ZEIT Forum Wissenschaft: America first, Europa allein? Szenarien einer neuen Weltordnung

In the organizer's words:

Hardly any other country has shaped Germany and Europe as much as the USA over the last 80 years - politically, economically, culturally and in terms of security policy. But it is precisely this relationship that is increasingly being called into question.

The USA is looking less and less like a stable guarantor of democratic order and more like a world power that is redefining its role shortly before its 250th birthday - with consequences for allies, institutions and international cooperation.

At the same time, the global balance is shifting: China is expanding its influence, international conflicts are being negotiated as power issues and authoritarian models are becoming more attractive in many regions. Are we experiencing a return to the "law of the jungle"? Is the idea of a Western community disintegrating into national interests? Or is a "new West" forming - with the EU, Canada and Australia, for example - that reorganizes rules, values and security?

We sort out the broad lines, separate short-term excitement from long-term trends - and talk about which scenarios are realistic and what options Europe and the world now have.

The panel includes journalist and author Annika Brockschmidt, political scientist and head of the European Council on Foreign Relations Jana Puglierin and historian Sören Urbansky. The event will be moderated by Anna-Lena Scholz (DIE ZEIT) and Ralf Krauter (Deutschlandfunk).

About the ZEIT Forum Wissenschaft

The ZEIT Forum Wissenschaft is a cooperation between the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS with Deutschlandfunk, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Humboldt Forum. The event series brings outstanding experts together with an interested audience four times a year. Live on location and on the Deutschlandfunk radio program, topics from all areas of science are discussed and debated intensively.

On the podium

Annika Brockschmidt studied History, German Studies and War and Conflict Studies in Heidelberg, Durham and Potsdam. She is a freelance journalist and author, has worked for the ZDF Hauptstadtstudio in the past, produced the "HistoPod" for the Federal Agency for Civic Education and is currently co-host of the podcasts "Feminist Shelf Control" with Rebekka Endler and "Kreuz und Flagge" with Lukas Hermsmeier. In 2022 she received a "Transatlantic Media Fellowship" from the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Her articles have appeared in ZEIT Online, Tagesspiegel, Freitag, taz and Frankfurter Rundschau, among others. Brockschmidt also writes as a senior correspondent for Religion Dispatches. Her book "America's God Warriors" about the power of the religious right in the USA was a bestseller in 2021.

Jana Puglierin is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and has been head of its Berlin office since January 2020. She also heads the ECFR project "Re:Order", which deals with new visions of world order and the interplay of economic power and geopolitical influence.

Her work focuses on German and European foreign, security and defense policy as well as Germany's role in Europe and transatlantic relations. She is a frequent commentator in German and international media and writes a monthly column for the Handelsblatt. Her book "Wer verteidigt Europa? The New Dangers of War and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves" was published by Rowohlt in Germany in January 2026.

From December 2015 to December 2019, she headed the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and was a research associate at DGAP's Berlin Forum on the Future from September 2013 to November 2015. Before joining DGAP, she worked as a consultant for a member of the German Bundestag in the areas of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation as well as German and European foreign and security policy. Between 2003 and 2010, she was a research assistant and lecturer at the Chair of Political Science and Contemporary History and in the North American Studies program at the University of Bonn. In the summer of 2010, she held a teaching position at Chemnitz University of Technology.

After graduating from high school, she completed the Cours de civilisation française de la Sorbonne in Paris and studied political science, public law and sociology at the University of Bonn from 1998 to 2003 and for a semester at Venice International University in 2002. As part of her doctorate at the University of Bonn, she studied the life and thought of the political scientist John Herz and conducted research in the United States.

Since January 2023, she has been a member of the Federal Government's Advisory Council for Civilian Crisis Prevention and Peacebuilding. In January 2026, Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius awarded her the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor in Gold.

Sören Urbansky is Professor of Eastern European History at Ruhr University Bochum. He is an expert on the history of Sino-Russian relations. His research interests include the history of migration, infrastructures, racism and the history of borders. From 2018 to 2023, he worked at the German Historical Institute Washington, most recently as Director of the Pacific Bureau at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, Urbansky taught and researched at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Cambridge, among others. He is the author of several monographs, including "Beyond the Steppe Frontier. A History of the Sino-Russian Border" (Princeton University Press 2020). Most recently, together with Martin Wagner, he wrote "China and Russia. A Short History of a Long Relationship (Suhrkamp 2025). His books have been translated into numerous languages.

Ralf Krauter, born in Esslingen am Neckar, studied physics in Stuttgart, Freiburg and Brighton and has worked for 25 years as a reporter, editor and presenter for "Forschung aktuell", the daily science magazine program on Deutschlandfunk. He is passionate about following current developments in science, research, medicine and technology and bringing them to a wide audience. He has received numerous awards for his journalistic work, including the prestigious Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism. Since 2023, Ralf Krauter has been the host of the Dlf podcast "KI verstehen" in addition to his role as editor in charge of "Forschung aktuell". He first came on board as co-host of the ZEIT Forum Wissenschaft back in 2002 and has moderated over 30 events at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities together with Andreas Sentker.

Anna-Lena Scholz is head of the education section of the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. She writes about education, higher education and science policy, the humanities and social sciences. She studied in Bonn, Oxford and Berkeley and received her doctorate from the FU Berlin.

• Free of charge. Registration is required. The registration link will be activated in mid-May.
• Duration: 120 min
• from 16 years
• Language: German
• Location: Room 1, ground floor
• Part of: ZEIT Forum Science