German Federal Government Research Articles

Germany’s Approaches to the Settlement of Contemporary International Conflicts in the post-Soviet Space

The article analyzes the mediation activity of Germany in the context of the common European approaches to the peaceful settlement of international conflicts.Aim. To identify the importance of German mediation for foreign policy and its impact on the promotion of peace initiatives in the Eurasian space. Compare the current mediation tactics used by Germany today.Tasks. To analyze the foreign policy instruments of the State in question to promote the peaceful settlement of conflicts in regions of political importance to it, including the post-Soviet space.Methods. The paper uses logical and comparative analysis, a method of working with regulatory legal acts.Results. Mediation serves as an important foreign policy tool of the state in question to promote the peaceful settlement of conflicts in regions of political importance to it, such as the post-Soviet space.Conclusion. The authors show the main approaches of the German Federal Government to crisis prevention, which are based on a broad concept of security. The article provides a categorization of the main instruments of Germany’s participation in mediation processes, namely: participation in formal formats of conflict resolution; participation in informal formats of conflict resolution; confidencebuilding measures. Analyzing the experience of Germany’s participation in peace processes in the postSoviet space, the authors come to the conclusion that the state tries to remain in the shadows, playing the role of a mediator in conflicts, while coordinating its actions with other active actors involved in the region.

Germany’s federal waterways – A linear infrastructure network for nature and transport

Major rivers are unique linear structures because they serve different purposes simultaneously: A habitat and dispersal route for flora and fauna as well as a navigation route, the site for recreational and economic activities and a source for drinking water and irrigation. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that waterways must be developed in an environmentally and economically sustainable and socially responsible manner. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and its specialised agencies – the Waterways and Shipping Administration of the German Federal Government (WSV), the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) and the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) – are aiming to achieve this goal by integrating environmental issues into the development and maintenance of waterways. This paper aims to fill the gap on the one hand between scientific analyses of ecological freshwater status and proposals for its improvement, and, on the other hand, bringing this knowledge into practical realisation. Recent activities at the German federal waterways are exemplarily reviewed on the basis of applied research projects, local projects, political programmes and progressive legislation.

German State Aid for Covid-19 Medicinal Products: A Risk for Solidarity in the European Union.

To respond to the need for a vaccine against and a treatment for Covid-19, the German Federal Government (German government) used various economic incentives to promote pharmaceutical and biotechnological (biotech) research and development (R&D) as well as manufacturing. More specifically, it decided to subsidise several German companies working in this field. Such domestic measures might, however, present a challenge to European state aid law. It is against this backdrop that this article discusses the compatibility of the payments made with the new 'crisis-born' European legal framework for state aid. Furthermore, the article offers some critical comments on the aid's effects on solidarity and cohesion in the European Union (EU) and the proposals put forward for expanding the EU's health policy competencies.

Born to transform? German bioeconomy policy and research projects for transformations towards sustainability

Aiming at fostering the transition towards a sustainable climate-neutral economy, the German Federal Government (GFG) intends to promote the transition towards a sustainable knowledge-based bioeconomy (SKBBE). Bioeconomy policies are adjusted regularly, increasingly focusing on addressing the grand challenges of our time. To analyze whether the German bioeconomy policy, in terms of strategies and publicly funded research projects, actually fosters knowledge creation for the desired transformation, these strategies and projects have to be evaluated. Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper aims at investigating in what way German bioeconomy policy is dedicated to transformations towards sustainability and whether this reflects in the publicly funded research projects. Our study shows that the strategies as well as the publicly funded projects, still have a strong techno-economic orientation, focusing on technologies as problem-solvers, lacking, e.g., normative or transformative knowledge. What is more, the artificially generated R&D network does not show the necessary structure or involvement of stakeholders, lacking, e.g., the involvement of civil society or transdisciplinary research. We argue that future innovation policy has to foster all types of knowledge relevant for transformations towards sustainability, incorporating all stakeholders. Otherwise, the bioeconomy transition might become a purely technological endeavor unable to foster strong sustainability.

