Editorial Ai Special Issue 2|2019

In 2018, at least the cinema allowed us to experience what Sub-­Saharan Africa could possibly look like: paradisiacal conditions and a highly developed civilisation that uses its immense resource wealth to provide its own population with a life in freedom and prosperity and to defend this achievement from the outside world. Unfortunately, reality does not reflect the utopian conditions enjoyed by the Kingdom of Wakanda in the film “Black Panther”.

Der Feind meines Freundes

Japans schwieriger Balanceakt zwischen Washington und Peking

Im Gegensatz zur Politik des „America First“ des US-Präsidenten Donald Trump hält Japan die Fahne des Multilateralismus hoch und hat besonders mit dem Abkommen über die Schaffung einer Transpazifischen Partnerschaft ein Ausrufezeichen für die Welthandelsordnung gesetzt. Im Handelskrieg zwischen den ­USA und China versucht Tokio, eine mittlere Position einzunehmen.

Germany in the Indo-Pacific

Securing Interests Through Partnerships

As the Indo-Pacific becomes an accepted, if not universally agreed upon, way of thinking about the changing geopolitics in the East, there is a growing need for a larger European and German role in Asia and its waters. Amidst the rise of China, the new assertiveness of Russia, and the increasing uncertainty surrounding the traditional American alliances, Europe and Germany must necessarily pick up a greater share of the burden of maintaining a rules-based order in Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific, as well as secure their own interests. Europe and Germany certainly cannot be a substitute to the extraordinary weight that the US has brought to the East over the last century. Nor can they act unilaterally. But Europe and Germany can help shape the regional order in partnership with countries like Australia, India, and Japan.

“America First”

Transatlantic Relations in the Trump Era

Contrary to all the isolationist noise Trump made during the campaign, America’s foreign policy continues to be one that is more focused on global involvement and is strongly unilateral in nature. Whereas the political culture and style as well as the forms of international relations, even with allies, have radically changed, the essential elements of Trump’s foreign and security policy tend to be in line with those of the two previous US presidents.

A Transatlantic Relic?

The Future of the WTO and Its Role in the Transatlantic Economic Relations

The ­WTO must adapt to the changes in global trade and investment flows – otherwise its role will be diminished in the future. Europe and the US must resolve their differences and put their weight behind urgently needed reform measures. Because the alternative to the ­WTO-based global trade order is global trade disorder – and that cannot be desirable on either side of the Atlantic.

America Alone

Transatlantic Challenges with Regard to Climate Change and Energy Policy

The Trump administration’s announcement in June 2017 that it was pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement was one of its first specific decisions that dealt a blow to transatlantic relations. For Donald Trump, preventing climate change is often synonymous with job cuts and over-regulation. The US president’s anti-environment policy has a negative impact upon transatlantic relations, in terms of foreign policy, and possibly also as regards economic matters. The good news is that despite the attitude of the US administration, there are still many stakeholders in the US who are committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement, so avenues remain open for international cooperation.

Between Innovation and Regulation

The Necessity of Transatlantic Cooperation in the Digital Sphere

The digital revolution is already increasingly impacting business and our daily lives, and fuels an accelerating process of transformation in Western societies. Due to its power to drive innovation, many people believe that shaping this digital transformation is not only an urgent endeavour, but perhaps the endeavour of our time. The digital revolution is a global process that does not stop at national borders, so configuring its future requires cross-border responses. This article looks at the role that the transatlantic alliance can and should play in this endeavour.

Dasher of the Liberal World Order?

Trump’s Unilateralism and Its Implications

With Trump’s entry into the White House and the US’s gradual withdrawal from the multilateral context of the United Nations, the zero-sum game in international relations seems to have become acceptable again. This entails an increased threat of violent conflicts breaking out. The value-based world order is eroding and the US’s retreat into foreign, security, and development policies geared purely to national interests is finding its imitators.

Disenchantment

The European View of Transatlantic Relations

The result of the US presidential elections in 2016 came as something of a surprise for political leaders in the EU. During the campaign, many of Europe’s heads of state and government and also the heads of EU institutions had made it clear to a greater or lesser extent that they backed Hillary Clinton to be the next US president.1 Now they had to adjust to an American president whose programme seemed to be a declaration of war against established European positions and interests in many respects.

Editorial

The first two years of Donald Trump’s term as the 45th president of the United States have seriously damaged Europe’s confidence in the US as a partner, and put a strain on transatlantic relations. However, this review of American foreign policy under Trump, which takes a look at how Europe and the US are actually cooperating in five regions and five policy fields, reveals a differentiated picture with some rays of hope.