Networked Democratic Diplomacy A democratic Europe needs a new kind of public diplomacy.

For several years, media outlets and independent democratic organizations have come under systematic pressure in many European countries. Minority rights are under attack. Even the independence of the judiciary is now open to question. The belief in self-correction in democratic societies continues to wane. The troublesome situation in Hungary and Poland is not just a national matter of European Union law being misapplied in specific member states. Various regulations and sanctions do offer some hope in the situation, including Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) with the EU framework for strengthening the rule of law as well as the rule of law mechanism. But will stricter monitoring and more consistent enforcement be enough? Perhaps what is missing is a consistent commitment to democratic checks and balances? In this context, Germany’s foreign and European policies need to do more to support cross-border democracy. My article in Internationale Politik Quarterly.

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Crossing Borders

So different and yet so similarly beautiful are the paths in Europe. Je suis arrivé en France! I was supposed to go from Trier to Toul in 2021. The last few metres of my journey towards Santiago took me through the German countryside. And only for Schengen was I in Luxembourg again. Then I dived into the Grand Est of France, with a surprisingly beautiful amount of history and stories. In a roundabout way, I saw villages that my grandfather entered as a prisoner after the Second World War and left as a friend. Of course, it was another pandemic tour. The most annoying borders on my way were drawn by a virus.

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