Meray Maddah
World leaders' first foreign trips reveal more than diplomatic protocol. They are carefully crafted political stories. Meray Maddah and Max Heermann analyse inaugural diplomatic journeys to uncover stability and change in global networks from Europe’s deep political integration to Trump’s break from traditional allies and Netanyahu’s pivot to Jordan Read more
Anja Durovic
Democratic governments conduct extensive public opinion research, but we know little about how they use it. When and why do they seek to find out what the public thinks? Opening the black box of government polling in Germany, Anja Durovic and Tinette Schnatterer find governments exploit polls in a highly strategic way. Read more
Thomas Poguntke
Thomas Poguntke argues that the shock results of recent elections in two German Länder show how Germany's party system has lost its capacity to integrate radical challengers. As a result, coalition formation now increasingly requires alliances which do not work – and this feeds popular disaffection. Read more
Tiffany D. Barnes
Contemporary politics seems besieged by crises, from pandemics to wars to economic austerity. What does crisis mean for women leaders, who remain underrepresented as chief executives and legislators across the globe? Building on their research, Tiffany D. Barnes, Diana Z. O’Brien and Jennifer M. Piscopo identify five ways to ‘think crisis, think gender’ Read more
Bernardo Jurema
Bernardo Jurema places the recent BRICS expansion into appropriate historical context. It is, he argues, a project to de-westernise the world, opening up new possibilities, including de-colonialisation along the lines of previous historical attempts. It may not be everything that is needed, but it is a significant step forwards Read more
Karl Pike
When it came to Brexit, many British political actors placed far too much weight on Germany and its former Chancellor. Karl Pike and Tim Bale explore what they call the ‘Merkel myth’ and how it affected the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union Read more
Carlos José Cruz Infante
The EU could learn valuable lessons from German Chancellor Scholz’s recent official visit to South America, writes Carlos Cruz Infante. Scholz showed a diplomacy formula that could leverage the Union’s geopolitical influence in the region Read more
Femke van Esch
After sixteen years at the helm, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is leaving office. While political observers often predicted her demise, at the end of her fourth term Merkel is at the height of her popularity. Using the Leadership Capital Index, Femke van Esch explains why Read more
