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IMAGO / Xinhua

Return to Constitutional Order? Presidential Election in Guinea

General Mamady Doumbouya remains in power

The presidential election held on 28 December 2025 marks, at least institutionally, a decisive turning point in Guinea’s recent political history. Four years after the military coup of September 2021, in which General Mamady Doumbouya overthrew the elected President Alpha Condé, the ballot was officially intended to complete the transition back to constitutional order. In practice, however, the conduct of the election, the field of candidates and the institutional framework raise doubts about its democratic character. Rather than a contest between political alternatives, the election appears primarily as an instrument to legitimise an already established military power structure.

Dr. Stefanie Brinkel
January 9, 2026
Country reports
IMAGO / Matrix Images

Parliamentary elections in Côte d'Ivoire

Consolidation of Alassane Ouattara’s power

The parliamentary elections in Côte d'Ivoire took place on 27 December 2025, shortly after the presidential elections, and were strongly shaped by this dynamic. They followed only a few weeks after the re-election of President Alassane Ouattara (RHDP), who won the presidential election on 25 October 2025 with 89.77 per cent of the vote in the first round, excluding the most promising opposition candidates, and who now governs the country for a fourth consecutive term. Around 8.7 million voters were called upon to elect the 255 members of the National Assembly. The elections also took place in a situation in which key opposition forces are fragmented. Shortly after the presidential election, the opposition party PPA-CI, led by Laurent Gbagbo, called for a boycott of the parliamentary elections.

Dr. Stefanie Brinkel
January 9, 2026
Country reports
KAS

The development of nihilistic violence

Terrorism without a goal?

Nihilistic violent extremism (NVE) is a violent scene that has been growing since the second half of the 2010s. Members of the community reject civil society values, have a misanthropic worldview, communicate primarily via online platforms and are internationally networked. Children and adolescents can be both perpetrators and victims and switch between these roles.

Felix Neumann
January 8, 2026
Single title
KI-generiert mit ChatGPT, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V.

Breaking Free from the Polarization Trap!

Clear on substance, fair in tone: Campaign strategies between democratic polarization and populist temptations

The author analyses the growing fragmentation and polarization in Germany’s party system and outlines ways for parties to build a strong profile without undermining the democratic consensus. He distinguishes between productive democratic polarization and destructive affective polarization. Recommended campaign strategies include clear core messages, a respectful engagement with competitors, distancing from extremist parties, and positive, authentic candidate profiling.

Dr. L. Constantin Wurthmann
January 8, 2026
Monitor
smarterpix / AndreyPopov

Delivering Results: What Makes Governing Effective – and What Doesn’t

Impact over input – delivery units as key to better government outcomes

Governments must deliver – but passing laws and approving budgets aren’t enough. In Germany’s federal system, fragmented responsibilities and complex coordination often slow implementation. This Monitor calls for impact-driven governance: clear goals, indicators, and agile delivery units embedded in the Chancellery and State or Senate Chancelleries. These teams track priorities, remove obstacles, and ensure transparency across ministries – turning promises into measurable results.

Marcel Schepp, Felipe Hinrichsen
January 8, 2026
Monitor
IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

The new US security strategy and its consequences for Latin America and Europe

‘America for Americans’?

With the National Security Strategy (NSS) of November 2025, the US government is implementing a far-reaching change of course and once again claiming the Western Hemisphere, which encompasses the American double continent, as its exclusive sphere of influence. In doing so, it is following on from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which did not tolerate any non-American interference in the affairs of the entire continent. The message is unambiguous: ‘non-hemispheric’ powers – primarily China and Russia – should neither possess strategic installations nor be able to establish military or technological capabilities in the region. At the same time, the hemisphere should be so stable and well governed that there is no mass migration to the US, the fight against drug trafficking and transnational crime is successful, and the region is politically favourable to Washington. These goals are set out in detail in the original text of the NSS, where they are referred to as the ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine, supplemented by the operational motto ‘Enlist and Expand’: involve proven partners and expand new cooperation, both economically and in terms of security policy. With its military intervention in Venezuela on 3 January 2026, the Trump administration is showing the world how serious it is about its goals in the Western Hemisphere.

