Niels Annen
Niels Annen, an outgoing member of the German Bundestag, joined the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) as a Senior Fellow on March 1, 2010, for a six-month term.
Annen, who will focus on European foreign policy, especially regarding Russia and Afghanistan, will be based in Washington, DC, and will boost GMF's capacity in the study, writing, and convening on these two important countries in the transatlantic sphere.
An influential figure in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) for the past decade, Annen has served in the German Parliament representing an electoral district in Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, as well as in party leadership on the SPD Executive Board.
Annen has been a foreign policy leader in the SPD and a permanent member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Within the committee he has served on the Subcommittee for Arms Control and Non Proliferation as well as the Subcommittee for the United Nations.
His prior involvement with GMF has included a well-received Brussels Forum paper on Russia, "Embracing a Strong Russia."
His work has focused on Latin America as well as the Middle East and Central Asia. He regularly travels to Lebanon, Afghanistan, and other regions where Germany has invested military, financial, and human resources. Annen is an advocate of continued German commitment in Afghanistan. He supports multilateral engagement as a tool for resolving conflict and protecting fundamental human rights.
Prior to being elected to the German Bundestag, he served as the Chairman of the SPD youth organization (Young Social Democrats). He studied History, Geography and Latin- American Studies at the Universität Hamburg in Germany and Universidad of Complutense Madrid in Spain. Besides his native German, he speaks English and Spanish fluently.
Blog Contributions
Click here for all of this author's GMF blog posts
News Articles
EU’s strategy on Political and Security issues in the four seas: a multilateral approachJune 22, 2011Improving the conditions for the overall success of her policies in the four seas (the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea) will test the EU's ability to implement a more coherent foreign policy, writes Niels Annen.
Echoes of the Soviet SurgeMarch 04, 2011The war in Afghanistan is not going well. A young president wants to pull out, but is boxed in by his generals. In Kabul, a corrupt, nominally democratic leader is losing his grip on power. A surge of ground troops has begun. The year is 1985.
A Comeback in Asia? How China is Shaping U.S. Foreign Policy in the PacificFebruary 17, 2011Debates about America being in decline are nothing new in the history of the United States, but the extent of pessimism currently shaping the foreign policy debate in Washington is remarkable. This time it’s for real was how Gideon Rachman subtitled a recent article for Foreign Policy on American decline.Obama’s Iftar speech fuels mosque controversyAugust 19, 2010
With the oil leak in the Gulf almost stopped, America finds itself enmeshed in a new ferocious debate about religion; one that is likely to further damage President Obama's outreach agenda to the Muslim world.
New Transatlantic Relations with a “Pacific” PresidentJuly 27, 2010By his own definition, Barak Obama is the US’ first "Pacific“ President. Indeed, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia there are few “Atlantic” ties to be found in his biography. Obama’s remarks, delivered during a visit to Asia, may be only intended as a polite gesture; nevertheless they indicate a shift of attention away from Europe towards the east.McChrystal’s Replacement Marks the End of the “Big Macs” in AfghanistanJune 29, 2010
The McChrystal incident is not only meat for the tireless hosts of cable news shows; it also represents another chapter in the sometimes complicated relationship between the commander-in-chief and his generals.
Brave New World? Emerging Powers Need to Show Responsible LeadershipMay 28, 2010Much has been written about the world becoming multipolar, but nobody seems to be able to tell what such a world would actually look like. After the spectacular nuclear deal between Turkey, Brazil and Iran, the picture becomes a little clearer and it seems that the P5 will have to share some of the world’s attention.Pushing Merkel: wie Amerika über die Kanzlerin denktMay 12, 2010The current crisis of the Euro has shaken American confidence in the EU and the president is working the phones to encourage European leaders to take action. Nevertheless the American debate about the EU is multilayered and depends strongly on how Americans themselves see the future of their country. In a multi-polar world, the relevance of alliances is growing.Helping Obama Close Guantanamo is in Europe’s InterestApril 24, 2010With a record approval rating of 88% in Germany, President Barak Obama shouldn't be too much concerned about his plea to Europeans to help him close the detention Camp Guantanamo at the US base in Cuba. But sympathy alone does not lead to a new policy. Obama is learning this the hard way. And Europeans may miss a unique opportunity to influence the way in which the US is going to deal with terrorists in the future.Merkel wird den Frust der Türken spürenMarch 28, 2010The EU needs an economically prosperous and politically strong Turkey. Therefore, the EU should search for ways to remove the blockades that characterize the ongoing negotiations for a EU membership of Turkey.The crisis between the United States and Israel was overdueMarch 17, 2010Ever since Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Ishai announced the building of new settlements in East Jerusalem, relations between Israel and the United States have been strained. In this analysis, Niels Annen offers a different perspective from Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff's article that called the settlements a "wrong dispute at the wrong time," and not worth risking the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Annen instead emphasizes that it's time to address big issues like settlements now, and that the U.S. is interested in finding a peaceful solution for the region for more than one reason. Publications
Is Russia Friend or Foe?March 11, 2009Niels Annen and Joseph Wood offer two perspectives to this question in Annen's "Fearing a Weak, Embracing a Strong Russia: There is no alternative to engagement with Moscow" and Wood's "Worldview Matters: The Kremlin's behavior limits the scope of Western engagement."
