AGI

Society

Our societies are changing on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to demographic change, immigration and integration, and regional differences—among other factors. Greater understanding about our cultures, an open exchange about emerging issues, and fostering dialogue between different groups can help German and American societies build stronger internal and external connections and awareness.
Reset

Alexander Ritzmann, DAAD/AGI Research Fellow

AGI is pleased to welcome Alexander Ritzmann as a DAAD/AGI Research Fellow from March to June 2023. He has been working on the promotion of liberal democracy and human rights …

Episode 79: Germany’s Public Health Care System

On this episode of The Zeitgeist, AGI president Jeff Rathke and Dr. Christine Arentz, Professor for Health Economics at the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, discuss Germany’s public health …

Shaping Foreign Policy

Germany’s “Feminist” Approach to the War on Ukraine The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the U.S. Government. “As long as …

No Vodka for Lunch

Germany’s Feminist Foreign Policy as Part of the Zeitenwende Reports about German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock’s first visit to Moscow on January 18, 2022, recorded that she told Russian foreign …

The Not-so-Sudden Death of Weimar Democracy

January 30, 1933, the day that Reich President Paul von Hindenburg appointed the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany—and a day whose 90th anniversary we marked last month—was …

The Evolution of German Citizenship Law

Over the past three decades, German citizenship law has evolved from a largely jus sanguinis (“right of blood”) system with a high bar for naturalization to something closer to jus …

Advocating for the Local Level

Local Government Associations in Germany and the United States In recent years, politics in Germany and the United States were affected by enormous global challenges and crises, such as the …

Berlin Votes… Again

Observers of German politics often lament the exaggerated attention devoted to state (Land) elections—especially those that do not coincide with a national election. Such regional polls are interpreted as a …

Orbán’s Enablers

German Conservatives and the EU Council’s Unanimity On December 12, 2022, as the first news of Eva Kaili’s arrest and “Qatargate,” the European Parliament’s first major corruption scandal, broke, Hungarian …

Partisan Divides and Popular Fronts

We are pleased to inaugurate the AGI 40th Anniversary series with the following article, which coincides with the 90th anniversary of the Nazi seizure of power (Machtergreifung) when Hitler was appointed chancellor …

The AGI at Forty Series

How the Society, Culture, and Politics Program Has Evolved The American-German Institute at Johns Hopkins University is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Founded during the last stage of the Cold …

Berlin’s Extraordinary Election

Flaws, Failures, and Their Consequences Peter Müller, a constitutional judge, described the elections that took place on September 26, 2021, in the city-state of Berlin as follows: “One could have …