The international system is undergoing profound shifts, with power becoming more diffuse and competition more intense. Rising geopolitical tensions, economic rivalries, and new security threats are challenging the rules and institutions that have governed global relations for decades. In this uncertain environment, Europe’s global influence is shrinking.
ECFR’s work on the global order examines how Europeans can navigate these transformations and remain strategic and agile international actors. It offers strategies for European policymakers to engage with emerging powers, rethink the multilateral system, strengthen old alliances and build new ones.
As Europeans rearm to confront Russian aggression, they also need to figure out how to survive in the age of “unpeace” that Donald Trump and other strongmen are ushering in. The old interdependencies that liberals took for granted no longer ensure peace, prosperity or stability
China’s ideas could become the country’s next big export. The Idea of China examines Chinese thinking about global order, AI, demographic change, and more – and considers how these ideas could influence the world
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Julien Barnes-Dacey, Susi Dennison, Marie Dumoulin, Frédéric Grare, Mark Leonard, Theodore Murphy, José Ignacio Torreblanca
Policy Brief
Middle powers are shaping a fragmented world for which Europe is ill prepared. To protect its interests and values, the EU needs a foreign policy strategy that emphasises its wide range of interdependencies
Salón Embajadores, Casa de América | Plaza de la Cibeles, s/n, 28014, Madrid
·ECFR Madrid
La Unión Europea se encuentra en una coyuntura crítica. La segunda administración Trump ha intensificado la presión comercial sobre Europa con nuevos aranceles y una agenda abiertamente proteccionista. Mientras, China está aprovechando su capacidad industrial y el control sobre minerales estratégicos y tierras raras para reforzar su influencia. En este contexto de creciente…
A European-backed UN body explored mass graves in Iraq between 2018 and 2024, supporting steps towards justice and reconciliation—and providing wider lessons for the region
Global commitment to development assistance is far from where it was a decade ago. Off the back of the International Conference on Financing for Development, European policymakers should look towards adapting their approach to this new reality
The EU’s external image depends more on history than public relations. To improve it, European leaders need to make sure the history of the future reflects their values
European sentiment, tested by external threats and internal doubts, is finding new life in the Trump era: not in grand declarations, but in a slow, stubborn commitment to endure and move forward
Saal des Polnischen Instituts, Europa-Haus Leipzig, Markt 10, 04109 Leipzig
·ECFR Berlin
Die Beziehungen zur Volksrepublik China prägen maßgeblich die Außenpolitik der EU. Trotz strategischer Kooperationsansätze und Chinas Rolle als wichtigster Handelspartner der EU bestehen erhebliche Ungleichgewichte und politische Spannungen. Während die EU Chinas größter Absatzmarkt ist, führt das Handelsverhältnis zu einem deutlichen Defizit auf europäischer Seite. Zudem belasten Differenzen in Fragen von Demokratie, Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Menschenrechten…
Saal des Polnischen Instituts, Europa-Haus Leipzig, Markt 10, 04109 Leipzig
·ECFR Berlin
Der Zerfall der Sowjetunion im Jahr 1991 nährte die Hoffnung auf eine friedlichere europäische Ordnung. Doch diese Hoffnung erwies sich als trügerisch. Unter Wladimir Putin erlebt Russlands Großmachtanspruch eine gefährliche Renaissance, genährt von dem Wunsch, eine Einflusssphäre in Russlands Nachbarschaft wiederherzustellen. Die vom Kreml propagierte Idee einer “russischen Welt”, die russischsprachige Bevölkerungen im Ausland sowie…
The EU and South Africa are fresh off the back of their first mutual summit in seven years. Pretoria remains committed to its policy of strategic ambiguity, while the EU took the chance to further its green and industrial ambitions via a new partnership model
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