Margarita Mathiopoulos is with her back to the wall because of her ongoing plagiarism investigation. I guess she’s first among the Transatlanticist wing of the German foreign policy elite to put it that bluntly:
If it fails, the blame will be on Germany. … All eyes are on Berlin. There is a strong, if silent, expectation in European capitals — as in Washington — that Germany will not forget its historic obligation to those who helped it rise out of the ashes of World War II and reunite.
… and pulls a Schmitt (Carl, that is):
First and foremost, Merkel and Sarkozy can and should declare that the euro zone is in a “state of emergency.” This would allow them (…) Although this would require revising the Lisbon Treaty, a state of emergency would make it possible to take action immediately.
…and asks to give the Germans some boots that are not made for walking:
Germany will only agree to the introduction of eurobonds to spread the responsibility for government debt across the euro zone if sinning countries can be punished.
You never know with these Foreign Affairs articles, how significant they will be for actual policy making. But they reveal at least what is being discussed in US foreign policy circles. Google’s ties with the US administration and the Department of State became visible for a larger audience in the course of the China-Google showdown earlier this year. The publication of Eric Schmidt’s and Jared Cohen’s article “The Digital Disruption – Connectivity and the Diffusion of Power” in the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs only stresses this special relationship.
Foreign Affairs continues its tradition of articles on the strategic usage of information technology for US foreign policy. Back in 1996, Nye/Owens called for an “information umbrella” as a future means to allow the US to further lead an alliance of like-minded states in a post-“nuclear umbrella” world. Schmidt/Cohen discuss in a diplomatically sterile language the effects of “connection technologies” on politics, governments, and the diffusion of power among different actors. They have retained some techno-optimism:
In an era when the power of the individual and the group grows daily, those governments that ride the technological wave will clearly be best positioned to assert their influence and bring others into their orbits. And those that do not will find themselves at odds with their citizens.
But also within Western states, the notion of governance will further flourish:
Instead, governments, individuals, nongovernmental organizations, and private companies will balance one another’s interests.
Looks like multi-stakeholderism gone ubiquitous.
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If you don’t want to register with the foreignaffairs.com website, Stefaan Verhulst has the complete article.
“Everything that can be thought is thought at some time or another. Now or in the future.”
“Those things which were thought can never be unthought.”
Ralf Bendrath and I gave a presentation on “statehood and internet” at this year’s re:publica conference in Berlin. Re:publica is an annual conference for internet aficionados, bloggers, internet activists and, ever more so, politicians and public authority representatives involved in internet regulation. For the first time organised in 2007, it has by now risen to host some 2500 visitors and has been extensively covered (DE) by old-media outlets.
We used the opportunity of the China-Google/US conflict to discuss basic relationships between states and private actors, a question raised (both links DE) in the blogosphere and media, and some general perspectives of internet politics.
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