Rome, 5-7 December 2019
MED Mediterranean Dialogues 2019
From 5th to 7th December 2019, MED - MEDITERRANEAN DIALOGUES took place in Rome. MED is an annual high-level initiative and conference promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ISPI (Italian Institute for International Political Studies) with the aim to rethink traditional approaches to the broader Mediterranean region complementing analyses of current challenges with new ideas and suggestions and to draft a new “positive agenda”. MEIA Research Vice-chairwoman Christine Strassmaier participated in a close-door expert panel on Illicit Trafficking in the Mediterranean Region, discussing the nature and dynamic of the nexus between organised crime and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa.
Munich, 26 September 2019
40 Years after the Iranian hostage crisis
Kathryn Koob, a U.S. State Department staffer, was sent to Tehran in July 1979 as the director of the Iran America Center.With 51 other U.S. diplomats and citizens she held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian college students who supported the Iranian Revolution took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Kathryn Koob was one of two women among those held captive. Following her captivity, Ms. Koob resumed her foreign service career which – among other postings – also brought her to Munich.
On 26 September 2019, in a conversation with Dr. René Rieger, Ms. Koob was recalling the events in Iran of 1979-1981. The open public discussion took place at the Amerikahaus Munich and was a joint event by the U.S. General Consulate Munich and MEIA Research.
Berlin, 17 September 2019
Attacks on Saudi oil facilities
Dr. Edmund Ratka gave an interview for web.de on recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities and its potentials for escalation of warfare in the Gulf region.
Regensburg, 11 August 2019
REgional Security in the MIddLE East And North africa
MEIA Research continued its cooperation with the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg in 2019. As in the previous year, Michael Bauer and René Rieger facilitated a seminar for OTH's two-week Summer School within the Master Program Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies that is jointly run by the University of Glasgow, Charles University in Prague and Dublin City University. This years seminar had the title "Regional Security Complex Middle East: Actors, Alliances, Conflict Dynamics" and specifically focussed on Libya and Syria as case studies.
2019 MEIA Middle East Summer School started
Munich, 5 August 2019
Baden-Baden, 21 July 2019
World Power offside
Dr. Anja Opitz has co-edited, together with Lukas D. Herr, Marcus Müller and Jürgen Wilzewski, a volume titled "Weltmacht im Abseits. Amerikanische Außenpolitik in der Ära Donald Trump" ("World Power sidelined. American foreign policy in the era of Donal Trump"), published by NOMOS.
"The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States surprised the world and aroused great anxiety. His ‘America First’ rhetoric had already fuelled concerns that his presidency would be radical during the presidential election campaign in 2016. Above all, it seemed to cast doubt on the US’ claim to global leadership, which was regarded as the foundation of the global order that the US had helped to form since the Second World War. From both an internal and external perspective, this book examines the social, institutional and international reasons for the USA’s foreign and security policy under Trump."
Munich, 21 June 2019
Interview on Mayor's Election in Istanbul
Ludwig Schulz gave an interview to Sueddeutsche.de on the re-run elections for the mayor's office in Istanbul, Turkey.
Gütersloh, June 2019
Overcoming the EU's strategic deficit on Syria
Michael Bauer contributed to a new policy brief by the Bertelsmann Foundation Strategy Group how the EU can overcome its strategic deficits with regard to Syria, demonstrate resolve and response to the foreign policies of Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the USA.
Baden-Baden, June 2019
german-Turkish relations revisited
Ludwig Schulz contributed to the monography "German-Turkish relations revisited. The European dimenstion, domestic and foreign politics and transnational dynamics", edited by Ebru Turhan and published by Nomos, with an analysis titled "Shaping geopolitical destiny and coping with political complexity: Germany and Turkey as Central Powers in International Politics".
Munich, 8 April 2019
Russian-Turkish Summit in Moscow
Ludwig Schulz gave an interview for the RadioWelt of Bayern 2 broadcasting on the Russian-Turkish Summit taking place in Moscow for the initiation of the Turkish Year for Culture and Tourism in Russia.
Munich, 1 April 2019
Programm on Policy Advice in Tunisia extended
The government of Bavaria decided to extend the programm "Policy Advice and Strategy Development" on the training of political advisors in Tunisia, designed and implemented by the Center for Applied Policy Research at Munich University with its Tunisian partners, the Faculty of Juridical, Political and Social Sciences of the University of Carthago, the Union of Independent Tunisians for Liberty (UTIL) and the Arab Institute for Human Rights, and led by Ludwig Schulz, for another two years.
Munich, 6 March 2019
Pakistan in the Midst of a stormy Region
On 6 March 2019, Michael Bauer and Ludwig Schulz welcomed Ms. Marvi Memon, former Pakistani parliamentarian, cabinet member, and minister, as well as C.E.O. of Lifelong Learners Consultancy, currently based at the Science Po Asia Campus in Le Havre, France, for a talk and roundtable discussion on Pakistan's National Security Policy - Regional Challenges and International Responses. The discussion was moderated by Michael Bauer.