Beim \xdcbergang zum B\xfcrgergeld mutig gro\xdfe Ver\xe4nderungen wagen

The new German federal government wants to replace the unemployment benefit II (Arbeitslosengeld II) with a so-called citizen's income ("Bürgergeld"). In doing so, it needs to make major changes. Measures outlined in the coalition agreement indicate that the existing imbalance in the so called support and claim-approach ("Fördern und Fordern") for the long-term unemployed will be finally readjusted towards supportive policy measures such as training. The reform of the in-work benefit element should aim at supporting sustainable employment subject to social security contributions. However, to live up to its name, the citizen's income must ensure genuine social participation for those receiving the citizen's income.

MyPyPSA-Ger: Introducing CO2 taxes on a multi-regional myopic roadmap of the German electricity system towards achieving the 1.5 °C target by 2050

This paper will introduce the open-source model MyPyPSA-Ger, a myopic optimization model developed to represent the German energy system with a detailed mapping of the electricity sector, on a highly disaggregated level, spatially and temporally, with regional differences and investment limitations. Furthermore, this paper will give new outlooks on the German federal government 2050 emissions goals of the electricity sector to become greenhouse gas neutral by proposing new CO2 allowance strategies. Moreover, the regional differences in Germany will be discussed, their role and impact on the energy transition, and which regions and states will drive the renewable energy utilization forward.Following a scenario-based analysis, the results point out the major keystones of the energy transition path from 2020 to 2050. Solar, onshore wind, and gas-fired power plants will play a fundamental role in the future electricity systems. Biomass, run of river, and offshore wind technologies will be utilized in the system as base-load generation technologies. Solar and onshore wind will be installed almost everywhere in Germany. However, due to the nature of Germany’s weather and geographical features, the southern and northern regions will play a more important role in the energy transition.Higher CO2 allowance costs will help achieve the 1.5-degree-target of the electricity system and will allow for a rapid transition. Moreover, the more expensive, and the earlier the CO2 tax is applied to the system, the less it will cost for the energy transition, and the more emissions will be saved throughout the transition period. An earlier phase-out of coal power plants is not necessary with high CO2 taxes, due to the change in power plant’s unit commitment, as they prioritize gas before coal power plants. Having moderate to low CO2 allowance cost or no clear transition policy will be more expensive and the CO2 budget will be exceeded. Nonetheless, even with no policy, renewables still dominate the energy mix of the future.However, maintaining the maximum historical installation rates of both national and regional levels, with the current emissions reduction strategy, will not be enough to reach the level of climate-neutral electricity system. Therefore, national and regional installation requirements to achieve the federal government emission reduction goals are determined. Energy strategies and decision makers will have to resolve great challenges in order to stay in line with the 1.5-degree-target.

Market power and food loss at the producer-retailer interface of fruit and vegetable supply chains in Germany

Food loss and waste are associated with an unnecessary consumption of natural resources and avoidable greenhouse gas emissions. The United Nations have thus set the reduction of food loss and waste on the political agenda by means of the Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3. The German Federal Government committed itself to this goal by implementing the National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction in 2019. However, this policy approach relies heavily on voluntary action by involved actors and neglects the possible role of power imbalances along the food supply chain. While current research on food loss and waste in industrialised countries predominantly focuses on the consumer level, this study puts emphasis on the under-researched early stages of the food supply chain from the field to retailers’ warehouses. Based on 22 expert interviews with producers, producer organisations and retailers, this article identifies major inter-stage drivers of food loss in the supply chains for fresh fruit and vegetables in Germany. Its main novelty is to demonstrate how market power imbalances and risk shifting between powerful and subordinate actors can reinforce the tendency of food loss on the part of producers further up the supply chain. Results indicate that prevalent institutional settings, such as contractual terms and conditions, trading practices, ordering processes, product specifications, and communication privilege retailers and encourage food loss. The mechanisms in which these imbalances manifest, go beyond the European Commission’s current legislation on Unfair Trading Practices. This study suggests a research agenda that might help to formulate adjusted policy instruments for re-structuring the German fruit and vegetable markets so that less food is wasted.

