An "alliance of middle powers" is what Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested in January in response to a Trumpian world. But as @barnabyjdye.bsky.social argues in this new essay, history suggests that forging such an alliance will be far from easy. ip-quarterly.com/en/chances-m...

Reducing reliance on Chinese critical minerals is the latest buzzword in America and Europe - in @ipq.bsky.social Daniel Gros and I argue that the US and the EU have a fast, cheap and effective option to tackle this challenge: setting up a critical minerals stockpile ip-quarterly.com/en/case-sett...

As Presidents Xi and Trump prepare for the their summit next week, @agathedemarais.com and Daniel Gros propose a simple way to counter China's chokehold over the supply of critical materials: The Europeans and their partners should be building stockpiles of them. ip-quarterly.com/en/case-sett...

Will today's elections in Scotland and Wales as well as council elections in England lead to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's defenestration? @johnkampfner.bsky.social looked into this in the IPQ spring issue and offered an assessment of possible replacements. ip-quarterly.com/en/keir-star...

Today, the Merz government marks its first year in office, but the mood isn't celebratory. There's a scarcity of new ideas tangible also when it comes to foreign policy. In the IPQ spring issue, our contributors look into this and make suggestions––check it out! ip-quarterly.com/en/spring-20...

Early start on Sunday: Just off talking to Julian Worricker/BBC World Service about Trump's announcement of US troops withdrawals from Germany. Bottom line: not dramatic (yet), but weakens NATO; questions about Merz' speaking off the cuff @dgap.org @ipq.bsky.social www.bbc.com/audio/schedu...

With each new Trumpian twist and turn, Merz has become more convinced that Europeans—and Germany in particular—need to find new partners around the world (in addition to the transatlantic alliance). Read @andreasrinke.bsky.social in our spring issue: ip-quarterly.com/en/middle-po...

The Christian Democrats have had a mixed start to this year’s regional votes. But for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the state of the Social Democrats is more worrying than a grab-bag of election results. @henninghoff.bsky.social's latest Berlin Cable: ip-quarterly.com/en/spds-losi...

The EU needs to take secure chemical supply chains more seriously, @fraghi.bsky.social writes in our spring issue. Right now, chemicals are a neglected part of Europe’s economic security. ip-quarterly.com/en/chemicals...

NEW: Great powers' use of regulatory heft, trade flows, and pure economic coercion as instruments of foreign policy has passed the highwater mark. Middle powers are likely to profit. Read @atlantikbruecke.bsky.social's Julia Friedlander: ip-quarterly.com/en/limits-gr...

New from @michaellaha.bsky.social: The EU should amend the Industrial Accelerator Act to incorporate an “information reciprocity” concept, and level the business information playing field with China. ip-quarterly.com/en/why-eu-ne...

Polish society is embroiled in culture wars—and museums are caught in the crosshairs. Read @lucyaash.bsky.social in our spring issue: ip-quarterly.com/en/polands-h...

Something to keep an eye on, from @johnkampfner.bsky.social: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had a terrible first year in office, and things haven’t improved much since. A bad result for his Labour Party in elections on May 7 may well cut his political career short. ip-quarterly.com/en/keir-star...

Recommended reading

NEW: The Iran war started as a war of choice, but it is now morphing into one of necessity, @carnegieendowment.org's Karim Sadjadpour tells IPQ. Now, Europeans are facing a dilemma that is not of their making. ip-quarterly.com/en/its-europ...

The world is facing the end of an idealistic-normative approach to the international order. Germany needs to recalibrate its approach. New from Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Mark Speich: ip-quarterly.com/en/fast-forw...

Something to keep an eye on, from @johnkampfner.bsky.social: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had a terrible first year in office, and things haven’t improved much since. A bad result for his Labour Party in elections on May 7 may well cut his political career short. ip-quarterly.com/en/keir-star...

With the logic of current US foreign policy solely based on power, the question for Europe is whether it can muster the strength, cohesion, and nerve required to shape whatever global order comes next. Wojciech Solak in our spring issue: ip-quarterly.com/en/trump-cor...

The Merz government is restructuring Germany’s foreign and security policy apparatus; it needs to find big solutions to big problems. But so far, @bressansar.bsky.social & Philipp Rotmann argue, these changes are happening too slowly and are not radical enough. ip-quarterly.com/en/merz-unfi...

One year on from Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a solid majority in Germany no longer trusts the United States. Opinions about what role the country should play in Europe, though, remain in flux. Read @koerber-ip.bsky.social's Jonathan Lehrer: ip-quarterly.com/en/germans-a...

The best time to prevent a crisis is before it happens. But which crisis, and how long do we have? Read @rebeccawire.bsky.social on Europe’s predicament: ip-quarterly.com/en/stuck-mid...

Poland's nationalist-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party has decided to make Poland’s attitude to the EU the country’s key political cleavage. This is unprecedented and dangerous. Read Piotr Buras, head of @ecfr.eu's Warsaw office, in our spring issue: ip-quarterly.com/en/poland-an...

Opinion: "For Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the key criterion for choosing them is whether they’re willing to abide by international rules", writes @andreasrinke.bsky.social at @ipq.bsky.social ip-quarterly.com/en/middle-po...

Germany is facing turbulent times, @fuecks.bsky.social writes. As such, those who craft its foreign policy should prepare for the unexpected. ip-quarterly.com/en/fast-forw...

With each new Trumpian twist and turn, Merz has become more convinced that Europeans—and Germany in particular—need to find new partners around the world (in addition to the transatlantic alliance). Read @andreasrinke.bsky.social in our spring issue: ip-quarterly.com/en/middle-po...

