Benjamin Westhoff
Adiatu Aliru Abiodun deals extensively with the ambivalent role of European funding mechanisms in the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). In his project presentation at the AIA Colloquium, he highlighted that the support instruments provided by the EU had on the one hand significantly contributed to supporting regional integration …
The academy was once again able to welcome a group of politically interested individuals from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Bonn office, for an exchange with the fellows. After a general introduction to the academy, the participants engaged in small group discussions on current global challenges. The basis for these discussions were the research projects of …
On Wednesday 17 June, Ryan Mulholland, a Senior Fellow at one of the US’s most renowned think tanks, the Centre for American Progress, visited the Academy for a discussion with AIA Fellows Ramya Vijaya, Filipe Mendonça, Anthony Acquah and Aliru Adiatu. The Fellows presented their various research interests. The discussion centred on political and social …
The Emile Durkheim Research Centre at the University of Bonn and the German Institute for Development and Sustainability (IDOS) organised an interdisciplinary conference on 12 and 13 June entitled “Climate Change as a Crisis of Nature?”. The timing of the event was deliberately chosen, as consultations are currently underway once again in Bonn to prepare …
To mark the end of her time as the first Early Career Researcher at the AIA NRW, Boyhun Kim presented the key arguments of her doctoral thesis, which she has just submitted to Ghent University in Belgium. She used the colloquium as an opportunity to practise her thesis defence in front of the fellows. Her …
As part of a panel discussion organised by AIA NRW in collaboration with the der Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre Praktischer Politik (BAPP) and the Stiftung Bundeskanzler-Adenauer-Haus, political scientist Prof. Dr Gerlinde Groitl, historian Prof. Dr Friedrich Kießling and retired General Jörg Vollmer discussed the ‘turning point’ in security policy and its historical and …
On May 29, 2026, the panel discussion “Decentralizing Diplomacy: Subnational Perspectives on Inter-Regionalism across the AU, EU, and ASEAN” took place. Organized by Aliru Abiodun Adiatu and moderated by Christian Bueger, the participants discussed the growing importance of subnational diplomacy in relations between the AU, the EU, ASEAN, and other regional integration systems. The panel …
AIA NRW Fellow Filipe Mendonça presented his research project on Brazil’s foreign policy maneuvering room in the context of global power struggles—particularly in relation to the United States and China—at the AIA Colloquium. Drawing on a book he published on U.S. trade policy, he provided insights into his research. His key questions are: How has …
Christian Bueger gave a presentation as part of the AIA Fellow Colloquium. He began by providing an overview of his research interests and discussed how his research profile has evolved over time. He then focused specifically on one of his current projects, which centers on multi-national military gatherings (MMGs). Based on various invitations to such …
Ramya Vijaya presented her research project on the links between debt and good governance. Building on her previously published articles, which she had shared with the fellows in advance, the outlines of her planned book-length project on the topic began to take shape. She began by noting that a new phase of fiscal austerity has …
The interconnections between humanitarian development and the prospect for peace were discussed in a meeting held by the parliamentarian group on “Poland, Ukraine, Middle and East Europe, the Baltics”, who had invited AIA Associate Fellow Dr Mariia Levchenko to give an input, based on her research in Ukraine. With the Russian war against Ukraine continuing, …
Issue-linkages evolution and consequences on cooperation Together with IDOS, the Academy organised a workshop with its fellows Cécile Pelaudeix and Christian Bueger on the growing geopolitical tensions in the Arctic and their geostrategic significance for global politics in the 21st century. On the first panel, moderated by Cécile Pelaudeix, AIA Fellow Christian Bueger began by …
Geopolitics Between Climate Change and Global Realignment A public evening event, organised as a joint initiative between the Academy and IDOS, explored the complex interplay between geopolitics and environmental change. The event formed part of the City of Bonn’s ‘May of Science’ initiative. The focus was on two current crisis regions and geopolitical hotspots: the …
Challenges for Europe and ramifications for NRW AIA Fellow Cécile Pélaudeix met for a technical discussion with staff members of the Europe and Foreign Trade Group, led by Anna Haas, at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection, and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Chaired by Division Head Björn Schubert, Cécile Pélaudeix …
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) stands at the center of Germany’s energy transition challenge. As the country’s most productive industrial region, NRW is responsible for approximately one-third of Germany’s total greenhouse gas emissions, with its lignite power sector alone accounting for some 75 million tones of CO2 per year. The decarbonization of the state’s steel, chemical, and …
As the last event in a series of engagement with its focus topic on Subnational Diplomacy, the Academy hosted a Webinar on Paradiplomacy during Global Crisis. Organised by Associate Fellow Debora Prado, the debate featured her, Anja Jakobi, Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska, and Associate Fellow Summar Iqbal Barbar. With a focus on the role of paradiplomacy in …
David Brandon Smith is working on the role of the churches in Namibia’s struggle for independence as part of the “Decolonizing Postcolonialism” project at Goethe University Frankfurt. In his lecture, which in a sense followed up on the evening event with Henning Melber held a few weeks ago at the Academy, he gave the fellows …
In cooperation with the Paradiplomacy Scholars Forum, a webinar was held at the initiative of AIA Fellow Débora Figueiredo M. Prado (Federal University of Uberlândia / AIA NRW) focusing on historical developments, institutions, and specific case studies of Brazilian paradiplomacy. With its 210 million inhabitants, Brazil is the seventh most populous country in the world …
On 16 March, Dr Huanyu Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher at the Ghent Institute for International and European Studies (GIES) at Ghent University in Belgium, visited the Academy. Dr Zhao gave the fellows fascinating insights into her research project, ReConnect China, which is funded under Horizon Europe. The project brings together around 100 researchers from 15 …
Suart MacDonald used the colloquium to take stock of his project on the topic of ‘Sub-national Soft Power: Policy, Strategy, and Measurement.’ His starting point was the question of whether the soft power analysis model (Assets–Infrastructure–Outcomes, AIO) he had developed in another context for the national level could also be applied to regions and cities. …