Diplomacy & Defense Think Tank News

Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, this Working Paper examines repercussions in Africa and on German Africa policy, analysing to what extent they are in continuity with trends that preceded the war and to what extent they represent a break with past patterns. Has the Ukraine war turned out to be a sea change for Africa and German Africa policy, too?

As a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine since February 2022, an overarching trend in German development policy in Africa has greatly accelerated: Geopolitical and geo-economic issues have become much more prominent. This applies to the context of devel-opment policy, which is now heavily dominated by geopolitical issues: socio-economic problems in partner countries are exacerbated by the global economic consequences of the war. It also applies to the question of how development policy itself can contribute to shap-ing this context and reduce negative implications of the aggression. Can development cooperation be used to make partner countries more resilient in the area of food security and thus reduce dependence on Russia? How can development cooperation help in countering  misinformation in African partner countries? German development cooperation creates regular opportunities to discuss the Russian aggression against Ukraine with partner countries as well as with African regional and continental institutions. Partners in Africa often  emphasize their sovereignty to align with multiple external actors, including Russia. These recent trends apply not only to German, but also to European development policy, the approaches of other bilateral European actors and, more broadly, to the activities of non-European Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

As a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine since February 2022, an overarching trend in German development policy in Africa has greatly accelerated: Geopolitical and geo-economic issues have become much more prominent. This applies to the context of devel-opment policy, which is now heavily dominated by geopolitical issues: socio-economic problems in partner countries are exacerbated by the global economic consequences of the war. It also applies to the question of how development policy itself can contribute to shap-ing this context and reduce negative implications of the aggression. Can development cooperation be used to make partner countries more resilient in the area of food security and thus reduce dependence on Russia? How can development cooperation help in countering  misinformation in African partner countries? German development cooperation creates regular opportunities to discuss the Russian aggression against Ukraine with partner countries as well as with African regional and continental institutions. Partners in Africa often  emphasize their sovereignty to align with multiple external actors, including Russia. These recent trends apply not only to German, but also to European development policy, the approaches of other bilateral European actors and, more broadly, to the activities of non-European Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

As a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine since February 2022, an overarching trend in German development policy in Africa has greatly accelerated: Geopolitical and geo-economic issues have become much more prominent. This applies to the context of devel-opment policy, which is now heavily dominated by geopolitical issues: socio-economic problems in partner countries are exacerbated by the global economic consequences of the war. It also applies to the question of how development policy itself can contribute to shap-ing this context and reduce negative implications of the aggression. Can development cooperation be used to make partner countries more resilient in the area of food security and thus reduce dependence on Russia? How can development cooperation help in countering  misinformation in African partner countries? German development cooperation creates regular opportunities to discuss the Russian aggression against Ukraine with partner countries as well as with African regional and continental institutions. Partners in Africa often  emphasize their sovereignty to align with multiple external actors, including Russia. These recent trends apply not only to German, but also to European development policy, the approaches of other bilateral European actors and, more broadly, to the activities of non-European Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

19. Februar 2024 – Zwei Jahre nach Beginn des russischen Angriffskriegs auf die Ukraine haben sich die Erdgasmärkte in Deutschland stabilisiert. Trotz der gesunkenen Importe aus Russland waren auch im Winter 2023/24 weder die Versorgung gefährdet noch die Speicher unzureichend befüllt. Eine Gasmangellage, mit der der beschleunigte Ausbau von Flüssigerdgas (LNG)-Infrastruktur seit dem Sommer 2022 gerechtfertigt wird, trat zu keinem Zeitpunkt ein. Angesichts zu erwartender rückläufiger Erdgasverbräuche in Deutschland und der Stabilisierung der Versorgung scheint es angebracht, die im LNG-Beschleunigungsgesetz (LNGG) angedachten Vorhabenstandorte auf den Prüfstand zu stellen. Dabei sollte die Bundesregierung von der Entwicklung landseitiger LNG-Terminals absehen und die schwimmenden Regasifizierungsanlagen (Floating Storage and Regasification Units - FSRU) neu bewerten. Aus Klimaschutzperspektive bleiben weiterhin Energieeffizienz und proaktives Gassparen wichtig.

