German Council on Foreign Relations

Germany foreign policy research institute

German Council on Foreign Relations
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik

Main office of DGAP in Berlin
Abbreviation	DGAP
Formation	1955
Founder	Hermann Josef Abs Robert Pferdmenges
Type	Think tank
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	Berlin
Fields	Foreign policy Security policy Geoeconomics
Membership	2,500+
Official language	German
President	Tom Enders
Director and CEO	Guntram Wolff
Website	dgap.org

The German Council on Foreign Relations (German: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, DGAP) is a prominent Germany foreign policy research institute. It is an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit organisation, and actively takes part in policy formation and promoting the understanding of German foreign policy and international relations. It was established in 1955 in Bonn as a registered association, and relocated to Berlin in 1999.

History

The model for the DGAP's foundation in 1955 was in many respects the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the Chatham House in London.^[1] The first president of the newly founded DGAP was the CDU politician, diplomat and entrepreneur Günther Henle.^[2]

Prominent former and current members include former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former German President Richard von Weizsäcker, as well as Eberhard Diepgen, Klaus von Dohnanyi, Michael Glos, Friedbert Pflüger, Volker Rühe, Rudolf Scharping, Dieter Schulte, Manfred Stolpe, Rita Süssmuth, Günter Verheugen, Antje Vollmer, and Theodor Waigel.

In 2019, Microsoft announced that it had detected cyberattacks, which occurred between September and December 2018, targeting employees of the DGAP; they are believed to have originated from a group called Strontium.^[3]^[4]

Operations

Internationally known as the "German Council on Foreign Relations", the DGAP sees itself as a practical think tank offering demand-driven policy advice on a scientific basis. It works to actively influence the foreign policy opinion-forming at all levels. Its work is aimed at decision-makers in German politics, business, public administration, in NGOs, in the military and to the general public. DGAP publishes the bimonthly journal Internationale Politik. Also, it is among other organisers of the EU-Russia Forum.

The Council provides:

A platform for discussions at conferences and in study group meetings as well as at public events.
Policy oriented analyses from research institute fellows.
Authoritative publications on contemporary topics by its journal Internationale Politik, the Jahrbuch Internationale Politik as well as in the publications from the research institute.
Expert and extensive documentation by its library and documentation section.

High-level guest speakers have in recent years included Angela Merkel (2006), Christine Lagarde (2012),^[5] Ali Akbar Salehi (2013),^[6] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (2014), Mohammad Javad Zarif (2015), Paolo Gentiloni (2015), Volodymyr Groysman (2018), Nikos Kotzias (2018) and Nirmala Sitharaman (2019).

The DGAP is a member of the European Movement Germany.^{[citation needed]}

DGAP is financed through the contributions of its members, acquired project funds and contributions from sponsors and patrons, including among others, the Federal Foreign Office, Deutsche Bank, Airbus, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations.^[7]

Building

In Bonn, the DGAP was seated in the villa at Joachimstraße 7 between 1956 and 1959 and then in the Villa Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 6 between 1965 and 1966. In 1965 it acquired the former House of Craftsmen at Adenauerallee 131a in Bonn, including the Villa Adenauerallee 131, which in later years served as a logo of DGAP, for the first time its own building. It served as headquarters of the DGAP from April 1966 to 1999.

Since 1999, the DGAP has used at its seat the building [de] designed by Werner March, that was erected in 1938 to house the Yugoslav embassy in Berlin, and went through various other uses from 1941 to 1995 when it was sold to DGAP by the Land of Berlin. It is located in the embassy district of Berlin-Tiergarten.^[8]

Leadership

Presidents

1955-1973 – Günter Henle
1973-1981 – Kurt Birrenbach
1981-1987 - Günter Diehl [de]
1987-1993 – C. Peter Henle [de]
1993-1999 – Werner Lamby [de]
1999-2001 – Ulrich Cartellieri
2001-2003 – Hans-Dietrich Genscher
2003-2005 – Alfred Freiherr von Oppenheim
2005-2019 – Arend Oetker [de]
2019–present – Tom Enders

Directors

1955-1958 - Arnold Bergstraesser
1958-1961 - Ulrich Gembardt
1961-1964 - Hans-Adolf Jacobsen [de]
1965-1966 - Wilhelm Cornides
1967-1970 - Wolfgang Wagner
1970-1972 - Karl Carstens
1973-2003 - Karl Kaiser [de]
2003-2016 - Eberhard Sandschneider [de]
2017-2021 - Daniela Schwarzer [de]
2021-2022 - Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook
2022-2024 - Guntram Wolff

References

^ Daniel Eisermann in „Außenpolitik und Strategiediskussion“, „Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik 1955–1972“, Oldenbourg Verlag, München 1999, Band 66, S. 62ff, ISBN 3-486-56338-6.
^ Daniel Eisermann in „Außenpolitik und Strategiediskussion“, „Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik 1955–1972“, S. 79f.
^ Madhumita Murgia and Tobias Buck (February 20, 2019), EU think-tanks strengthen their defences after Russian hacks Financial Times.
^ Shubham Kalia (February 20, 2019), Microsoft expands political security service to 12 European countries Reuters.
^ Gernot Heller (January 23, 2012), IMF's Lagarde: Europe should boost, not double, ESM Reuters.
^ Andreas Rinke (February 4, 2013), Iran will never be military aggressor, minister says Reuters.
^ DGAP Webseite: "Förderer"
^ "House of the former Yugoslavian Embassy". Liberation Route Europe.