GIGA Launches New GIGA Focus Series

Today, the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) launches the new GIGA Focus. Now in an even more reader-friendly format, the GIGA Focus publication series succinctly delivers research results along with evidence-based policy advice from one of the leading international social science institutes for Area Studies and Comparative Area Studies.

“The GIGA Focus is a valuable resource for all those who seek a better understanding of the world, especially in light of the deadlocks and crises that we face today at the domestic, regional, and international levels,” says Prof. Amrita Narlikar, president of the GIGA. “Through the new GIGA Focus, we will be able to provide our research findings in an accessible way to diverse constituencies, and also highlight the direct implications of our studies for the making of sound policy.”

Regional focal points and global trends The series offers well-founded analyses of regional, national, and global developments and is geared towards decision makers from the realms of politics, business, and civil society, as well as towards journalists and the interested general public.

In addition to the GIGA Focus Global series, four area-specific Focus series investigate relevant developments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Each of the five Focus series is to publish eight issues per year – with a bilingual summary in English and German. The GIGA Focus remains an open access publication, available at no cost on the GIGA’s website and via e-mail.

Presentation of the new GIGA Focus The first issue of the new Focus was introduced last night at the GIGA in Hamburg. Under the title “‘Because They Matter’: Recognise Diversity – Globalise Research,” Prof. Amrita Narlikar advances the case for a paradigm shift in research in order to prevent erroneous prognoses and policy failures. She argues that a new, global approach to the social sciences is necessary in order to incorporate insights learned from all the world’s regions into the central debates. Not only is such an approach a scholarly imperative, but it also has the potential to shape political practice. At last night’s event, Dr. Thomas Bagger, Head of Policy Planning at the Federal Foreign Office, and Prof. Laurence Whitehead from the University of Oxford discussed the effects of the approach on research, politics, and practice.

The first issues of the area-specific Focus series in 2016 will be published in the coming weeks. Upcoming topics include the Arab Spring, interventions in Africa, the role of presidential systems of government in Latin America, and democratisation in China. The GIGA Focus can be downloaded here.