WZB - Berlin Social Science Center

Is Europe that hard to explain? A new blog piece by WZB researcher Christian Rauh seeks to answer that very question. He shows that political actors do indeed struggle to speak about Europe in simple terms, especially when defending European positions. This makes parliamentary speeches about the EU harder than average to understand.

Germany’s Grand Coalition has kept most of its promises so far. Fifteen months into the alliance, the government has already tackled over 60% of the plans set out at the beginning of the coalition. But this success has fallen on deaf ears.

Donald Trump’s presidency did not come out of the blue. Trumpist ideology can be neatly slotted into the history of American democracy. It is held up by the pillars of nationalism, evangelical Christianity, and an emphasis on ethnic identity, each of which is deeply rooted in the traditions and history of the United States, as Peter J. Katzenstein argues.

On June 19, 800 guests gathered at the Pierre-Boulez Saal for a grand celebration of the WZB’s 50th anniversary. Here are some impressions from the evening.

Anything you can do, I can do better: New research shows we aim higher when we observe our peers being ambitious. In the first ever laboratory experiment to investigate the peer effects of ambition, WZB researchers reveal how we adjust our own goals to match those of our peers, with important implications for educational outcomes and social mobility.