Auslaufmodell Deutschland? Germany and Europe at a political and economic crossroads

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook ’99 reflects on the origins of the governance and economic crisis raising new questions about the viability of “the German model.” With external pressures from the U.S. and China challenging the European way of doing business – both economically and politically - how might the EU advance on redefining its own economic model and preserving the strength of integration in a de-globalizing world under increasing strains of kinetic and hybrid conflict? How must the relationship between the EU and its largest trading partner, the United States, change to adapt to shifting pressures in a world of chaos, in light of political radicalization, accelerating armed conflict and economic strain on a trading system that depends on functional international law and predictability to survive? ABOUT THE SPEAKER Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook ’99 is a German-American economic and political analyst and strategist, former Director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations and currently Executive Vice President at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, based in Berlin, Germany. For over a decade she directed three research initiatives at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, including the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, both of which she co-founded with the current U.S. Ambassador to Beijing, R. Nicholas Burns. She is a Watson Policy Mentor for the 2024-25 academic year. In previous roles she served on the Management Board of the European Policy Centre (Brussels) and as a strategy consultant at Roland Berger in Shanghai, Beijing, Hamburg, and Paris. She started her career as a broadcast journalist for CNN-International in Atlanta and London. She is an Eisenhower and Truman Project Fellow and serves on several non-profit advisory boards in Europe. Cathryn’s research work focuses on transatlantic relations including foreign, security and trade policies, on digital and tech policy and on the role of urban actors in international affairs. She is a frequent commentator on foreign policy in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times and across television and radio in the U.S. and Europe. She is a graduate of Brown University (BA with dual concentration in IR and French Civilization), the London School of Economics (MSc European Studies), and the Harvard Kennedy School (MPA), and retains academic affiliations in Europe and the United States.