European security in times of changing global order

In recent years, shifts in the global order are increasingly discussed. The rise of China and the resurgence of Russia’s global power ambitions challenge established rules and institutions. While it is almost undisputed that the Western liberal hegemony has come to an end, there is no consensus on what will follow and how a stable and peaceful global order can be built. Under these shifting conditions, Europe’s role and ability to be more than a spectator of processes shaped by the three power poles China, US and Russia is all but clear as well.

This blog series addresses these issues from different angles. Contributions from German and Russian researchers are paired with a practitioner’s view in order to provide both (theory-inspired) analysis and possible implications and policy options. The series evolves around the international conference “Schlangenbad Talks” which is organized by PRIF and Friedrich Ebert Foundation Moscow together with the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) and Konrad Adenauer Foundation Moscow. In its 22nd year, the conference discusses recent trends in German-Russian relations under the general theme “The End of the Liberal World Order? Challenges to Europe’s self-assertion”.

“It is not enough to diagnose a crisis – we also have to actively deal with it.” An interview with Nils Schmid

A crisis or even the end of the liberal, multilateral world order is a frequently-heard diagnosis these days. In her interview with Nils Schmid, Member of Parliament for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Vera Rogova asks about possible coping strategies, Chinese and ...

“Unfortunately for all of us, the world did not go the ‘European way’”. An interview with Sergey Karaganov

Eastern Ukraine
The state of European security was an important topic at this years's Schlangenbad Talks. Vera Rogova talked to Prof. Sergey Karaganov (National Research University – Higher School of Economics. Moscow) about the usefulness of arms control and challenges to the Liberal World ...

“Recalibrating European security”?: A reply

Preperations for the 1945 San Franisco Conference, a milestone for the current world order
Hans-Joachim Spanger rightly points to the main challenges to European security emphasizing that new challenges could only be adequately addressed against the backdrop of the global political changes of the last ten to twenty years. He makes a worrying diagnosis of the current ...

Die Schlangenbader Gespräche als Forum für die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen

Die Schlangenbader Gespräche werden oft als Stimmungsbarometer für die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen bezeichnet. Seit 1998 treffen sich dort hochkarätige TeilnehmerInnen aus Politik, Wissenschaft, Militär und den Medien, um sich über aktuelle Herausforderungen ...

Ways out of the crisis: recalibrating European security

The UN Security Council takes a vote
European security is in crisis. Like every crisis, this one not only has a prior history, it has also been in the offing for quite some time. 2008 marked a first peak, after the Bush administration offered the NATO Membership Action Plan to Georgia and Ukraine: Russia ...