Henning Suhr
December 22, 2025
Country reports
IMAGO / Anadolu Agency

Football as an instrument of Moroccan politics

Between the pitch and the world stage

When millions of eyes are focused on a football field, a sporting event is transformed into a global presentation area. At the end of 2025, Morocco will become the center of continental attention with the hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations. It is a significant trailblazer for the even bigger stage of the 2030 World Cup. Both tournaments offer the Kingdom the opportunity to present itself not only as a host, but also as an economically dynamic state. The two major events are already providing catalysts for billions of euros in investments in transport infrastructure, tourism and digitalization. Nevertheless, the political instrumentalization of sporting events also brings challenges. The decisive factor will be whether Morocco can use the political results of the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup to consolidate confidence in its economic potential in the long term and to resolve social tensions.

Steven Höfner, Pia Salbaum
December 22, 2025
Country reports
IMAGO / Anadolu Agency

Morocco's Youth Before the 2026 Election

Between Lack of Political Participation and New Forms of Engagement

Elections will be held in Morocco in September 2026. The political activities are gradually geared towards the elections. Protests by young adults a year before the elections have once again increased the nervousness of the established parties. Frustration and a lack of development opportunities are repeatedly mentioned, although the country is facing positive economic development. But success seems to be insufficiently received by the young population. The result seems to be frustration and mistrust of parliamentary structures. By 31 December 2025, first-time voters must have registered on the electoral lists to participate in the elections. The four million first-time voters make up about 15 percent of the population eligible to vote and could thus become an important factor.

Steven Höfner, Matilda Giaccone, Ilias Bennoune
December 18, 2025
Country reports
smarterpix / Curioso_Travel_Photography

COP30: Alliances, new climate finance and Brazil's balancing act in the fossil phase-out

First climate conference in the Amazon between new beginnings and disillusionment

COP30 brought progress on climate finance, adaptation and gender policy – but failed with regard to a clear phase-out of fossil fuels. Brazil acted as a bridge-builder, not only through the strong participation of indigenous communities, social movements and young actors, but also lost credibility through its own fossil fuel plans. The EU must stabilise its internal climate target architecture and strengthen credible international partnerships even without US support. Although multilateralism remains capable of acting, it does not reach the pace demanded by science.

Maximilian Hedrich, Anuska Soares, Nicole Linsenbold
December 18, 2025
Sustainability Monitor
KAS

The New U.S. National Security Strategy

Trump’s View of the World

The new National Security Strategy (NSS) puts the America first approach–achieving US economic, military, and technological might through foreign policy means–at its core. In Europe it has set alarm bells particularly over the overarching assumptions about Europe's “civilizational” demise and raised questions about the future of the transatlantic values-based partnership. Meanwhile, Congress adopted notably different priorities for U.S. military engagement in Europe. (Report in German)

Dr. Hardy Ostry, Maša Ocvirk
December 18, 2025
Country reports

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Facts and Findings

Selected contributions to the series with international relevance

The series informs in a concentrated form about important positions of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung on current topics. The individual issues present key findings and recommendations, offer brief analyses, explain the Foundation's further plans and name KAS contact persons.  

International Reports

Journal for international issues, foreign policy and development cooperation

International Reports (IR) is the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's periodical on international politics. It offers political analyses by our experts in Berlin and from more than 100 offices across all regions of the world. Contributions by named authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial team.

Die Politische Meinung

Zeitschrift für Politik, Gesellschaft, Religion und Kultur

Die Politische Meinung ist eine Zweimonatszeitschrift, in der ein breites Spektrum politischer, gesellschaftlicher und kultureller Themen der Gegenwart dargestellt und diskutiert werden. Sie bietet als Bezugspunkte fundierte Analysen historischer Hintergründe und eine der individuellen Eigenverantwortung verpflichtete, im christlichen Menschenbild verankerte Ethik. Die jeweiligen Themenschwerpunkte werden von einer inspirierenden Bilderstrecke, namhafter zeitgenössischer Künstlerinnen und Künstlern, vertieft.  

