German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

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Global Orders and Foreign Policies

Global Orders and Foreign Policies

The Global Orders and Foreign Policies Research Programme studies the development and maintenance of regional and global orders in contemporary world politics – along with challenges to those orders – as well as examining the agency and policies of established and emergent actors and structures that contribute to these ordering processes.

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

DEEN
  • Research & Transfer
    • The Mission of the GIGA
    • Comparative Area Studies
    • Policy Exchange and GIGA Berlin Office
    • Featured Topics and Countries
    • GIGA Experts
    • Research Projects
  • Publications
    • Peer-Reviewed Articles
    • Books
    • Contributions
    • Research Data
    • GIGA Focus
      • Specific Editions of the GIGA Focus Series
      • Thematic Branches of the GIGA Focus Series
    • GIGA Working Papers
    • GIGA Journal Family
  • Events
    • Conferences and Workshops
    • GIGA Talk
    • GIGA Forum
  • The GIGA
    • Management and Boards
    • Regional Institutes
      • GIGA Institute for African Affairs
      • GIGA Institute for Asian Studies
      • GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies
      • GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies
    • Research Programmes
      • Accountability and Participation
      • Peace and Security
      • Globalisation and Development
      • Global Orders and Foreign Policies
    • GIGA Library
    • Service Departments
    • GIGA Doctoral Programme
    • Team GIGA
    • Contact / Directions
  • Press
  • Career
  • News and Highlights
  • Publications
  • Projects
  • Team
  • Working Groups

The Global Orders and Foreign Policies Research Programme attempts to better understand and explain the complexity of global politics, with a focus on state and non-state actors in the Global South, as well as on the international institutions with which they cooperate (or not). Our researchers analyse trends related to climate change, global health crises, populism, and the increasing polarisation in geopolitics and geoeconomics. One particular focus is the growing importance of South–South relations and its impact on global orders.

Our research is mostly linked to the disciplines of Political Science and International Relations, but our teams shares close ties with economists, geographers, and peace and conflict researchers. While qualitative methods currently prevail in our work, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches are also part of our toolkits. We work with a multiplicity of partners within and outside of the Global South and have developed strong networks with academics, policymakers, and think tanks. The Research Programme’s work in the regions on which we focus is highly engaged with policymaking but also contributes to integrative and co-created theoretisation of international affairs, governance, multilateralism, and the making of foreign policy, especially from the perspective of the Global South.

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Lead Research Fellow / Head of Research Programme "Global Orders and Foreign Policies"

T. +49 (40) 428874-30[email protected]

News and Highlights

Was Chinas Verhalten im Nahen Osten über die neue Weltordnung verrät

Table.Media | Expert Comment / Guest Contribution | 15/03/2026

Was Chinas Verhalten im Nahen Osten über die neue Weltordnung verrät

China stärkt seinen Einfluss im Nahen Osten durch Wirtschaft und Diplomatie, meidet aber Sicherheitsverpflichtungen – das zeigt sich derzeit besonders deutlich im Kontext des Iran-Kriegs. Diese Diskrepanz offenbart ein Merkmal der neuen Weltordnung: Macht wächst schneller als Verantwortung.

Dr. Julia Gurol-Haller

Research Fellow

BRICS: Architekten einer neuen Weltordnung?

GIGA Lecture Series | 22/04/2026 - 07/10/2026

BRICS: Architekten einer neuen Weltordnung?

Im 21. Jahrhundert vollzieht sich ein fundamentaler Wandel von einer unipolaren zu einer multipolaren Welt. Im Zentrum dieser Entwicklung steht die BRICS-Gruppe. Was 2001 als ökonomischer Verbund begann, ist heute ein komplexes Bündnis mit weitreichenden Ambitionen: Die Reform globaler Governance-Strukturen, die Herausforderung der westlichen Dominanz und die Schaffung alternativer Finanzsysteme – eine Veranstaltungsreihe mit der Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Hamburg.

Kolumne Weltblick: Der Irankrieg lähmt die BRICS

F.A.Z. PRO Weltwirtschaft | Expert Comment / Guest Contribution | 26/03/2026

Kolumne Weltblick: Der Irankrieg lähmt die BRICS

Kein Statement, keine gemeinsame Position: Das Schwellenländer-Bündnis schweigt zum Irankrieg. Die Interessen der Mitglieder gehen zu weit auseinander. Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest findet, damit werde BRICS zum Lehrstück für die wackelige Weltordnung der Gegenwart.

Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest

Lead Research Fellow / Head of Policy Exchange and Berlin Office

New Global Partnerships

New Global Partnerships

Global power shifts and rising agency across the Global South are reshaping international cooperation and prompting the formation of new partnerships. Throughout 2026, the GIGA will examine both Germany’s evolving relations with and emerging collaboration between countries of the Global South.

Europe’s Quest for Critical Raw Materials in Latin America

GIGA Focus Lateinamerika | 3/2026

Europe’s Quest for Critical Raw Materials in Latin America

Latin America has emerged as a strategic partner for the EU in its efforts to diversify imports of critical raw materials with a view to safeguarding the energy transition, mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities, and reducing structural dependencies in the digital, defence, and aerospace sectors.

Prof. Dr. Detlef Nolte

Associate

Kolumne Weltblick: Ungarns Wahl kann Europas Kurs wenden

F.A.Z. PRO Weltwirtschaft | Expert Comment / Guest Contribution | 19/03/2026

Kolumne Weltblick: Ungarns Wahl kann Europas Kurs wenden

In knapp einem Monat wählt Ungarn ein neues Parlament. Erstmals seit Jahren könnte Viktor Orbán seine Macht verlieren. Die Folgen für Europas Außenpolitik wären gravierend, erklärt Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest.

Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest

Lead Research Fellow / Head of Policy Exchange and Berlin Office

Russian Geonarratives and Arab Media: Multipolarity, Eurasianism and Constructed ‘non-Wests’

British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies | 02/2026

Russian Geonarratives and Arab Media: Multipolarity, Eurasianism and Constructed ‘non-Wests’

This article uses the concept of geonarratives and a dataset of nearly 3000 newspaper articles from Egypt, the Gulf countries, Iraq and Lebanon to analyse the perceptions and space framing assumptions of Russian geopolitical imaginaries in the Arab world and how history is mobilized to support them.

Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

Dr. Falah Mubarak Bardan

Dima Abu Alkheir

Call for Papers: Populist World Order Narratives

Call | 03/03/2026

Call for Papers: Populist World Order Narratives

The World Order Narratives of the Global South (WONAGO) project invites submissions for a two-day workshop on Populist World Order Narratives. The workshop brings intends to examine how populist actors imagine, narrate, legitimise, and contest world order.

Publications

All GIGA Publications
Europe’s Quest for Critical Raw Materials in Latin America

GIGA Focus Latin America | 3/2026

Europe’s Quest for Critical Raw Materials in Latin America

Latin America has emerged as a strategic partner for the EU in its efforts to diversify imports of critical raw materials with a view to safeguarding the energy transition, mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities, and reducing structural dependencies in the digital, defence, and aerospace sectors.

Prof. Dr. Detlef Nolte

Associate

Envisioning Global Leadership: The G20 and BRICS in 2026

AGDA Insight | 03/2026

Envisioning Global Leadership: The G20 and BRICS in 2026

India leads BRICS, the US chairs the G20—eight members overlap. With great-power relations at historic lows and multilateralism under strain, 2026 is a stress test for whether these groupings can still do meaningful work, or are simply mirrors of a fracturing international order.

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Lead Research Fellow / Head of Research Programme "Global Orders and Foreign Policies"

International Relations

Entry for Encyclopedia/Dictionary | 03/2026

International Relations

This entry examines Africa’s international relations as a distinct subfield of the International Relations (IR) discipline. It shows how Africa’s IR scholars challenge mainstream IR theorists by highlighting distinctive features of Africa’s international relations.

Dr. Maxine Rubin

Research Fellow / Editor Africa Spectrum

Grounded in a Changing Climate: Knowledge Production and Struggles for Just Climate Futures

Oxford Handbooks | 03/2026

Grounded in a Changing Climate: Knowledge Production and Struggles for Just Climate Futures

This chapter examines the intersection of grounded normative theory and climate justice, emphasizing the need for diverse ways of knowing to foster equitable climate governance. The chapter emphasizes the importance of co-producing knowledge with local communities for just climate action.

