Summer 2009
Life after the Crisis
Even though there is no end to the “great recession” in sight, it has already changed our world. It is thus imperative to begin thinking about the lay of the post-crisis geopolitical landscape, not only in the West but also in Russia and China.
Scapegoating the Roma 
Letters by Frederika Randall
Lessons not learned from Italy’s emigrant past
Prodigal Analyst
Letters by Paul Hockenos
A researcher returns to rural Kosovo
Shelter from the Storm
Article by Harold James
Today there exists a real possibility of deglobalization, not so much because of trade protectionism, as was the case in the 1920s and 1930s, but from the financial response to the current crisis. This process of deglobalization will prompt a new financial nationalism.
Think National Interest, Act European
Article by Cornelius Adebahr
The process of European integration has long ceased to be a matter of choice. It is an urgent necessity and needs to go far beyond the Lisbon Treaty. In light of the international economic crisis and climate change, the creation of a European “Union state” is the only way forward.
“U.S.-Russian relations were at a 25-year low”
Article by Dmitri Trenin
IP Global Edition interviews the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Dmitri Trenin
Limited Turbulence
Article by Reinhold Vetter
The Czech Republic’s government collapsed this spring, Latvia faces national bankruptcy, and Slovak nationalists are mobilizing against the Hungarian minority. Twenty years after their peaceful revolutions, the countries of East Central Europe are not paragons of stability. Are they teetering on the brink of collapse?
Limits to Growth in China, too
Article by Barbara Unmüssig
The financial crisis has exposed structural problems in the Chinese economy: Its export trade is suffering from the slump in global demand. Bejing has underwritten investments, social programs, and subsidies to stimulate domestic demand, with little regard to the long-term environmental consequences.
Europe’s Inherent Vigor
Article by Dr. Donald Kalff
Just as the financial crisis reveals the weaknesses of global markets and free-market thinking, the advantages of European modes of business have become starkly evident. Should EU reforms build on these comparative advantages, Europe could emerge even stronger.
Europe 2030: Candide’s Garden
Article by Wolfram Eilenberger
The age of globalization is over. The coming thirty years will be shaped by the logic of scarcity, resulting in a turn away from global trade and the creation of self-reliant geopolitical zones. But Europe is prepared for these challenges. It has developed the best social political order in history and will maintain it, behind walls.
Europe 2030: A Postmodern Middle Ages
Article by Parag Khanna
Globalization will further weaken the national state. A long transition process toward global government will be, like the Middle Ages, a time of great insecurity. But Europe’s governance structure will prevail, even in the United States.
Perilous Change of Course
Article by Birgül Demirtas-Coskun
The election of the AKP government has brought significant changes to Turkey’s foreign policy agenda. Engagement with its Arab neighbors is taking precedence over cooperation with Israel and the West. But Ankara’s solidarity with Hamas undermines Turkey’s role as regional mediator. It also endangers its chances for EU accession.
Mice and Men
Article by Ulrike Guérot
The Czech Republic proved that small EU states are not up to running the EU Council Presidency. Leadership on a such a scale is simply beyond their means. Nevertheless, Sweden hopes to see the Lisbon Treaty ratified. Then it wants to lay the foundations for a real European foreign policy.
Don’t Shoot, We’re German!
Article by Eric Chauvistré
The Bundeswehr is being transformed into an international intervention force. Orwellian talk of “peace enforcement” and “robust missions” has encouraged one thing: robust illusions. Yet intervention advocates are more convinced than ever that objectives can be achieved by force. It is high time for a forthright debate—but is it welcome?
Slovakia’s Sonderweg to Normalcy
Article by Ivo Samson und Julian Pänke
Slovakia’s economy has turned around like no other in East Central Europe. But while the country appears to have bid farewell to the ugly nationalism of the 1990s, relations with the Hungarian minority are still prickly. The European Union must keep a close eye on the simmering Slovak-Magyar conflict.
“California is a seismograph”
IP interviews German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier about his California offensive
When is it Right to Fight?
Book Review by Richard Caplan
From a right to intervene to a responsibility to protect
Galicia’s Fog of Denial
Book Review by Belinda Cooper
Opening a crack in the wall of historical amnesia
Ending Dependence
Book Review by Matt Graydon
Europe’s future as an alternative energy power
Documentation
Selected documents of the last three months.
- Speech by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Academy of Sciences, June 2, 2009, Budapest
- International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook: Crisis and Recovery, April 2009, Washington DC
- World Bank Global Monitoring Report 2009: A Development Emergency, Washington DC
- Speech by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on the adaption and extension of the European security framework, April 20, 2009, Helsinki
- Speech by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, April 27, 2009, Washington DC
- Joint Declaration of the Prague Eastern Partnership Summit, May 7, 2009, Prague
