Despite some constraints on their Indo-Pacific strategies, South Korea and France could consider bilateral dialogues for partnership in the Indo-Pacific, leading to a high level of confidence and strategic convergence in security. 

The election of the Commission to run the African Union (AU) on February 6 and 7, 2021 was an important step towards implementing its institutional reform. The Commission is the institution’s real government, setting the pan-African organization’s objectives under the leadership of the Heads of State who meet once a year at the Assembly. The Chadian Moussa Faki, who was re-elected as AU Commission (AUC) Chairperson, has the onerous task of undertaking this reform, initiated by the former AU Chair, Rwandan president Paul Kagamé, between 2016 and 2018.

Russia’s Islam has been much more than the two Chechen wars, and regular terrorist actions that have shaken the Russian territory. Islam constitutes an integral part of Russia’s history and culture, and the Putin regime regularly celebrates Islam’s contribution to the country and its great power reassertion.

How to reduce the vulnerabilities induced by these global value chains to be more independent, while taking into account the reality of these productive processes which precisely generate interdependencies?

The eurozone crisis marked a real failure of European Union (EU) policy, which led to mediocre economic performance and the erosion of its political legitimacy among the populations of member states.

Françoise Nicolas contributed the chapter on trade, providing more insights into the opportunities and challenges South Korea and the EU need to address to revive the rules-based multilateral trading system.

The grand coalition’s record on European policy is mixed. On budgetary issues, the CDU-CSU and SPD were able to implement the agreements in the coalition agreement, but on fundamental reforms of the European Union, only small steps were taken.

One cannot help but wonder about Germany’s future foreign policy when one considers both the weight of the Federal Republic and the many crises we face internationally.