Dr. Jan Wilkens

Research Fellow

Autonomy and Its Limits: Brazil’s Response to Trump’s Threats

GIGA Focus Latin America | 2/2026

Autonomy and Its Limits: Brazil’s Response to Trump’s Threats

Ahead of a Lula–Trump meeting, Brazil is pushing the US to scrap its punitive 50 per cent tariffs. Balancing autonomy and dependence, Lula is rallying state and business interests and pushing an EU–Mercosur deal, seeking to gain leverage through multilateralism and transcend the false US–China dichotomy.

Dr. Tomas Costa de Azevedo Marques

Research Fellow

Dr. Filipe Mendonça

Federal University of Uberlândia

Research Projects

All GIGA Projects

Research Project | 01/01/2026 - 31/12/2032

Co-Creating Narrative-Based Near-Term Climate Predictions to Prepare for Volatile Future Climates (part of Excellence Cluster CLICCS / Phase II)

The Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS), based at Universität Hamburg, is guided by the overarching question: "Which climate futures are possible and which are plausible?" This GIGA co-led project in the cluster's second phase aims to enhance the use of near-term climate predictions through the use of narratives, where effective narratives are not only founded in climate dynamics, but - through an iterative process - co-created with societal actors.
DFG, Excellence Strategy, 2026-2032

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Prof. Dr. Johanna Baehr

Dr. Christopher Kadow

Dr. Jan Wilkens

Research Project | 01/01/2026 - 30/06/2026

European Approaches to the Indo-Pacific

Italy is one of the few major European countries without a formal Indo-Pacific strategy. This policy-oriented project led by the Torino World Affairs Institute aims at assisting the Italian government in deciding on whether to adopt such a strategy and to identify lessons that can be learned from France and Germany's Indo-Pacific engagements.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy, 2026

Prof. Giuseppe Gabusi

Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner

Oliver Schramm

Research Project | 01/11/2025 - 31/10/2028

Leibniz Research Network "China"

The Leibniz Research Network "China" consolidates existing China expertise within the Leibniz Association and makes it politically utilisable. In addition, experience-sharing between members supports them in conducting cooperation with Chinese partners while maintaining research security. The GIGA contributes to the network, inter alia, with its expertise on China’s foreign policy.
Leibniz Association, 2025-2028

Dr. Julia Gurol-Haller

Susanne Boetsch

Prof. Dr. Philipp Böing

Research Project | 01/11/2025 - 31/10/2028

MAI-OSAKA: Composites for Key Technologies in Japan and Korea

MAI OSAKA connects research, industry, and policymakers in Germany, Japan, and Korea to strategically advance key technologies for composite materials. The focus is on future markets such as wind energy, hydrogen mobility, and aviation. The project aims to analyse technological trends, promote sustainable solutions for composites, and strengthen international cooperation for circular value creation.
BMFTR, 2025-2028

Dr. Iris Wieczorek

Violetta Schumm

Dr. Bastian Brenken

Sven Blanck

Fabian Rechsteiner

Research Project | 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2027

Intellectual Contestation over China’s Multiethnic Regime

This project will critically examine the societal discourse surrounding ethnic politics in mainland China, focusing on how intellectuals utilized various philosophical, theoretical, and cultural resources while adapting, appropriating, and rearticulating ideas to engage with the subject. It will shed light on the critical-mindedness and agency of contemporary Chinese intellectuals and enhance our understanding of intellectual praxis and knowledge production in a non-Western context.
DFG, 2025-2027

Dr. Sinan Chu

Research Fellow / Editor Journal of Current Chinese Affairs

Research Project | 01/10/2024 - 30/09/2027

World Order Narratives of the Global South, Phase II

In its second funding phase, the WONAGO project continues to investigate powerful world order narratives in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It particularly aims to understand those perceptions in these regions that - as currently in the Ukraine war - differ significantly from prevailing ideas in the U.S., the EU, and their allies.
BMFTR, 2024-2027

Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mücke

Dr. Khalil Dahbi

Dr. Hakkı Taş

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Research Project | 01/04/2024 - 31/03/2027

Leibniz Lab Systemic Sustainability

The rapid loss of biodiversity and ongoing climate change are also the result of intensive agriculture. At the same time, they jeopardize agriculture and food security. The Leibniz Lab "Systemic Sustainability" brings together relevant knowledge in science and society on this fundamental challenge in order to promote the development and implementation of systemic solutions.
Leibniz Association, 2024-2027

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Lead Research Fellow / Head of Research Programme "Global Orders and Foreign Policies"

