GIGA Focus

Sixty years after the founding of the GIGA, historical legacies still drive the “one-way street” of research collaboration between Germany and Africa. Creative digital approaches, such as “big-team science,” are needed to accelerate joint knowledge creation with the continent.

The G20 summit in Brazil will take place at a crossroads in the global power dynamic. The traditional dominance of the rich nations is being challenged by a more united Global South, while diplomatic bridges need to be built to address pressing economic, political, and environmental issues.

The 2024 US presidential election will redefine America’s role in the Middle East. With US priorities being revisited, Europe must recalibrate its foreign policy in the region to safeguard strategic interests such as regional stability, energy security, and the management of migration flows.

President Marcos Jr. has been driving the digital transformation of the Philippines since 2022. Internet infrastructure and cybersecurity are undergoing improvements as part of an effort to position the country as a digital leader, with key collaborations involving Germany, Japan, and the World Bank.

The BRICS+ nations will soon come together in Kazan, Russia, for their 16th Annual Summit. Despite meeting in a country at war, old and new member states will work on initiatives for economic and political cooperation while aspiring ones will await a decision on the group’s further expansion.

Sanction evasion, economic and military collaboration, and narratives of resistance against a US-led liberal global order bind Russia and Iran together. To thwart their continued and intensified power projection, the West needs to strengthen ties with other key actors in the Middle East and Eurasia.

In Brazil’s mid-term elections on 6 October, all eyes will be on São Paulo, where polls show a three-way tie between the right’s “old guard” candidate, a young, extremist YouTuber, and the left-wing nominee, backed by President Lula. The result will be a harbinger for politics in post-Lula Brazil.

Public diplomacy looms large in the foreign policies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Zooming in on these states’ engagement with the African continent, this GIGA Focus Middle East explores the role played by real and alleged non-state actors in autocratic public-diplomacy efforts.

The violent escalation in most of Syria since 2023 and the continuation of the Assad dictatorship suggest that nowhere in the country is safe. Outlined are the key details to this. Any plans to forcibly return Syrian refugees from Middle Eastern and European countries should therefore be rejected.