International

Ballots and Byte Codes: Gen Z, Protests, and the Digital Transformation of Democracy

“The revolution will not be televised”—but it will be live-streamed. When the government of Nepal abruptly banned over 20 social media platforms, attempting to...

The Optics of Doing “Something”

In the months following Donald Trump's reelection and inauguration as President of the United States, many of his political opponents began to share a...

Beyond American Guardianship: New Dynamics and Dilemmas in Persian Gulf Security

The Persian Gulf, located at the vital geopolitical intersection and crisscrossed by major global energy corridors, has long held a main place in international...

Europe

Heidelberg vs. Silicon Valley: David contre Goliath ?

« Qui domine l’intelligence artificielle dominera le monde. » Vu que le développement de l’intelligence artificielle devient crucial pour le pouvoir des États, l’Europe semble presque...

EU Cohesion Policy in Times of Crisis

The EU's cohesion policy is the centrepiece of connecting citizens to the EU institutions and showing them how the EU can directly affect their...

Strategic Autonomy or Permanent Subservience? Rethinking Europe’s Transatlantic Ties

The world order as we have known it since the end of the Cold War thirty-five years ago has ceased to exist. Instead of...

Economics

How North Korean Women Broke the Command Economy

When Rüdiger Frank visited North Korea, he expected to see surreal images of xenophobia and nationalist pride that the regime’s tightly controlled media showed...

China’s Rare Earth Elements Trade Policies

Rare earth elements (REE) have been a key subject of geopolitics in recent years, and in 2025, they are a more pressing topic than...

Financial Inclusion: Islamic Banking in East Africa

Despite rapid globalisation, roughly half of the world’s adult population still lives outside the formal banking system. For some, the obstacles are practical: limited...

Tech & Environment

Justice by Algorithm: Fairness or Flaw?

In one city, the police scan hours of surveillance footage and identify a criminal within minutes. In another, prosecutors use software to predict whether...

False Promises from the Deep Sea

When you think about the deep sea, what images come to mind? Darkness, a sense of the unknown, perhaps fear of the creatures looming...

Celestial Battlefields: Private Actors in the U.S.-China Competition for Space Supremacy

“To control space means to control the land, seas, and skies.” The Space Race of the 21st century has intensified awareness about the strategic...

French & German

La montée en puissance de Marine Le Pen : un défi pour Macron sur l’échiquier politique français

Trois jours après la démission d’Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal est nommé Premier Ministre, devenant ainsi le premier Premier ministre ouvertement gay et le plus...

Dans l’ombre de Mitterrand: l’origine de la faiblesse de la gauche actuelle

La gauche française est aujourd’hui synonyme de désordre. Loin de son histoire populaire et glorieuse, sa position actuelle semble précaire, marquée par des conflits...

Anton Wein-Wislocki, Referatsleiter für Klima-, Umwelt- und Energiediplomatie im Außenministerium im Interview

Anfang November fand in der Wiener Hofburg das International Vienna Energy & Climate Forum 2023 (IVECF) statt. Das 2008 ins Leben gerufene Forum wird...

Opinion

Mutually Assured Uncertainty: Russia, NATO, and the Role of Nuclear Signalling

Nuclear weapons are commonly considered one of the biggest threats to humanity. The father of the atomic bomb, Dr. Oppenheimer, even quoted: "I became...

A Quiet Tale of the Muzzled Mind, the Intellectual Straitjacket and Cancel Culture

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows." 1984, George Orwell. The Cult of Consensus The...

The Illusion of Being Informed: The News Find-Me Effect in the Algorithm Age

“Birds of a feather flock together.” This old saying feels particularly relevant in the algorithm-driven world of today’s media. We’re constantly surrounded by news...