Research Project | 01/02/2024 - 31/12/2025

Digital Transformation Lab (DigiTraL), Phase II: Digitalisation as Chance for Cooperation with Global Partners

GIGA‘s Digital Transformation Lab (DigiTraL), funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, analyses the political drivers and real-world consequences of the digital transformation taking place around the world. The Global South in particular is an important actor in and shaper of this transformation.
FFO, 2024-2026

Dr. Iris Wieczorek

Dr. Sara Bazoobandi

Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra

Jesús Renzullo

Dr. Anette Ruml

Dr. Tevin Tafese

Andrew Crawford

Emilia Arellano

Team

Houssein Al Malla

Doctoral Researcher

Soumya Chaturvedi

Doctoral Researcher / Representative of Doctoral Researchers

Dr. Sinan Chu

Research Fellow / Editor Journal of Current Chinese Affairs

Dr. Tomas Costa de Azevedo Marques

Research Fellow

Dr. Khalil Dahbi

Research Fellow

Mira Demirdirek

Doctoral Researcher

Mahima Duggal

Doctoral Researcher / Representative of Doctoral Researchers

Ardahan Özkan Gedikli

Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Julia Gurol-Haller

Research Fellow

Dr. Jens Heibach

Research Fellow

Dr. Ariel Hernandez

Research Fellow

Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner

Director of the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies / Vice President

Diba Mirzaei

Doctoral Researcher

Olena Osypenkova

Doctoral Researcher

Johanna Pieper

Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Johannes Plagemann

Senior Research Fellow / Editor GIGA Focus Global

Prof. Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

Lead Research Fellow / Head of Research Programme "Global Orders and Foreign Policies"

Dr. Maxine Rubin

Research Fellow / Editor Africa Spectrum

Hamid Talebian

Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Hakkı Taş

Research Fellow

Dr. Iris Wieczorek

Senior Research Fellow / GIGA Representative in Japan

Dr. Jan Wilkens

Research Fellow


Associated

Dr. Falah Mubarak Bardan

Associate

Dr. Mohammadbagher Forough

Associate

Anna Fünfgeld

Associate

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hein

Associate

Dr. Lynda Iroulo

Associate

Dr. Sharinee Jagtiani

Associate

Dr. Idriss Jebari

Associate

Dr. Niklas Krösche

Associate

Dr. Nils Lukacs

Associate

Dr. Kamran Matin

Associate

Prof. Dr. Behnaz Mirzai

Associate

Dr. Mona Saleh

Associate

Dr. Margot Schüller

Associate

Dr. Jessica Watkins

Associate


Working Groups


Working Group 1: International Institutions and Legitimacy

The Working Group examines the politics of international institutional development. We analyse how the rise of powers from the Global South, transnational activist groups, and other influential non-state actors shapes the formation of regionally varying sets of institutions and principles and how these regional transformations contribute to the growing complexity of the global multilateral order. This increasingly polycentric order provides, on the one hand, increased opportunities for interaction and more flexibility in terms of partner choice at the regional and international levels. On the other hand, the multiplication and overlapping of institutions engendered by the new order have caused fragmentation and disorder that call into question the normative foundations and empirical legitimacy of the multilateral order and its elemental institutions.

Spokesperson

N.N.



Working Group 2: Ideas, Actors and Global Politics

The Working Group explores the variety of domestic and transnational actors involved in global and regional politics, their respective foreign policy interests, negotiation strategies, and worldviews. Globalisation processes of the past decades have contributed to the internationalisation of domestic actors – from businesses to political parties or civil society groups. Meanwhile, a number of states in the Global South, from rising powers such as China and India to regional or middle powers such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have gained diplomatic visibility, economic influence, and political importance in an increasingly multipolar world. Thus, the specific political ideas, narratives, and ideologies endorsed by domestic actors involved in foreign policy-making in the Global South have become more important for understanding today’s international affairs. Taking into account domestic institutions and politics, group members also analyse the specific processes involved in the crafting of individual foreign policies as well as, more general, visions of international order across the Global South.

Spokesperson

Dr. Johannes Plagemann

Senior Research Fellow / Editor GIGA Focus Global


President (ad interim)

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

Prof. Dr. Sabine Kurtenbach

Regional Institutes

World Map GIGA Regions Blau

Africa|Asia|Latin America|Middle East

Research Programmes

Accountability and Participation Peace and Security Globalisation and Development Global Orders and Foreign Policies