Research and Sources on Contemporary History

In der Reihe „Forschungen und Quellen zur Zeitgeschichte“ veröffentlicht das Archiv für Christlich-Demokratische Politik seit 1980 wissenschaftliche Studien zur Christlichen Demokratie, Darstellungen zur Geschichte der Bundesrepublik und der CDU sowie Biographien wichtiger Repräsentanten. Zu den 50 bisher erschienen Büchern zählen auch Quelleneditionen, wie Protokolle von Parteigremien oder Tagebücher von einflussreichen Politikern. Die Publikationen sind im Buchhandel erhältlich.

Interviews

In our series "Interviews", talks and discussions are held with experts from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. on various topics.

in short

Concise, reduced to the essentials, but always highly topical. In our series “in short”, our experts summarise an issue or problem on a maximum of two pages.

Country Reports

Short political reports of the KAS offices abroad

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is a political foundation. Our offices abroad are in charge of over 200 projects in more than 120 countries. The country reports offer current analyses, exclusive evaluations, background information and forecasts - provided by our international staff.

Monitor

The Monitor series deals with one main topic at a time from the perspective of KAS experts and places it in the political and social context on the basis of a few key points.

Event Reports

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, its educational institutions, centres and foreign offices, offer several thousand events on various subjects each year. We provide up to date and exclusive reports on selected conferences, events and symposia at www.kas.de. In addition to a summary of the contents, you can also find additional material such as pictures, speeches, videos or audio clips.

Handouts for Political Education

Grundlageninformationen zur Beteiligung
an aktuellen politischen Diskussionen

Mit der Reihe „Handreichungen zur Politischen Bildung“ möchte die Politische Bildung der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung interessierte Bürgerinnen und Bürger über politische Entwicklungen informieren, Orientierungen in Sachfragen geben und das Interesse an politischer Mitwirkung stärken. Die Handreichungen verstehen sich als Grundlageninformationen zur Beteiligung an aktuellen politischen Diskussionen.

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Completed publication series

Working Paper

Broschürenreihe mit Darstellungen und Positionen, die kurzfristig auf aktuelle politische Fragen reagieren

The Woman in Our Time

Lebensentwürfe von Frauen –
was hat sich verändert?

Jede Ausgabe widmete sich einem Schwerpunktthema aus Politik und Gesellschaft, der Arbeits- und Familienwelt, aus Kultur und Literatur und diskutierte dieses aus frauenpolitischer Sicht.

Insights

Berichte aus der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Die Herausgabe der "Einblicke" ist ausgesetzt. "Einblicke" hat alle drei Monate über die Arbeit der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung berichtet.

Sociopolitical Series

Veröffentlicht wurden herausragende Dissertationsschriften mit gesellschaftspolitisch relevanten Themen von Stipendiatinnen und Stipendiaten der Begabtenförderung und Personen, die ihrem Promotionskolleg „Soziale Marktwirtschaft“ kooptiert sind. Die Reihe gab den Autorinnen und Autoren ein wissenschaftliches und publizistisches Forum und brachte aktuelle Themen in die öffentliche Diskussion ein.

Basic Questions of Christian Democracy

In dieser Reihe erschienen im Jahr 2006 Texte namenhafter Autoren zu Grundfragen der christlichen Demokratie.

In Conversation

Kulturpolitische Umschau

Zeitschrift mit Berichten aus Bundestag und Bundesländern, Gastbeiträgen, Rezensionen und Presseauswertungen zur aktuellen Kulturpolitik.

In Plenary

Broschürenreihe der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung mit den Beiträgen von Konferenzen, Fachtagungen und Kongressen, die von längerfristigem Interesse sind.

In Plenary Compact

Die Broschüren im DIN-A-4-Format fassen kurz und knapp die Ergebnisse von Konferenzen, Fachtagungen und Kongressen zusammen, die von längerfristigem Interesse sind.

KAS International

Information from the Division of European and International Cooperation

This series informs about current important events and developments of our work to point out our wide spectrum of activities.

Materials for the Work on Site

Kleine Schriftenreihe zu aktuellen Themen der Kommunalpolitik

Mit der eigenen Reihe "Materialien für die Arbeit vor Ort" bereitet die Stiftung zu aktuellen Themen wichtige Informationen in handhabbarer Form auf, so dass sie in der kommunalpolitischen Praxis nutzbar sind. Eine weitere Serie unter dem Titel "Diskurs kommunal" befasst sich mit besonderen Aspekten der Kommunalpolitik.