King's College London

Hosted by the Centre for German Transnational Relations and the Research Centre in International Relations, workshop discussion explored political principles, tensions, and contestations in German foreign policy practices from domestic and international angles.

Participants at the two-day event addressed German perceptions of and interactions with Israeli and Palestinian actors, the normative commitments, constraints, and dilemmas captured in the notions of 'historical responsibility' and 'two-state solution', the role of security interests, and representations of suffering and victimhood, among other topics.

One thread running through the workshop was how state and non-state actors interpret the notion of Germany's Staatsraison in the context of ongoing violence in Israel/Palestine and whether Berlin’s foreign policy approach is at a crossroads.

The workshop was organised by Dr Felix Berenskötter (Department of War Studies) in collaboration with Dr Holger Stritzel (Department of European and International Studies) and Maximilian Tkocz (Leibniz Peace Research Institute Frankfurt) and involved 15 scholars and policy experts from institutions in Germany and other European countries, including Israeli and Palestinian voices. It is part of a project aimed at facilitating exchange among experts to providing critical insights and guidance on the topic.