in the country from the mid-2000s onwards. This reveals that the Merkelist approach to crisis management has become exhausted. The manifestation point of this process is the 2015 'Summer of Migration'. The Merkel government decided not to prevent hundred thousands of refugees who had been walking across the Balkans for months from entering the country. Hereupon, it was identified, at the level of political discourse, with a liberal stance on the border regime. As a result, the pragmatic and depoliticising interventions typical of Merkelism lost traction; a political and cultural polarisation emerged. Importantly, this happened in the context of a socioeconomic consolidation of large parts of the 'new' middle class-and a protracted decline of the working class, which was covered up by narratives of Germany as a success story. Accordingly, the conjuncture in the country is characterised by the weakening of class ties of political and cultural representation and the proliferation of nationalist interpellations. Once again, 'race is the modality in which class is lived' (Hall), which is visible in the widespread assumption that there are clearly defined, homogeneous and incompatible 'cultures' clashing with one another. In this sense, race has become a politically salient category whose discursive predominance contributes to further marginalising a language of class.
EUrope and Germany face unprecedented crises. Given its role as EUrope's " central power " the article explores how Germany looks at its environment and how the world looks back. I offer five cuts of Germany's world, that is, how its power, place and ambition might be described from different angles. First, I examine a " structural " interpretation of EUrope's setting which shows a certain affinity with German visions of a rules-governed world. Next I reconstruct how Germany's changing role is described from the outside and the inside. The stark contrast between images of overbearing " hegemony " and facilitating German " leadership " lay the ground for a third cut which examines how German leadership has fared in three recent EUropean crises. In a fourth cut I analyse Germany's leadership challenges against the foil of US leadership globally. The difficulties highlighted in Germany's world of " shaping powers " and tough love diplomacy, my fifth cut, leave it, and EUrope, in an unenviable position indeed.
2013
The 2013 federal elections have been the most unpredictable elections in Germany’s recent political history. Although Chancellor Angela Merkel’s victory did not come as a surprise, the elections certainly had some unanticipated outcomes: the liberal Free Democratic Party was obliterated; the Alternative for Germany, known for its Euroscepticism, garnered 4.7 percent of the vote—just shy of breaking the 5 percent threshold—and a long-standing ambiguity loomed over the potential coalition partner of the German Christian Democrats. The election results confirmed Chancellor Merkel’s success in delivering stability to Germany and safeguarding the German interests in view of the Euro crisis. Furthermore, the outcome has also revealed the Social Democratic Party of Germany's and the Green Party’s major problems with public image, leadership, and handling of key policy areas. In view of the grand coalition, major policy changes regarding Turkey are not expected. German-Turkish economic and foreign policy-related dialogue is likely to remain strong and open to improvement, taking into consideration changing global and regional realities. However, some interparty debates and limited policy changes related to hot topics such as double citizenship, visa liberalization, and Turkey’s accession to the EU can be predicted.
in: Helwig, Niklas (ed), Europe's New Political Enginge - Germany's Role in the EU's Foreign and Security Policy, FIIA Report 44 (Helsinki: The Finnish Institute of International Affairs)
At the beginning of this decade, the EU’s foreign and security policy was leaderless, while several crises put Europe under pressure. The economically strong Germany had to become Europe’s new political engine. The way in which Germany took up its new and unusual role and the implications that German leadership has for the EU’s foreign and security policy are analysed in this report. Germany fulfilled the leadership role that it never applied for. It pushed for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and led the Russia sanctions policy of the West. Germany not only followed the French call for military assistance after the Paris attacks, but is also heavily engaged in diplomatic efforts to solve the Syrian conflict. Berlin is central to the development of broader EU policies, such as the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy. It is in the driver’s seat when it comes to relationships with key international actors, such as Russia, Turkey and the US. Germany has become an unlikely and unusual foreign policy leader, which still differs in various aspects from traditional foreign policy powerhouses. It leads through institutions and diplomacy rather than military power. It seeks European solutions rather than national ones. However, the success and sustainability of Germany’s approach depends on securing Europe’s unity and resilience in the face of crises in the neighbourhood and the effects of globalization.
German Politics, 2018
This article investigates Germany’s role in the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy towards Russia. It argues that Germany has been a leader in EU relations with Russia since the late 2000s, most notably through attempts to upload its long-standing policy of dialogue and cooperation with Moscow – known as Ostpolitik – to the EU level. During the Ukraine crisis, German leadership in this field became hegemonic. Economic and institutional power, the consent of its European and transatlantic allies and supportive domestic politics allowed Germany to profile itself as the main EU negotiating partner for Moscow. By highlighting the long-term German quest for leadership in the EU’s relations with Russia, the article makes the argument that Germany is not a ‘reluctant’, but rather an assertive hegemon in this policy area. Furthermore, the article highlights how the Ostpolitik tradition and its self-conception as a civilian power enabled Germany to lead Western diplomacy in the Ukraine crisis. At the same time, Germany’s hegemonic leadership in EU-Russia relations faces several challenges and limitations, which relate to the nature of Germany’s power, the consent of its allies and evolving domestic politics.
Europe’s New Political Engine - Germany's role in the EU's foreign and security policy, 2016
In Depth - CCEIA [pp 31-34], 2017
The G20's Growing Political and Economic Challenges, 2016
CounterCurrents.org, 2019
Piki Ish-Shalom (ed) Concepts at Work: On the linguistic Infrastructure of World Politics (Michigan), 2021
Revue des Femmes Philosophes, N° 4-5 / December 2017, 2017
International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 2018
Indian Politics & Policy (IPP), 2019