Finanzierung von Zukunftsinvestitionen: Pragmatische L\xf6sungen sind gefragt

Since the new German federal government has imposed tight fiscal policy restrictions on itself, a pragmatic approach is needed to finance the spending requirements of the transformation. The financing instruments mentioned in the coalition agreement appears to be suitable in principle for meeting key fiscal challenges facing the federal government in the coming years. However, they need to be quantified in concrete terms as quickly as possible and designed to ensure legal security in order to send reliable signals for the necessary capacity building, particularly in the construction industry and public administration.

Not kennt kein Gebot? Sonderverm\xf6gen als Speicher von Notlagenkrediten

AbstractThe German federal government is facing criticism for using the exemption from the national debt brake due to the coronavirus crisis to expand the fiscal leeway for its future energy and climate policies. The budget dispute is taking place against the backdrop of a massive expansion of government debt in Europe. In the following, the author explain the critique of the latest supplementary budget and argues that the federal government has missed the opportunity to prove that the fiscal policy options within the existing rules are sufficient.

Кадровая и образовательная политика ФРГ в контексте цифровизации и развития “Индустрии 4.0”

The article is devoted to the study of tools to regulate the evolution of the labour market and educational sphere in Germany in connection with digitalization and the development of the “Industry 4.0”. These issues have been studied insufficiently both at the country and cross-country levels, since most of the scientific literature deals mainly with economic and technological aspects of digital transformation, while the role of public policy and the formation of the “digital environment” (including human resources and education) are given much less attention. The paper highlights key features of Germany’s digital strategy, such as the development of cyber-physical systems, IT security, and the reliance on public-private partnerships in the course of digitalization. It also analyzes a wide range of projects, initiatives and programs in the field of regulation of the labour market and education, on the basis of which the German Federal Government provides a solution to the most pressing problems and challenges for the country’s digitalization. According to the findings of the White Paper “Labour 4.0” by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and of a number of experts in labour market of Germany, these challenges include: the lack of the qualified specialists in MINT professions (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften, Technik), specialists with digital skills and knowledge of information and communication technologies; shortcomings in the development of education and digital environment, in particular low levels of technical equipment of schools and other educational institutions; the negative impact of demographics and migration problems on the labour market and employment.

Die sogenannten Beneš-Dekrete im öffentlichen Diskurs in Deutschland und Österreich und ihre Auswirkung auf die deutsch-tschechischen und österreichisch-tschechischen Beziehungen nach dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs

The demand for the repeal of the so‐called Beneš decrees, raised by associations of expellees and parties closely related to them (the CSU and FPÖ respectively), primarily meant restitution or compensation for expropriated property of German expellees from Czechoslovakia. This question was deliberately excluded from German‐Czechoslovak/Czech post‐war treaties. In 2002, the CSU tried to make the repeal of the decrees a precondition for EU membership, because they allegedly were incompatible with EU law and values. After the Czech Republic’s EU accession, the topic has largely disappeared from the German public discourse. No future German federal government will raise or support claims for compensation against the Czech Republic, while in Austria the demand for the repeal of the decrees is raised whenever the FPÖ forms part of the government.

The German Innovation Fund (Innovationsfonds)

Abstract The Innovationsfonds was launched by the German Federal Government in 2016 and funds both experimental new care models and health services research projects. The applicants respond to annual funding announcements with a broad range of topics. Insights from more than five years of experience encompass prioritisation of topics, types of projects funded, governance pathways and potential future directions.

