Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)

In 1995, the United Nations adopted the radical #BeijingDeclaration — a document sometimes considered the international “Bill of Rights” for women. Exactly 30 years later, women’s global rights (chiefly, reproductive rights) are once again “up for debate” at the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (#CSW69) — which is happening right now at UN headquarters in NYC. In their recent ENSURED blog, Ines M. Pousadela and Jesselina Rana warn that we should expect to see “deliberate attempts to dilute language on LGBTQI+ rights, comprehensive sexuality education, and protections against gender-based violence" in the agreed conclusions and resolutions from CSW69. Anti-rights groups, they explain are behind this misogynist backlash. Over the years, conservative, anti-rights actors have gained a foothold in CSW, under the guise of cultural and religious values. Their loud presence sows division among participants, obstructs the debate, and creates a more hostile environment at the CSW meeting. This makes it harder for youth, feminist & LGBTQI+ organisations to make themselves heard. These challenges come on top of the existing, structural barriers these groups must overcome to be at CSW, including “visa denials, funding shortages, tokenism, subtle (and not-so-subtle) racism, and pervasive transphobia.” ✊ Find out what the EU can do to protect CSW69 from anti-rights influence: https://lnkd.in/dcpHHqur #ENSURED #genderequality #sdg5 #Beijing30 UN Women

Thank you for having us. European security needs this cooperation. And I was glad to learn about the Dutch "triple helix" of science, policy, and business 💡🧬

Vieles, was unter dem Schlagwort "Wettbewerbsfähigkeit" diskutiert wird, ist richtig. Als Leitbild für die Verteidigung der sozialen Marktwirtschaft in einer feindseligen Welt greift das Konzept aber viel zu kurz. Deutschland und Europa müssen "systemwettbewerbsfähig" werden, wie Janka Oertel es treffend formuliert hat. In einem neuen Essay in der WirtschaftsWoche skizzieren Thorsten Benner und ich, was das neben angebotsseitigen Reformen und Staatsmodernisierung bedeutet: 1) Pragmatische Maßnahmen zum Schutz von Schlüsselsektoren vor unfairem Wettbewerb ergreifen 2) EU-Instrumente gegen wirtschaftliche Zwangsausübung weiterentwickeln und in die eigene "strategische Unverzichtbarkeit" in Schlüsseltechnologien investieren 3) EU-Binnenmarkt weiter vertiefen und Deutschland strukturell weniger abhängig von Exporten außerhalb der EU machen 4) Investitionen in Verteidigung und Infrastruktur so steuern, dass ein großer Teil des Nachfrageeffekts europäische Anbieter und Produktion stärkt 5) Zentralität von Verteilungsfragen für ein resilientes Wirtschaftsmodell erkennen "Noch nie in ihrer Geschichte befand sich die Bundesrepublik so unter Druck wie heute. Nur wenn wir durch ein beherztes Zusammenspiel von Reformen, Investitionen und Schutzmaßnahmen systemwettbewerbsfähig werden, können wir die Erfolgsgeschichte der sozialen Marktwirtschaft fortschreiben und gleichzeitig auf der Basis wirtschaftlicher und technologischer Stärke auch militärisch abschreckungs- und verteidigungsfähig werden."

„Noch nie in ihrer Geschichte befand sich die Bundesrepublik so unter Druck wie heute. Nur wenn wir durch ein beherztes Zusammenspiel von Reformen, Investitionen und Schutzmaßnahmen systemwettbewerbsfähig werden, können wir die Erfolgsgeschichte der sozialen Marktwirtschaft fortschreiben und gleichzeitig auf der Basis wirtschaftlicher und technologischer Stärke auch militärisch abschreckungs- und verteidigungsfähig werden“. Neuer Essay in Wirtschaftswoche gemeinsam mit Jakob Hensing. Wir zeigen, warum das reine Denken in Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der Welt von heute, dominiert von Trump und Xi, nicht gerecht wird — und warum wir (um einen Begriff von Janka Oertel aufzugreifen) systemwettbewerbsfähig werden müssen. https://lnkd.in/d3BuDSJU

Fresh off the, well, whatever they do with those bits and bytes these days: "Europe in the Turtle Trap: Defense Spending Alone Will Not Protect Us". With my Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) colleague Abi Watson, I argue that European governments are doing well to invest strongly and rapidly in a better defense. However, in taking some of the money from soft power tools like diplomacy and aid, in particular non-military security and stabilization assistance, they are building a shiny hard shell while leaving our soft underbellies exposed to all the threats that are not military and against which military tools alone are useless. What do you think? https://lnkd.in/exX_DAKx

