Articles by: "Mark Leonard"
Germany’s green velvet revolution?

In the last 50 years, Germany has experienced three miracles. The one-time sick man of Europe became an Exportweltmeister (export world champion). It also overcame its past (Vergangenheitsbewältigung). And it built a political and economic …

The new China shock

Some months ago, Chinese authorities approached some of the biggest foreign companies in the country and asked them to tap a representative to participate in a small closed-door gathering on China’s new economic strategy. The …

The Russia strategy Europe needs

Decades after the Cold War, Russia remains the perfect enemy, with an unmatched ability to agitate Europe’s political class. But the intensity of European debates and emotions regarding Russia masks a growing unity that should …

The crisis of American power

The United States is suffering from a double crisis. Headlines in recent months have focused mainly on America’s crisis of democracy, but its crisis of global power may turn out to be more consequential in …

Europe’s double bind

Covid-19 has made a mockery of the world’s great powers. US President Donald Trump promised to ‘make America great again’, but his administration’s handling of the pandemic has been anything but great. Chinese President Xi …

Trump’s dirty tricks

With November approaching, I’m becoming ever more nervous about the US presidential election. While my American friends focus on Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in opinion polls, believing deeply in US democracy’s capacity for …

The other Putin on Europe’s doorstep

Is Turkey the new Russia? That question is increasingly being asked in European capitals as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan adopts a more aggressive foreign policy. In addition to using migration to threaten and finagle …

Europe’s self-help moment

When Covid-19 struck Europe and forced millions of people into internal exile, many were overcome by a deep sense of loneliness. This reflected not only a craving to be reunited with friends and family, but …

The end of Europe’s Chinese dream

A paradigm shift is taking place in relations between the European Union and China. The Covid-19 crisis has triggered a new debate within Europe about the need for greater supply-chain ‘diversification’, and thus for a …

Salvaging the European Union

As Winston Churchill once observed, too many people who ‘stumble over the truth’ will ‘pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened’. But in the case of Covid-19, the world has been …