Introducing a digital tool for sustainability impact assessments within the German Federal Government: A neo-institutional perspective

This study examines the institutionalization of information technologies for policy formulation by investigating the case of eNAP. The digital tool was introduced in the spring of 2018 with the aim of supporting and improving sustainability impact assessments (SIAs) within the German Federal Government. Applying a neo-institutional perspective, this study shows how a tool like eNAP is embedded into prevailing regulative, normative, and cultural–cognitive structures. Findings from 10 semi-structured interviews indicate that the application of eNAP varies according to intra-ministerial coordination practices and portfolio-specific information-processing schemata. Overall, the tool serves to translate the abstract regulation to conduct an SIA, as well as to translate the vague norm of “sustainability” into a concrete assessment requirement, thereby helping increase policy officials’ awareness of sustainability goals. However, consistent with previous studies, great importance is not attached to SIAs in policy formulation, and prevailing norms and routines make the implementation of eNAP to increase the use of evidence or in-depth considerations of policy alternatives and their consequences unlikely. Points for practitioners Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide new opportunities to support ex-ante policy evaluations. Practitioners enforcing ICTs for impact assessments should take a comprehensive perspective on the institutional context because both formal organizational structures and implicit expectations, habits and routines affect how policy officials use these tools. Technology alone does not improve policy evaluations, and a misfit between regulative, normative and cultural–cognitive institutional elements can lead to merely symbolic displays of impact assessments through the means of digital tools.

CFD SIMULATION AND VISUALIZATION BASED INVESTIGATION OF SMALL WIND TURBINE POTENTIAL: A CASE STUDY “NEUER STÖCKACH” FOR STUTTGART

Abstract. In the face of climate change and the energy transition that the German federal government is aiming for, all renewable energy potentials need to be tapped. Unfortunately, small wind turbines play a niche role in Germany and most other countries despite the fact, that although they offer advantages as e.g. almost seasonal independent energy production in close proximity to the consumer on the same low-voltage grid level. One reason beside the lower wind speeds that can be expected closer to the ground is, that in comparison to PV (photovoltaic), for which good yield forecasts can be made using global radiation measurements from nearby weather stations or online databases, the yield of small wind turbines, especially in urban areas, can only be forecasted using on-site measurements due to the influence of the surrounding buildings and topography. This method is time-consuming and costly. To address this, within this work a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation based visualization framework for the investigation of the small wind turbine potential is presented. In this specific case the energy supply company EnBW is planning to refurbish the “Neuer Stöckach” urban quarter on the former “Stöckach” company site. As part of the redevelopment, a comprehensive energy concept is planned to integrate renewable energies. In this context the integration of small wind turbines into the energy concept is examined according to this new methodology.

Introduction: Critical Criminology for the 21st Century

Introduction: Critical Criminology for the 21st Century

The AI Methods, Capabilities and Criticality Grid

Many artificial intelligence (AI) technologies developed over the past decades have reached market maturity and are now being commercially distributed in digital products and services. Therefore, national and international AI standards are currently being developed in order to achieve technical interoperability as well as reliability and transparency. To this end, we propose to classify AI applications in terms of the algorithmic methods used, the capabilities to be achieved and the level of criticality. The resulting three-dimensional classification scheme, termed the AI Methods, Capabilities and Criticality (AI-hbox {MC}^2) Grid, combines current recommendations of the EU Commission with an ethical dimension proposed by the Data Ethics Commission of the German Federal Government (Datenethikkommission der Bundesregierung: Gutachten. Berlin, 2019). As a whole, the AI-hbox {MC}^2 Grid allows not only to gain an overview of the implications of a given AI application as well as to compare efficiently different AI applications within a given market or implemented by different AI technologies. It is designed as a core tool to define and manage norms, standards and compliance of AI applications, but helps to manage AI solutions in general as well.

