Publications

Frank-Walter Steinmeier (July 2016): In his article, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier looks ahead to a European Union of 27, calling for a better, more flexible and more responsive EU. “We are committed to making Europe better and to making it listen more to the needs of its citizens. This is the direction taken by the proposals put forward by the French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and myself last week”. While recognizing the imperfections of the EU, Frank-Walter Steinmeier highlights the numerous benefits that an EU membership brings, as well EU’s central role for peace and prosperity on the continent. He argues that the EU is the solution to people’s sense of lack of control, rather than the problem.

This paper provides a review of the ongoing violent conflict in Ukraine and the contemporaneous economic and political crises. It uses big data on violence in the east of Ukraine to argue that the local variation in the violence is best explained by economic rather than ethnic or political factors. We also discuss the resistance of the Ukrainian public to the conflict-resolution strategy outlined in the Minsk I and Minsk II agreements. This resistance reflects the lack of legitimacy of these agreements, where the major stakeholder – the public – has been denied a voice in framing the terms of the agreements.

Eva Ellereit, Dr. Christian Krell, Dr. Tobias Mörschel (Edt. 2015): In November 2015, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung organised a broad congress on ‚Digital Society‘. This paper is the output of the congress, it features 24 stimulating articles written by politicians, academia, journalists and business stakeholders on the topic of digitization. The authors agree that digitization is currently in the hands of a few and bound to private commercial interests and decisions. This must change: We need a democratic outlook which will eventually foster social progress, they argue.

Theresa Reidy (June 2016): It took ten weeks for a government to be formed after the February general election in the Republic of Ireland. Eventually Fine Gael is leading the new minority government and is supported in office by nine non-party politicians. Everything about the new political set up in the Irish government is unusual - no political party emerged as the clear ‘winner’ of the elec­tion. The Labour party even lost tremendously 30 seats compared to 2011. The future of political decision making in Ireland is uncertain. If the government will be sustained for a full term, only time can tell.

Reiner Hoffmann (June 2016): The EU is facing the most severe crisis of credibility and legitimacy in its history. The crisis in the financial sector and the economy is far from over. The reason for this lies, inter alia, with the false prescription of austerity politics to foster economic recovery. Not least the federal German government has contributed to turning the economic crisis for broad swaths of Europe into a full-blown social crisis.

Nick Donovan (June 2016): The Panama Papers have put questions of wealth, tax and inequality right back at the top of the political agenda. In ‘A Unique Contribution’, Nick Donovan calls for a one-off levy on the passive worldwide wealth of Britain’s super-rich, which takes a more stringent approach with those who have used tax havens or domestic tax avoidance schemes. The report argues a one-off levy would be a much fairer way to pay down the deficit than the chancellor’s continued programme of public spending cuts, and would also address growing public concern about spiralling inequality.

The conflict in and around Ukraine has called into question the premises of the EU's Eastern Policy. In a new FES Perspective, eleven authors from the EU, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine advocate for a pragmatic policy of the EU vis-à-vis its eastern neighbours: The deep crisis in EU-Russia relations should not prevent Brussels from seeking cooperation in areas where mutual interests coincide. Opportunities exist in the economic sphere, in technical and scientific cooperation, in civil society exchange, and in global politics.

Thymian Bussemer, Christian Krell, Henning Meyer (January 2016): The Digital Revolution is reshaping our societies and the pace of change is set to accelerate even further. The world of work in particular is increasingly transformed by new technologies and continuous innovation. This exemplifies a crucial point: the Digital Revolution is not primarily a technological but an economic and social issue. The crucial question then is: what should a Digital Society based on social democratic values look like? This paper, published jointly with Social Europe Journal, analyses the key conflicts and provides policy guidance for decision-makers.

FES London and Fabian Society (Edt., December 2015): With Russia flexing its muscles, Isis a rising threat and a refugee crisis caused by failed states and civil war, international affairs are at the top of the political agenda. But the left’s foreign policy debate has been defined more by the battles of the past than the challenges of the future. It is more important than ever that the left sets out a forward–looking vision of Britain’s role in the world. ‘Outward to the World’, published in co-operation with the Fabian Society, maps out a practical but progressive foreign policy from first principles, developing the building blocks of a practical idealism: a new account of globalisation, a reinvention of the European security order, a political vision for de-escalation in the Middle East, a different account of what multilateralism…

Sarah Lain (December 2015): On 30 November 2015, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung hosted a day-long workshop aimed at bringing together leading German and British security specialists as well as members of the UK Parliament and Bundestag to discuss key aspects of European security. The day’s events covered three sessions: European defence, as seen from Berlin and London; the migration crisis; and a review of European security relations with Russia. This report summarizes the policy recommendations that derived from the discussions during the day.