AICGS Advisor - January 25, 2008

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Analysis

In this week's At Issue, Executive Director Dr. Jackson Janes discusses the upcoming Land elections in Lower Saxony and Hesse and explores the push and pull of populist influences on both the parties and the voters as they confront uncertainties about the future, influences which will also have an impact on next year's federal elections.
To read this essay, please click here.

On January 27, the federal states of Lower Saxony and Hesse will hold parliamentary elections; these key Land elections could provide a preview of how next year's federal election could turn out. In light of these upcoming elections, AICGS has compiled a page of links and information about the elections and the issues that are impacting the races.
To access this page of links, please click here.

AICGS Non-resident Senior Fellow John Starrels takes a look at the International Monetary Fund's annual Article IV Report on the German economy and writes that Germany's high marks for success are tempered by concerns for the future.
To read this essay, please click here.

After the UN climate change conference in Bali, Non-resident Senior Fellow Alexander Ochs compares the three main players to an old Clint Eastwood film: The Good (Europe), the Bad (the U.S.), and the Ugly (China). Ochs writes that each of these players must take on more responsibility if climate change progress is to be made.
To read this essay, please click here (PDF).

Marcia Pally, professor at New York University and a recent participant in the AICGS conference on Government and Faith-based Initiatives (see below), analyzes the role of faith in U.S. politics and says that Republicans can no longer rely on the church for votes. This article originally appeared in the December 31, 2007, issue of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
To read this article in English, please click here.
To read this article in German, please click here (PDF).

Upcoming Events

On Tuesday January 29, 2008, Dr. Jürgen Rüttgers, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, will speak at a lecture organized by AICGS. Minister-President Rüttgers will address current issues and likely future developments in transatlantic relations, focusing on the issues of what societal similarities and differences influence Europe and America and what role should the West play in a globalized world.
For more information and to RSVP, please click here.

On February 4, 2008, AICGS will host a workshop on "Security and Stability: German and American Cooperation in Times of Transition," which is undertaken with the generous support of The German Marshall Fund of the United States. Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars and experts from Germany and the United States, this workshop discusses the German and American perspectives on current security issues such as terrorism, the Middle East, and Iran.
For more information and to RSVP, please click here.

Announcements

On December 14, 2007, AICGS organized a one-day conference on "Government and Faith-based Initiatives: A German-American Comparison" with the support of The Robert Bosch Foundation. Structured into four panels, the workshop analyzed the influence of religion on social policy and foreign policy in Germany and the United States.
For a summary of this event, please click here.

The AICGS Sustaining Membership Program is designed to provide special recognition and privileges to corporate and individual donors who pledge $5,000 or more for General Support, or for sponsorship of Research Programs or Program-related Events & Publications.

AICGS 2007-2008 Sustaining Members:
Altana AG                    Bayer Corporation
Deutsche Telekom        Gebrüder Heinemann
The Halle Foundation       Mannheim LLC
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
Porsche        Volkswagen of America

For more information on the AICGS Sustaining Members Program, please click here.

AICGS would like to announce that it is now accepting applications for the DAAD/AICGS Fellowship program, sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The deadline for Fall 2008 (July 2008-December 2008) is February 28, 2008.
For application instructions and more information, please click here.

The Council for European Studies at Columbia University (CES) is now seeking applications for a fellowship that covers travel to and research on Europe. The deadline for the next round of CES fellowships is February 1, 2008.
To apply for this fellowship, please click here (Word document).
Answers to frequently asked questions about the fellowship can be found here.
Additionally, the Sixteenth International Conference of Europeanists will be held at the Drake Hotel, Chicago, from March 6-8, 2008.
For more details on the conference, please click here.



For past issues of the AICGS Advisor, please check the Advisor Archive.