The Landscape of Scientific Discussions on the Competencies 4.0 Concept in the Context of the 4th Industrial Revolution—A Bibliometric Review

The concept of Competencies 4.0 stems from a broader term of the 4th Industrial Revolution, also named Industry 4.0, which dates back to 2011, when the German Federal Government announced its high-tech strategy and policy towards increasing the competitiveness of the German economy during the Hannover Fair. These terms and concepts have been thoroughly and extensively discussed, analysed, and researched by experts within various scientific disciplines such as management, economy, psychology, education, human resources, informatics and systemics ever since. Due to the relevance of the Industry 4.0 concept in relation to current socio-economic challenges worldwide, the growing interest on the part of researchers and the proliferation of the above-mentioned terms in the literature, a network of patterns and relations has formed constituting a scientific landscape of the whole phenomenon. Accordingly, the aim of the analysis in this article is to map the landscape of scientific discussions on Competencies 4.0 in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution. So far, some of the aspects of this landscape have been researched with the use of various databases, search engines and software in order to process and visualise retrieved data. All of these tools have their advantages but also their shortcomings. This research uses the Scopus database and the author’s own algorithm to process the data. The results of the analysis provide a point of reference for scholars, practitioners, managers, policy and decision makers from various fields who search for sources which define Competencies corresponding to current and future socio-economic challenges in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Urban transport assessment of emissions and resource demand of climate protection scenarios

Under the German Climate Action Plan, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 40–42% until 2030 as a mid-term goal for the transport sector. Furthermore, the European Union has set requirements to reduce emissions of air pollutants like nitrous oxides and particulate matter by up to 65% until 2030. Even though there are different mobility strategies, there is no clear solution on how transport systems need to be adapted in terms of utilized means of transport and mobility behavior to meet the requirements set for 2030. Thus, the aim of this paper is to derive mobility scenarios for traffic systems in urban areas, in which the targets set by the German Federal Government and the European Union for the reduction of greenhouse gases and pollutant emissions are met. Therefore, data on the population's mobility behavior as well as emissions and resource use of the means of transport using the example of Hamburg, Germany are collected. Three scenarios are subsequently derived for the year 2030. Each scenario places a different emphasis on the following aspects: expansion of electric mobility, improvement of specific emission factors and mobility behavior, especially regarding the use of cars, public transport, and bicycles. The first scenario shows that it is possible to reduce traffic-related emissions according to the targets without significant behavioral changes, but by increasing the share of electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles to over 30% each. Similarly, a shift of 46% of passenger car traffic to public transport and doubling bicycle traffic will ensure that the emission targets are met in the third scenario. The second scenario achieves this with a more moderate combination of the other scenarios’ boundary conditions. However, such a strong expansion of electric mobility increases the demand for critical resources such as cobalt, neodymium and dysprosium used in electric vehicles by a factor of 62–72 compared to 2019. The shift of car traffic to public transport and cycling in conjunction with the use of alternative propulsion systems limits the increase in the demand for critical resources to a factor of 20–23 while at the same utilizing the potentials for reducing pollutant emissions. • 65% BEVs and PHEVs in 2030 reduce urban traffic-related CO2 emissions by 41%. • 35–65% BEVs and PHEVs in 2030 increases REE demand 23 - 63- and Li 46 - 185-fold. • 46% shift of car traffic to public transport and cycling yields 41% CO2 reduction. • 26% shift of car traffic with 25% BEVs and PHEVs yields 40–42% CO2 reduction.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Germany’s Corona Crisis: The State of Emergency and Policy (Mis)learning

This article analyzes Germany’s policy-making in response to the Corona crisis between January 2020 and March 2021. Two theoretical perspectives are advanced. The first concerns how the government’s imposition of a ‘state of emergency’ affects liberal democratic policy-making resulting in the closure of deliberation in favor of top-down imposition. The second perspective looks at different types of policy learning under crisis conditions. The central thesis is that Germany’s emergency regime failed to facilitate effective policy-making since it closed down venues in which policy learning could occur. Thus, the state of emergency combined authoritarianism and inefficiency. A variety of explanations are advanced to clarify causes for the sluggishness of the German federal, regional, and local government levels to meet Corona-related challenges.