In our new issue, @wolfgangschmidt.bsky.social writes that he is uneasy with the state of Germany’s foreign and security policy debate, which too often ignores the economic foundations of policymaking and isolates good analysis within the foreign policy sphere. ip-quarterly.com/en/fast-forw...

Friedrich Merz claims to have a brand-new German foreign policy—but so far, there’s been more continuity than change with his government. What Berlin needs is a major strategy for protecting Europe’s security, @henninghoff.bsky.social argues in our new issue: ip-quarterly.com/en/german-fo...

Our new issue, A New German Foreign Policy?, features @lucyaash.bsky.social, @andreasrinke.bsky.social, @bressansar.bsky.social, @wolfgangschmidt.bsky.social, @josephdeweck.bsky.social, @rebeccawire.bsky.social, @fraghi.bsky.social, @johnkampfner.bsky.social & more. ip-quarterly.com/en/spring-20...

Our new issue, out tomorrow.

A preview from our Spring issue, out later this week: In the age of weapons of mass disruption, Europe's leaders must finally accept that irregular trade is becoming the norm rather than the exception, writes @josephdeweck.bsky.social. ip-quarterly.com/en/europe-ag...

ICYMI EU enlargement and reform will come to dominate European discussions in the coming months. By Milan Nic @milanninberlin.bsky.social & Nikola Xaviereff @nikoxw.bsky.social

A preview from our @ipq.bsky.social Spring 2026 issue: @josephdeweck.bsky.social explains that Europe needs to move on to a new base case in the age of weapons of mass disruption, presently manifesting itself in the Israeli-US war against Iran ip-quarterly.com/en/europe-ag...

As ever, a key question for Ukraine's potential EU membership is where the German government stands in this debate. ip-quarterly.com/en/eu-enlarg...

Declining funds, increasing challenges: German development policy is facing a difficult situation. A reform is intended to remedy this, Reem Alabali Radovan, Germany’s minister for economic cooperation and development, told IPQ in an interview. Read it here: ip-quarterly.com/en/combating...

The debate about EU enlargement is fast approaching a critical phase as member states consider the question of how to facilitate Ukraine’s accession. Germany is starting to become more flexible on the subject, @milanninberlin.bsky.social & @nikoxw.bsky.social write: ip-quarterly.com/en/eu-enlarg...

NEW: The European Union doesn’t think of itself as a geopolitical power in the South Caucasus. But its policies there are constraining Russia in ways that matter strategically—regardless of Brussels’ intentions. ip-quarterly.com/en/how-eu-co...

Faced with a Trump administration that is treating allies as free-riders, the Japanese are trying to prove their indispensability—due to a lack of other options, writes @dgap.org's Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff. ip-quarterly.com/en/japan-dou...

NEW: The European Union doesn’t think of itself as a geopolitical power in the South Caucasus. But its policies there are constraining Russia in ways that matter strategically—regardless of Brussels’ intentions. ip-quarterly.com/en/how-eu-co...

NEW: The brunt of Iran’s response to the Israeli-American attacks has been directed at the Arab Gulf states, threatening the “Gulf Brand”—which will likely have knock-on effects for Europe. ip-quarterly.com/en/nightmare...

Yesterday, Macron announced a revolution in French nuclear deterrence, paving the way for its Europeanization. @josephdeweck.bsky.social and his co-authors predicted as much last week and explained why it’s a key piece in European defense ip-quarterly.com/en/franco-ge...

NEW: The brunt of Iran’s response to the Israeli-American attacks has been directed at the Arab Gulf states, threatening the “Gulf Brand”—which will likely have knock-on effects for Europe. ip-quarterly.com/en/nightmare...

And for a bilateral Franco-German angle, see @shahinvallee.bsky.social, @josephdeweck.bsky.social, Elias Ricken, and Jacob Ross for @ipq.bsky.social: Franco-German Cooperation on Nuclear Deterrence Needs to Start Now ip-quarterly.com/en/franco-ge...

If Japan, Germany, and the EU work more closely together on economic security, it will reduce vulnerabilities and support the rules-based international economic order that underpins their shared prosperity. New from Takahiro Tsuchiya: ip-quarterly.com/en/japan-ger...

Franco-German cooperation on nuclear deterrence needs to start now. The good news? Merz and Macron have indicated that they are ready. New from @shahinvallee.bsky.social, @josephdeweck.bsky.social, Elias Ricken, and Jacob Ross: ip-quarterly.com/en/franco-ge...

As Merz travels to Beijing today, @tbenner.bsky.social, @jhensing.bsky.social & Florian Klumpp argue that Germany’s political and business elites need to finally confront the economic threat emanating from Xi Jinping’s China. ip-quarterly.com/en/germanys-...

As Merz travels to Beijing today, @tbenner.bsky.social, @jhensing.bsky.social & Florian Klumpp argue that Germany’s political and business elites need to finally confront the economic threat emanating from Xi Jinping’s China. ip-quarterly.com/en/germanys-...

Read @tbenner.bsky.social's latest: ip-quarterly.com/en/germanys-...

Strategically, this really should be the British-German hour.

From our winter issue, The Trump Doctrine: As South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan grapple with the fear that the US may reduce its military commitment to the region, they’ve started to forge closer security ties with European countries. ip-quarterly.com/en/why-count...

Putin’s war against Ukraine has weakened Russia—turning it into a junior partner of China and triggering Europe’s rearmament, @josephdeweck.bsky.social writes. And Trump’s assault on European democracy will similarly rebound against the United States. ip-quarterly.com/en/trump-lik...