We are pleased that Dr. Carolyn Halladay will join us, following on her presentation at the WACMB luncheon of May 26th on The Changing World of German Politics. Dr. Halladay is a Senior Lecturer in the Center for Civil- Military Relations and in the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School. An historian and a lawyer, Dr. Halladay’s academic focus is on contemporary Central Europe.
The following resources give an overview of the current political and economic challenges facing Germany:
A. How has the war in Ukraine changed German politics? May 5, BBC Briefing Room podcast at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0016xw1 (29 minutes)
B. Russia, Energy, and the German Economy, a conversation with Michael Heinz, Chairman and CEO of the BASF Corporation, about the impact of the current crisis on the Germany economy, hosted on May 27 by the American Council on Germany, at https://youtu.be/SAnijq85sKg (58 minutes)
C. ‘Worst crisis since the second world war’: Germany prepares for a Russian gas embargo, April 21, Financial Times at link
D. Gerhard Schröder, The Former Chancellor Who Became Putin’s Man in Germany, April 22, New York Times at link
The following questions are to help guide our discussion:
1. How has the new coalition government affected Germany’s policy options for dealing with the current regional crises?
2. Germany has a complex relationship with the countries of Eastern and Western Europe; how has this affected its past and current economic policies?
3. Germany has made deliberate decisions and investments/disinvestments in energy production and acquisition over the past several decades; where does it go from here given the uncertainty of Russian energy supplies?