Just Transition, Just in Time? Europe and Africa’s Shared Path to Climate-neutral Energy

Policy Lunch
14 November 2024, 12:00 hrs, Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Brussels

The European Green Deal aims to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this, the continent needs to rapidly transition to sustainable, climate-neutral energy. Africa holds enormous potential for renewable energy production and could benefit from European investment in the energy sector. How can a just energy partnership between Africa and Europe be achieved in practice? How can the necessary mutual trust be built? This is what we will discuss with international experts at the Policy Lunch 2024 in Brussels.

Register now! 

Prospects of Peacebuilding in West Africa: The Role of Ad Hoc Military Coalition Interventions

INEF Lecture Series 
20 November 2024, 14:15 hrs, Duisburg

Regionalism has been an essential feature of Africa’s international relations since the 1960s. Regional economic communities and institutions continue to play essential roles in addressing pertinent developmental and security challenges. Nonetheless, the continent is witnessing a new wave of regionalism where countries are now harnessing their strengths to tackle common threats. In the upcoming INEF lecture, Dr. Emma Birikorang, Acting Director of Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana, argues that Africa is currently moving towards a new form of regionalism. The lecture will interrogate whether the emerging wave challenges or complements the old regionalism.

You will find further information here.

From Cooperation to Confrontation? Populism and International Cooperation in the Super Election Year 2024

Bonn Symposium 
21 November 2024, 14:15 hrs (online series; English)
29 November 2024, 18:00 hrs (evening event in Bonn; German)

In the super election year 2024, the Bonn Symposium 2024 addresses the question of how the worldwide rise of populism is affecting international cooperation and the joint tackling of the global challenges of our time. In the final online session on 21 November, we will turn our attention to India as one of the most important international players and how populism there is affecting the country's relationship with Germany, Europe and other international partners.

We will conclude the Bonn Symposium on 29 November 2024 with a high-level, evening panel discussion in the Old Town Hall in Bonn.

Register now for all or individual parts of the event! The full programme is available on our website.

Populism and the Liberal International Order

New Article in The Review of International Organizations

In a new paper published in “The Review of International Organizations”, Sandra Destradi (Univ. Freiburg/Reichmann Univ.) and INEF member Johannes Vüllers analyze the foreign policy preferences of populist governments with regard to the US-led liberal international order.

The results on the voting behavior of governments in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) confirm the expectation that populism has a strong and statistically significant negative influence on foreign policy preferences with regard to the core norms of the liberal international order.

Peace at the Margins? Peacebuilding and Patriarchal World Ordering in Sierra Leone

New Article in Global Studies Quarterly

In a new article in “Global Studies Quarterly”, INEF member Patricia Rinck presents a feminist perspective on international peacebuilding as a conservative and patriarchal world ordering process. Using the peacebuilding process in Sierra Leone as an example, the article illustrates how patriarchal ideas of world order shaped the peacebuilding process and thus ultimately contributed to maintaining an exclusive (gender) order in the war-to-peace transition.

Africa’s Future in the Global Energy Transition: Balancing Growth, Access, and Decarbonisation

Global Governance Spotlight 2|2024

The new Global Governance Spotlight by Alize le Roux and Jakkie Cilliers (Institute for Security Studies - ISS, Pretoria) explores how Africa can balance rising energy needs, close energy poverty, and decarbonise, paving the way for sustainable development. Please download the spotlight here!

International Law in the “Multipolar World Order”: A Stronger Role Is Necessary – And Possible

Global Governance Spotlight 3|2024

International law has come under attack from various directions in recent years. As the worldwide promotion of peace, prosperity and freedom can only succeed on the basis of cooperation and the effectiveness of international law, renewed efforts to strengthen it are imperative.

In our latest Global Governance Spotlight, Prof Dominik Steiger from Dresden University of Technology analyses the challenges that international law is currently facing and how it can be strengthened again.

The Development and Peace Foundation (sef:) was founded in 1986 on the initiative of Willy Brandt. It is a cross-party and non-profitmaking organisation. sef: provides an international high-level forum for shared thinking on the complex challenges of globalisation. It is linked to the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF) by a cooperation agreement. The aim of INEF’s application-oriented research is to build bridges between theory and practice.