Hard Power

Research on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) focuses on the extent to which this mega-project changes the dynamics of international relations. In this context, the Center for Global Studies examines the significance of individual BRI-routes and the perception of these projects. Particular attention is paid to aspects of power shifts, global order, and perceptions of security.

The Bonn Power Shift Monitor (BPSM) is a power calculation measure based on eight central indicators. The model is designed to uncover and analyze the shifts in international power relations between the world’s leading industrialized and emerging economies. As a result, the BPSM is able to inform about relative shifts in global power as well as country-specific trends. Based on this measure, the Center for Global Studies publishes country reports and more in-depth power analyses.

The competition concerning core technologies in the 21st century is rapidly changing the global political power constellations. The growing, rigorous rivalry for technological supremacy between the USA and China is developing into a new normality in world politics and is particularly evident in the expansion of 5G infrastructure. It is generally agreed that technological innovation has a major role to play in international politics and with regard to power shifts. Especially the relationship of technology and power and the transformation process from technology to power as well as the resulting consequences for international relations are of particular importance. Current research focuses primarily on the significance of artificial intelligence as a leading innovation for the future. Hereby, the Center for Global Studies follows the question whether and how artificial intelligence changes the balance and division of power between countries.

Given the increasing interdependence and competition between the powers, their reciprocal interactions are becoming more frequent and influential. In the context of the trade conflict between the US and China, the effects of the great power rivalry between the two superpowers are also having an impact on Europe. With regard to the complex trilateral relationship between Europe, the US and China, the European dealings with China can also have an impact on transatlantic relations. Here, the Center for Global Studies examines the interactions between the three actors, the balancing act between the community of values and the purely economic community of interests, as well as  an exemplary pattern of behavior between two countries with different political systems, such as Germany and China. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the US strategy on the EU and China and to Germany’s role in shaping European-Chinese relations.

The influence of the Russian Federation in world politics has grown, despite expectations to the contrary following the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 and Moscow’s emerging isolation by the West. Russia has succeeded in strengthening its position through the targeted use of hard Power and structural power at the negotiating table and thus to reduce the isolation efforts of the

to make Western actors obsolete. At the same time, Russia has to deal with internal problems of an economic and social nature, which are complicated by the fact that the domestic policy of foreign policy seems to be subordinate. That so generated voltage ratio takes a look at the Russian foreign policy from different perspectives all the more more necessary and interesting.