Die Covid-19-Pandemie, geopolitische Spannungen und gewaltsame Konflikte sowie Klima- und Schuldenkrisen haben das makroökonomische Umfeld verändert. In dieser neuen Realität steigender Zinssätze, hoher Inflation und zunehmender Verschuldung nimmt die Verfügbarkeit von Entwicklungsfinanzierung ab, während der Finanzierungsbedarf zur Erreichung der 17 Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung steigt. Politische Entscheidungsträger und internationale Finanzinstitutionen haben auf der Suche nach Lösungen eine Reihe von Initiativen gestartet. Darauf aufbauend werden in diesem Artikel (weitere) Maßnahmen und Reformen skizziert, um die Entwicklungsfinanzierung an dieses schwierige, von zahlreichen Krisen geprägte Umfeld anzupassen.

Die Covid-19-Pandemie, geopolitische Spannungen und gewaltsame Konflikte sowie Klima- und Schuldenkrisen haben das makroökonomische Umfeld verändert. In dieser neuen Realität steigender Zinssätze, hoher Inflation und zunehmender Verschuldung nimmt die Verfügbarkeit von Entwicklungsfinanzierung ab, während der Finanzierungsbedarf zur Erreichung der 17 Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung steigt. Politische Entscheidungsträger und internationale Finanzinstitutionen haben auf der Suche nach Lösungen eine Reihe von Initiativen gestartet. Darauf aufbauend werden in diesem Artikel (weitere) Maßnahmen und Reformen skizziert, um die Entwicklungsfinanzierung an dieses schwierige, von zahlreichen Krisen geprägte Umfeld anzupassen.

Die Covid-19-Pandemie, geopolitische Spannungen und gewaltsame Konflikte sowie Klima- und Schuldenkrisen haben das makroökonomische Umfeld verändert. In dieser neuen Realität steigender Zinssätze, hoher Inflation und zunehmender Verschuldung nimmt die Verfügbarkeit von Entwicklungsfinanzierung ab, während der Finanzierungsbedarf zur Erreichung der 17 Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung steigt. Politische Entscheidungsträger und internationale Finanzinstitutionen haben auf der Suche nach Lösungen eine Reihe von Initiativen gestartet. Darauf aufbauend werden in diesem Artikel (weitere) Maßnahmen und Reformen skizziert, um die Entwicklungsfinanzierung an dieses schwierige, von zahlreichen Krisen geprägte Umfeld anzupassen.

The Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and violent conflicts as well as climate and debt crises have changed the macroeconomic environment. In this new reality of soaring interest rates, high inflation and increasing debt levels, the availability of development finance is decreasing, while the financing needs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals are increasing. Policymakers and international financial institutions have launched a number of initiatives in a search of solutions. Building on those, this article outlines (further) measures and reforms to make development finance fit for this challenging environment shaped by multiple crises.

Deutsche Übersetzung

The Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and violent conflicts as well as climate and debt crises have changed the macroeconomic environment. In this new reality of soaring interest rates, high inflation and increasing debt levels, the availability of development finance is decreasing, while the financing needs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals are increasing. Policymakers and international financial institutions have launched a number of initiatives in a search of solutions. Building on those, this article outlines (further) measures and reforms to make development finance fit for this challenging environment shaped by multiple crises.

Deutsche Übersetzung

The Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and violent conflicts as well as climate and debt crises have changed the macroeconomic environment. In this new reality of soaring interest rates, high inflation and increasing debt levels, the availability of development finance is decreasing, while the financing needs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals are increasing. Policymakers and international financial institutions have launched a number of initiatives in a search of solutions. Building on those, this article outlines (further) measures and reforms to make development finance fit for this challenging environment shaped by multiple crises.

Deutsche Übersetzung

Refugees and displaced people are increasingly moving to cities around the world, seeking out the social, economic, and political opportunity that urban areas provide. Against this backdrop digital technologies are fundamentally changing how refugees and displaced people engage with urban landscapes and economies where they settle. Urban Refugees and Digital Technology draws on contemporary data gathered from refugee communities in Bogotá, Nairobi, and Kuala Lumpur to build a new theoretical understanding of how technological change influences the ways urban refugees contribute to the social, economic, and political networks in their cities of arrival. This data is presented against the broader history of technological change in urban areas since the start of industrialization, showing how displaced people across time have used technologized urban spaces to shape the societies where they settle. The case studies and history demonstrate how refugees’ interactions with environments that are often hostile to their presence spur novel adaptations to idiosyncratic features of a city’s technological landscape. A wide-ranging study across histories and geographies of urban displacement, Urban Refugees and Digital Technology introduces readers to the myriad ways technological change creates spaces for urban refugees to build rich political, social, and economic lives in cities.

