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Mikael Hiberg Naghizadeh joined the GIGA as Research Fellow in September 2025. He holds a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and completed a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School before joining GIGA. Get to know more about Mikael in this interview.

China and Venezuela’s long-standing alliance faces its toughest test yet after Maduro’s arrest. From oil-for-loans deals to digital surveillance and military cooperation, Beijing now risks losing influence as Washington moves to assert dominance over Caracas.

The GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies invites applications for a one-month visiting fellowship in Hamburg. The fellowship supports advanced research on Latin American politics and encourages scholarly exchange and collaboration.

Mass protests in Iran persist despite the use of lethal force by the Islamic Republic against those taking to the streets. GIGA researchers Hamid Talebian, Diba Mirzaei, and Houssein Al Malla provide further insight into what informs current events.

Trump’s ultra-aggressive claim to South America as the United States’ exclusive zone of influence changes the region’s political coordinates. The GIGA analyses the ongoing stand-off in Venezuela, the role of China, Latin America’s upcoming elections, and other key events and trends to watch in 2026.

Since the “Twelve-Day War” with Israel, Iran has undergone transformations on multiple levels. This GIGA Forum ONLINE explores how the conflict has reshaped regional and international politics, state–society relations in Iran, and the prospects for the Islamic Republic’s future.

Africa enters 2026 at a crossroads: entrenched autocrats clash with Gen Z protests, debt crises threaten major economies, Western retreat meets Chinese and Russian expansion. Yet African states will seek to leverage critical minerals and strategic partnerships to assert agency amid global rivalries.

Indonesia is emerging as a vital German and European partner. Yet under President Prabowo Subianto, concerns about autocratisation are mounting. This event explores Indonesia’s political shifts, civil society resilience, and what democratic backsliding means for Germany’s strategic-partnership choices.

Europe plays a limited role in Gulf investments and the geopolitical considerations behind them. International mediation is urgently required in Gaza and Sudan. Lebanon and Syria are threatened by fragmentation. We present ten things set to inform events in the Middle East and North Africa in 2026.

On the situation in Venezuela: Our experts shed light on the background and analyse current developments, international reactions, and consequences for the region.

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.

The GIGA Focus Series offers concise analysis of current political, economic, and social developments in our study regions as well as globally. With its concrete policy recommendations, the GIGA’s flagship policy paper is aimed in particular at political decision-makers.

How is good research practice upheld in everyday academic work at the GIGA? Ombudspersons André Bank and David Kuehn support colleagues with guidance, integrity, and confidential advice on research conduct and collaboration, helping to sustain a shared culture of responsible research.

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.