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Explore how people across Cameroon, Colombia, the Philippines, South Sudan, Tunisia, and Venezuela describe peace in their own words. The interactive cloud shows terms by frequency and reveals full quotations on hover, making local meanings and shared themes visible at a glance.

A great achievement for the GIGA and for the Hamburg metropolitan area as a centre for scholarship: The Leibniz Association Senate has decided to fund GIGA researcher Dr. Julia Grauvogel in the framework of the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors, greenlighting the research project “Ending External Interventions: Success, Failure and Exit Dilemmas.”

We are pleased to have Oliver Schramm as GIGA’s new Diplomat in Residence and Fellow, who joined us in August 2025 and will be with us for three years. We asked him a few questions to learn more about his background, career experiences, and insights on his current work and engagement with GIGA.

What is life like in Syria nearly a year after the end of the Assad dictatorship? Dr. André Bank shares his impressions from Damascus: children selling chewing gum; a transitional government struggling for recognition between Moscow, Washington, and Ankara; floppy disks coming into play; and civil society emerging as a source of hope.

From e-commerce platforms to AI, digital technologies have the potential to make Africa’s agricultural value chains more efficient, transparent, and interconnected. However, widespread implementation requires collaboration between the private and public sectors.

The US military buildup along Venezuela’s coast has raised expectations that Maduro’s regime will collapse under pressure. However, this would probably not result in a democratic transition. Even if Maduro is forced to step down, a change of guard within the regime remains the more likely scenario.

A survey conducted in August 2025 found that the majority of people living in Germany support a foreign policy towards Gaza and Israel that is guided by international law and seeks to uphold universal human rights. Details on our findings and their implications are outlined and discussed.

This GIGA Talk explores how people and politicians across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East view today’s major conflicts — perspectives often missing from European media. Our panelists discuss how history, regional dynamics, and strategic priorities shape these diverse interpretations of events.

Discover how China makes use of its own international organizations to shape global norms. In this GIGA China talk, we will discuss with Eva Seiwert how formats such the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS have evolved since their creation and what role they play in China-US global competition.

Converging economic interests provide the foundations for EU–Latin America strategic alignment but must translate into tangible outcomes beyond summit diplomacy. Genuine strategic partnership requires an expanded bi-regional agenda, including closer cooperation in the fields of defence and security.

The GIGA seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (m/f/d) Development Economics Applications are invited for a full-time position, with an initial contract of three years and the possibility of another three years after successful evaluation and depending on the availability of funds.

One year after Germany’s significant – and controversial – cannabis reform, leading experts draw on experiences of marijuana legalisation elsewhere to discuss the intended and unintended outcomes, the opportunities for improvement, and the uncertain outlook for the country’s new cannabis policy.

Democratic decline is neither a given nor set in stone once occurring. Many countries have recovered and strengthened civic rights, even after acute episodes of autocratisation and amid a global crisis of democracy. Recognising these successes calls for the support of pro-democracy actors worldwide.

Digital technology promises to fix sub-Saharan Africa’s electoral flaws. Instead, breakdowns, opaque procurement deals, and courtroom battles reveal how the turn to technology is actually reinforcing old problems rather than delivering integrity. These solvable issues are examined in detail.

Bolivia’s presidential elections mark a watershed moment: After two decades of single-party dominance, two liberal opposition contenders in the 19 October runoff. Whoever wins must balance urgent economic adjustments with social protection to avoid renewed conflict.

Once hailed as the “Turkish model” for its successful merging of Islam and democracy, Turkey has morphed into a global cocaine hub. Turkish students and holidaymakers are denied Schengen visas, yet the country’s mafias and narcotics cross Europe’s borders with ease.

Find out more about the key takeaways from this GIGA Talk here. The panel of high-level experts examined evolving alignments, external involvement, and conflict dynamics and discussed their implications for the region’s future.

Never before has so much cocaine been in circulation worldwide, while other drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and Captagon are similarly prevalent in different parts of the globe, and European ports like Hamburg have become key hubs for drug trafficking. What can be done? GIGA researchers share insights into current findings and policy approaches. 

On 13 June 2025, Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran, two days before the sixth round of US–Iran nuclear talks were due to begin in Oman. Analysis is provided of how the war has transformed Iranian politics domestically, regionally, and internationally.

This dashboard examines how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced executive personalization in 32 countries. Each bubble represents a country and its number of personalization events. Select one or two, then use the buttons to explore the events and their underlying mechanisms.

In a historic verdict on 11 September, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro, sentencing him to more than 27 years in prison. GIGA expert Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos explains in an interview why this trial is so important and to what extent it could serve as a model for protecting democracy worldwide.