The Robert Bosch Academy held an event yesterday with our fellow Mark Lowcock, the former Permanent secretary of the Department for International Development (DFID), Luise Amtsberg, the current Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance as well as member of the Greens Party and Julia Steets, Director of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) on "Shaping Germany's Aid" in the aftermath of the recently concluded German federal elections. The conversation was facilitated by Sonja H. of the Centre for Humanitarian Action. Some of the issues that came up are: 📌 One key aspect of the current conversation around #internationalcooperation, around #aid is that of structural challenges. The CDU/CSU had alluded to an integration of the development cooperation with humanitarian aid into one ministry. This step could have long term profound implications and won't necessarily ensure an optimization of the work that the ministry aims to do. 📌 Before making a rushed decision in one direction or the other about fusing the ministries, it is crucial to identify the goals, central issues for the policy framework of the new government and ensure that there is a coherence at that level. The next step would be then to check if the existent apparatus can contribute to delivering on those policy aspirations or do we need new mechanisms? 📌 It is also important to have a critical conversation around who has what role in the context of the existent aid systems? We need to acknowledge that there have been redundancies in the existent systems which can be and need to be addressed in order to optimize the impact of the limited (and going forward, dwindling) resources. 📌Every structural change should be rooted in the wish to helping more people and not necessarily be driven by budgetary restrictions. If we have a lot less money, may be we need to go a lot more local and address redundancies within the organizations. 📌 It is critical to stop decoupling developmental cooperation from security. Cooperation and trust based relationships with institutions, organizations who are the beneficiaries of the developmental cooperation have helped in stabilizing and enriching bilateral relationships for a long time. These kind of relationships are key when it comes to addressing security interests and concerns. 📌 It is also very important for politicians to have a honest conversation with the voters about why #humanitarianaid and #developmentalcooperation is important, how it can go a long way in mitigating some of the conflicts that we face today. More importantly, it is key that the voters also understand that a sizeable cut in these sectors doesn't necessarily mean more money will be available for other domestic issues. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the conversation. Photographs ©️ Anita Back Robert Bosch Stiftung

Eine interessante Preview von Philipp Rotmann und dem Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) zur Finanzierung von #Peacebuilding und Krisenprävention. Deutschland ist hier mittlerweile an erster Stelle weltweit mit Investments in Friedensbemühungen und mittel-/langfristige Stabilisierung. Die grundsätzliche Abhängigkeit von einigen wenigen ist allerdings riskant, zumal bei zunehmenden Budgeteinkürzungen und Mittelknappheit. Diese Grafik teilen wir gerne! Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany

My highlight of the week: being able to spend time with the participants of Baden-Badener Unternehmer Gespräche e.V. (BBUG) 155th edition at Palais Biron in Baden-Baden. As always at BBUG a very special atmosphere & group of participants. I learned a lot about perspectives from the business community. Really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the interplay of security, economy & technology and how Germany & Europe can assert themselves in an ever more hostile world. The goal needs to be to hold our own in the competition of systems with Trump‘s US and Xi‘s China. To use a term coined by Janka Oertel this requires „Systemwettbewerbsfähigkeit“ with the old approaches to competitiveness no longer being sufficient. In addition to necessary reforms (e.g. cutting bureaucracy and energy costs) Germany needs investments, protective measures (especially against the looming China Shock 2.0 and economic & political coercion) as well as doubling down on breaking down barriers in Europe‘s single market. Look out for the essay Jakob Hensing and I have out on this topic in this week‘s edition of Wirtschaftswoche. https://lnkd.in/d3BuDSJU Thank you for the invitation, Michael Schwarz Dr. Tim Steinecke

GPPi's Julia Friedrich was on SWR Aktuell Radio this morning, offering her insights on what yesterday's talks in Saudi Arabia mean for the US and Ukraine and how Russia might react to the ceasefire proposal. 🎧 Listen now (in German): https://lnkd.in/gGNZ4zWF

Don't miss GPPi's Thorsten Benner on the panel at tomorrow's online event hosted by The Wilson Center and Kennan Institute. 🔗RSVP now via the link below.