Young Initiative on Foreign Affairs and International Relations

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Young Initiative on Foreign Affairs and International Relations
(IFAIR eV)
purpose Think tank
Chair: Anne Laible, Florian Schöler, Jessica Kininger, Katharina Lange, Steffen Murau
Establishment date: December 2010
Number of members: 180 (as of October 2019)
Seat : Berlin
Website: www.ifair.eu

The Young Initiative on Foreign Affairs and International Relations (IFAIR) eV is a non-profit think tank from Germany, which advocates a stronger commitment of young people to topics of international relations . The association was founded in 2010 at a summer academy of the German National Academic Foundation and has around 190 members worldwide (as of February 2018). According to the motto “Think. Learn. Act. " the association tries to set impulses in the international political debate, to support its members in starting their careers and to realize concrete projects in international relations. Conceptually, the association is divided into the areas of think tank and impact groups. In the past, IFAIR has worked with foundations and institutions such as the Federal Foreign Office , the Federal Chancellery and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. The association's Open Think Tank (www.IFAIR.eu) has so far comprised more than 388 contributions, including guest contributions by former EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the SPD candidate for Chancellor Martin Schulz, and was visited more than 45,000 times in 2016.

history

The initiative was founded in September 2010 by Hanna Pfeifer, Alexander Pyka, Lukas Rudolph, Susanne Schwarz and David Schlutz as part of a summer academy of the German National Academic Foundation. The aim of the founding members was to bundle student expertise on international politics within a web-based "Open Think Tank". Through statements, reports and book recommendations, students and interested parties were invited to submit contributions on foreign policy topics.

In the course of 2011, 2012 and 2013 the association gradually expanded its range of tasks. Among other things, the goal of networking student expertise and foreign policy practice was taken up and implemented in the form of panel discussions and workshops.

organization

IFAIR e. V. has been divided into the areas of Think Tank and Impact Groups since September 2016, which summarize the association's current focus activities: helping to shape public debates as part of the think tank and networking student expertise and foreign policy practice, as well as the function of IFAIRs as an incubator for the student implementation of specific projects in international relations as part of the Impact Groups. IFAIR's motto is "Think", "Learn", "Act".

In order to achieve a geographical allocation of the contributions and activities, the association is also divided into eight regional areas (EU & Europe, Eastern Europe & Eurasia, Middle East & North Africa, South & East Asia, North America, Latin America & the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and Global Affairs) each coordinated by up to two regional managers. The Impact Groups are also led by up to two leaders.

Operationally, the association is divided into a board of directors and the areas of public relations, web development and resource development. The initiative is also supported by an Advisory Board made up of personalities from international politics such as the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger and the Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Helga Schmid .

activities

Since it was founded in December 2010, IFAIR has initiated numerous discussions and initiatives, some of which have attracted a great deal of public attention.

Within the association's Open Think Tank, young people from several countries and with different professional backgrounds write analyzes and opinions on current issues in international relations. In addition, IFAIR receives regular guest contributions from personalities in international politics. In the past, the former EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the SPD Chancellor candidate 2017 Martin Schulz published, among others . IFAIR maintains a permanent media partnership with monthly articles in the Diplomatic Magazine .

One field of activity of the association concerns the organization of panel discussions on different topics of international politics. In May 2012, for example, a panel discussion on the subject of “Shifting Powers - Shifting Values: German Development Policy in Africa in the BRIC States ” was organized in cooperation with the non-profit Hertie Foundation and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development . For the Foreign Policy Discussion Group, IFAIR invites politicians to background discussions with members and young guests at irregular intervals.

In the context of "Impact Groups", IFAIR offers groups of young people the opportunity to use the structures and dynamics of the association for the implementation of specific projects in international relations:

  • Under the patronage of the Federal Foreign Office and with the support of the EU-LAK Foundation , the Impact Group "LACalytics" brought young people from the EU and Latin America together to discuss current issues in interregional relations. In the transnational project, students and young experts from both regions are jointly publishing debates and a final publication in bi-regional tandems.
  • The Impact Group “EU-ASEAN Perspectives” (EUAP) brings young people from the EU and ASEAN together to discuss current issues in EU-ASEAN relations. Through online seminars and two conferences in Brussels so far, EUAP offers a platform for young experts from both regions to develop solutions to common challenges in an innovative dialogue.
  • The Impact Group “Memory as a Tool of Change” brought students from Russia and Germany together to deal with the culture of remembrance, responsibility and the future in both countries. In mutual exchange, the students discussed, among other things, the political reappraisal of National Socialism and Stalinism.
  • As part of the “Forum of Young Russia Experts”, young experts from science and practice were able to exchange and network on an interdisciplinary basis on issues relevant to Russia.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Your mission is politics Die Welt, October 5, 2011
  2. ^ Platform for tomorrow's foreign policy makers e-fellows.net from July 11, 2011
  3. ↑ IFAIR annual report 2017. In: www.ifair.eu. February 8, 2018, accessed April 23, 2018 .
  4. ↑ About IFAIR. In: www.ifair.eu. Retrieved April 23, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Shaping the international relations of tomorrow ( Memento from January 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Diplomatic Magazine, July 5, 2011
  6. ^ Platform for tomorrow's foreign policy makers e-fellows.net from July 11, 2011
  7. ^ Platform for tomorrow's foreign policy makers e-fellows.net from July 11, 2011
  8. ↑ Your mission is politics Die Welt, October 5, 2011
  9. ↑ About IFAIR. In: www.ifair.eu. Retrieved April 23, 2018 .
  10. ↑ team. In: www.ifair.eu. Retrieved April 23, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Our team. In: www.ifair.eu. Retrieved April 23, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Advisory Board. In: www.ifair.eu. Retrieved April 23, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Panel discussion “Shifting Powers - Shifting Values?” ( Memento from January 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Bridge Forum, April 20, 2012.
  14. ↑ LACalytics - IFAIR . In: IFAIR . ( ifair.eu [accessed March 7, 2017]).
  15. ↑ Kilian Spandler: Building Interregional Networks Among Young Researchers: IFAIR's 2nd EU-ASEAN Perspectives Dialogue . In: Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies . tape 8 , no. 1 , June 15, 2015, ISSN  1999-253X , p. 103-106 , doi : 10.14764 / 10.ASEAS-2015.1-8 ( univie.ac.at [accessed on April 23, 2018]).
  16. ↑ EU-ASEAN Perspectives - IFAIR . In: IFAIR . ( ifair.eu [accessed March 7, 2017]).
  17. ^ Memory as a Tool of Change - IFAIR . In: IFAIR . ( ifair.eu [accessed March 7, 2017]).
  18. ↑ The German reporting on Russia is losing its level of the Standard, May 17, 2013.