In this week's At Issue, Executive Director Dr. Jackson Janes looks ahead to 2008 and determines that the challenges facing the transatlantic community are not likely to go away, but at the same time progress made in 2007 is cause for optimism in the coming year.

To read this essay, please click here.

 

In light of the most recent CDU party convention in Hannover, Professors Gerd Langguth and Wolfgang Stock assess the current relationship between Chancellor Merkel and her own party, the CDU, in separate articles. Professor Langguth predicts that by deliberately avoiding conflicts both with her coalition partner and with her own party on policy issues, Merkel is in a strong enough position to hold onto her power at least until the next general elections in 2009. Additionally, Professor Stock writes that Merkel's inability to establish a majority of voter support could be her ultimate, tragic shortcoming.

To read Professor Langguth's essay, please click here (German only).

To read Professor Stock's essay, please click here.

 

In a new report from Deutsche Bank Research, Dieter Bräuninger looks at the challenges that industrialized nations face in globalization and how these challenges affect income distribution within the nation itself. This report examines the question if economic policies can counteract the undesirable socio-political and distributional consequences of globalization without resorting to the blunt tool of protectionism.

To access this report, please click here (PDF).
 

In the latest AICGS Podcast, Dr. Georg Witschel, Head of the Legal Department at the German Foreign Office and Legal Advisor to the Federal Government on international law, and Professor Ruth Wedgwood, Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and Director of the International Law and Organizations Program at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, discuss terrorism and international law with Dr. Jack Janes after an AICGS event cosponsored by The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

To listen to this AICGS Podcast, please click here.

 

Please join AICGS on Thursday, December 20, 2007, for a discussion with DAAD/AICGS Fellow Dr. Klaus Bachmann on "The Impact of EU Treaty Reform on Transatlantic Relations: The Cases of Open Sky and the EU/U.S. Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties." Dr. Bachmann will present two case studies, the "first pillar" issue of liberalization of transatlantic air transport ("Open Sky") and the "third pillar" case of negotiating the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties on extraditions between the EU and the U.S., and will address how these issues could impact transatlantic relations.

To RSVP and for more information, please click here.
 

AICGS would like to welcome Dr. Tim H. Stuchtey as its newest Senior Visiting Fellow. While at AICGS, Dr. Stuchtey will be searching for better policies of how to turn money into knowledge (research) and knowledge into money (innovation).

For a short biography of Dr. Stuchtey, please click here.

 

AICGS is pleased to introduce the newest member of its Board of Trustees, Dr. Andreas Nick. Dr. Nick is currently Managing Director and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie., and AICGS welcomes him to the Board.

For a short biography of Dr. Nick, please click here.

 

AICGS is pleased to announce that Senior Fellow in Residence Dr. Lily Gardner Feldman has taken over as Director of the AICGS Society, Culture and Politics Program. The Society, Culture and Politics Program analyzes how cultural beliefs and values, evolving interpretations of historical experiences, and shifting conceptions of national identity shape perspectives and policy responses in the German-American dialogue. Former Director Jeffrey Peck will remain associated with the Institute as a Senior Fellow.

For more background on Dr. Feldman, please click here.

On December 3, 2007, AICGS hosted Senior Fellow Alexander Ochs for a lecture titled "The Third Industrial Revolution: Energy Security, Transatlantic Relations, and the Economic Case for Climate Policy." This lecture was made possible by the generous support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

For a summary of this event, please click here.

 

AICGS would like to announce that it is now accepting applications for the DAAD/AICGS Fellowship program, sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).  The deadline for Fall 2008 (July 2008-December 2008) is February 28, 2008.

For application instructions and more information, please click here.