GIGA Focus Middle East | 2/2025

Ten Things to Watch in the Middle East and North Africa in 2025

From the Gaza War and ethnic conflicts in Lebanon and Syria to the significance of a second Trump administration for the region, the MENA remains of central importance for Europe. We present ten topics that will play a prominent role in relations between the two regions in the year ahead.

GIGA Talk | 17/02/2025

IS NOT TAKING PLACE! Security for the Middle East in a World of Competing Global Orders

On 17 February, 2025, GIGA intended to hold a “GIGA Talk” at our office in Berlin to discuss a recent report of the Quincy Institute on the prospects of multilateralism in a world of competing order narratives. At a time of growing power rivalry and diminished cohesion of international institutions, this issue is highly pertinent to multiple conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa and the future of the region.

Protests against the programme have forced us to postpone, as we feel unable to guarantee the security of the event and panel members. We intend to discuss the pertinent topics of the report at one of our future events.

We share the concerns of many protesters about the authoritarian government in Iran and its regional role, but neither the role of Iran or any other specific country was the topic of this event. We look forward to having these very important conversations at a later date.

Audio file X-Space Venezuela, 29.7.2024, a conversation with Sabine Kurtenbach, Maryhen Jimenez Morales, Jesus Renzullo, and Mariana Llanos
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Audio file X-Space Venezuela, 29.7.2024, a conversation with Sabine Kurtenbach, Maryhen Jimenez Morales, Jesus Renzullo, and Mariana Llanos

GIGA Insights | 31/01/2025

Venezuela at a Turning Point? The Elections and an Uncertain Future

On 28 July 2024 the people of Venezuela were called to elect a new president. The elections took place amid controversy, with the National Election Council declaring President Nicolás Maduro the winner without evidence. Despite far-reaching protests, Maduro was inaugurated as the new president in January 2025. Our experts delve into the elections’ credibility, the opposition’s counterefforts, and international reactions.


President (ad interim)

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach is President (ad interim) of the GIGA.

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

Regional Institutes

Africa|Asia|Latin America|Middle East

MECAM Papers English | 01/2025

Female Agency and Colonial Repression: Memory and Archives in Tunisia

Laying the foundations for deciphering colonialism’s contemporary inertia, with its mechanisms continuing to broadly structure relations with the region, is key. European colonialism traumatically shaped both local societies and the categories typically used for their study. Deconstructing the latter and the dominant narratives inherited from colonialism in rejecting their uncritical use is vital for the present.

Contribution | 10/2024

Putting Interreligious Peace Together: Insights from Two Years of Research

The project „Religion for Peace: Identifying Conditions and Mechanisms of Interfaith Peace“ explored ways to build and maintain peace between different religious groups. This illustrated summary presents key findings and highlights what we learned about interreligious peace, challenges involved, and ideas about what can be done to put interreligious peace together.