Refugees and displaced people are increasingly moving to cities around the world, seeking out the social, economic, and political opportunity that urban areas provide. Against this backdrop digital technologies are fundamentally changing how refugees and displaced people engage with urban landscapes and economies where they settle. Urban Refugees and Digital Technology draws on contemporary data gathered from refugee communities in Bogotá, Nairobi, and Kuala Lumpur to build a new theoretical understanding of how technological change influences the ways urban refugees contribute to the social, economic, and political networks in their cities of arrival. This data is presented against the broader history of technological change in urban areas since the start of industrialization, showing how displaced people across time have used technologized urban spaces to shape the societies where they settle. The case studies and history demonstrate how refugees’ interactions with environments that are often hostile to their presence spur novel adaptations to idiosyncratic features of a city’s technological landscape. A wide-ranging study across histories and geographies of urban displacement, Urban Refugees and Digital Technology introduces readers to the myriad ways technological change creates spaces for urban refugees to build rich political, social, and economic lives in cities.

Refugees and displaced people are increasingly moving to cities around the world, seeking out the social, economic, and political opportunity that urban areas provide. Against this backdrop digital technologies are fundamentally changing how refugees and displaced people engage with urban landscapes and economies where they settle. Urban Refugees and Digital Technology draws on contemporary data gathered from refugee communities in Bogotá, Nairobi, and Kuala Lumpur to build a new theoretical understanding of how technological change influences the ways urban refugees contribute to the social, economic, and political networks in their cities of arrival. This data is presented against the broader history of technological change in urban areas since the start of industrialization, showing how displaced people across time have used technologized urban spaces to shape the societies where they settle. The case studies and history demonstrate how refugees’ interactions with environments that are often hostile to their presence spur novel adaptations to idiosyncratic features of a city’s technological landscape. A wide-ranging study across histories and geographies of urban displacement, Urban Refugees and Digital Technology introduces readers to the myriad ways technological change creates spaces for urban refugees to build rich political, social, and economic lives in cities.

Auf Joint Futures haben deutsche, europäische und afrikanische Autor*innen eine Vielfalt von Themen behandelt, die für die deutsche Afrikapolitik von Relevanz sind. Haben wir damit die Arbeit an den neuen Leitlinien einfacher oder schwieriger gemacht? Hier ziehen wir eine Bilanz.

Auf Joint Futures haben deutsche, europäische und afrikanische Autor*innen eine Vielfalt von Themen behandelt, die für die deutsche Afrikapolitik von Relevanz sind. Haben wir damit die Arbeit an den neuen Leitlinien einfacher oder schwieriger gemacht? Hier ziehen wir eine Bilanz.

Auf Joint Futures haben deutsche, europäische und afrikanische Autor*innen eine Vielfalt von Themen behandelt, die für die deutsche Afrikapolitik von Relevanz sind. Haben wir damit die Arbeit an den neuen Leitlinien einfacher oder schwieriger gemacht? Hier ziehen wir eine Bilanz.

Das DIW Berlin sucht zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt in der Abteilung Finanzen eine*n Vergabe- und Vertragsreferent*in (w/m/div) (Vollzeit mit 39 Stunden pro Woche, Teilzeit ist möglich).

Die Abteilung Finanzen ist zuständig für die Verwaltung des Haushalts inkl. Rechnungswesen, Steuerangelegenheiten, Beschaffung und Reisekosten.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinvigorated debates about the drivers of political trust. Research so far has mainly focused on national-level institutions, during the early stages of the pandemic and using data from established democracies. However, how does this relationship look like if we pay attention to subnational institutions in non-consolidated democracies, and further away from the initial COVID-19 outbreak? To contribute to this line of research, this article focuses on the local level and explores the association between individuals’ satisfaction with COVID-19 performance and political trust in Nepal. For that, it uses novel data collected via telephone interviews (N = 1400) conducted between 25 April and 24 May 2021, during the second wave of COVID-19. Our main results reveal that satisfaction with local institutions’ COVID-related performance is significantly and robustly associated with levels of political trust at the local level. The association holds even when geographical and time specifications are added, trust towards national institutions or expectations about local governments are included in the analysis and the dependent variable is disaggregated to discard measurement biases. The study thereby provides important insights into the role performance plays for institutional trust beyond the national level and in an unconsolidated democracy.