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The dangers of a disgruntled Germany

Insight by Katinka Barysch
07 May 2010

Germany has finally agreed to help bail out Greece. The negotiations were acrimonious and took months. Angela Merkel’s hesitation and prevarication have increased the cost of the bail-out and unsettled financial markets.
Human rights cannot be a luxury in Afghanistan

Insight by Joanna Buckley
07 May 2010

The Afghans with whom I worked in Bamyan province, Afghanistan, often asked me why foreigners were so concerned about the destruction of historical monuments yet seemingly so indifferent to the human suffering that occurred.
Should the Nabucco pipeline project be shelved?

Policy brief by Katinka Barysch
05 May 2010

Nabucco - a pipeline to bring Caspian and perhaps Middle Eastern gas to Europe - is the flagship project of the EU's fledgling energy diplomacy. Nabucco would add to the EU's energy security, strengthen its neighbourhood policies and improve relations with Turkey.
Turning Japanese?

Insight by Simon Tilford
30 April 2010

Japan has long had the highest level of public debt of any developed economy. The country’s public debt to GDP ratio is around 200 per cent of GDP, far in excess of even the EU’s worst performers.
Can the EU be more effective in Afghanistan?

Policy brief by Joanna Buckley
27 April 2010

The EU and its governments make a substantial financial, civilian and military contribution to Afghanistan - yet European influence in the country is limited. For too long the EU has had too many offices and representatives there, sometimes working at cross purposes.
Clameronism

Insight by Hugo Brady
21 April 2010

Britain's 'national government' of 2010 was not unprecedented. Britons had accepted patriotic coalitions before during the First Great Recession and Second World War.
China and the global financial crisis

Essay by Bobo Lo
16 April 2010

China has come through the global financial and economic crisis in a confident manner. Economic growth is strong and China's foreign policy has become more assertive. Bobo Lo's essay challenges many western assumptions about the rise of China.
Whatever happened to the G20?

Insight by Katinka Barysch
14 April 2010

George W Bush convened the first G20 summit in Washington in November 2008, at the height of the global financial and economic crisis.