German Institute for International and Security Affairs
The German Institute for International and Security Affairs (German: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; SWP) is a German think tank in international relations and security studies. A semi-official organization with close links to the federal government, it advises the Bundestag (the German parliament) and the federal government on foreign and security policy issues, and also advises decision-makers in international organisations relevant to Germany, above all the European Union, NATO and the United Nations. SWP is regarded as one of Europe's most influential think tanks in international relations. It is headquartered in Berlin and incorporated as a foundation.[1]
History and structure[edit]
SWP was set up in 1962 in Munich. On 21 January 1965, the Bundestag unanimously decided that the German government would become a member of the foundation. In 2001 the headquarters of the foundation and its research institute moved from Ebenhausen near Munich to Berlin. Since then it has been housed in a listed building on Ludwigkirchplatz.
To help it carry out its role as a civil-law foundation, SWP receives institutional funding at a rate determined by the Bundestag. This grant is approved annually on production of a budget by SWP, is paid from the Chancellery budget and covers all costs generated by SWP's core activity. SWP also conducts special research projects that receive third-party funding. In the financial year 2016, the SWP was federally funded to the tune of 12.3 million euros. This support was supplemented by 2.53 m from external sponsors.[2]
Every two years, the guiding framework[3] is redrafted by SWP's research department and the institute's leadership, before being submitted to the SWP Council for confirmation and then being put to the vote. Overall, the guiding framework concentrates on general issues in the two-year time frame, with particular reference to the current and foreseeable state of affairs in international politics. It sets specific thematic challenges and topics, for instance the United Nations’ sustainability goals (SGDs), refugees and migrants, the dissolution of regional structures in the Middle East, and international crisis management (examples from the 2017–2018 research framework).
Within the established guiding framework, SWP is free to carry out and structure projects and research as it sees fit. This safeguards SWP's unhindered ability to address long-term issues as well as current events in international politics. Examples include analyses and texts on the crisis in Ukraine; the nuclear agreement with Iran; projects on refugee flows and development cooperation; and Israel and Its Regional and Global Conflicts: Domestic Developments, Security Issues and Foreign Affairs.
Information infrastructure[edit]
Around 30 members of staff work in SWP's information infrastructure, which provides information services to both SWP academics and the Bundestag and federal ministries. SWP also leads the international relations and area studies information network (FIV), which manages one of the world's largest literature databases in the social sciences, World Affairs Online. This is made available to the (professional) public via various portals, catalogues and indexes, as well as SWP's own professional portal, IREON.[13]
Events[edit]
Leaked diplomatic cables[edit]
In November 2010 and January 2011 leaked diplomatic cables by US Embassy staff in Berlin described two events in December 2009 and January 2010[14] in which SWP director Volker Perthes had participated. Inter alia, the events addressed transatlantic differences of opinion on how to deal with Iran. At the January 2010 event, Perthes raised the question of whether the US was also considering non-belligerent or non-military means of preventing a potential nuclear “breakout” on the part of Iran. The question was based on the assumption that such programmes (cyber-attacks or other forms of sabotage which could render parts of the nuclear programme inoperative without starting or provoking a war) already existed. Perthes had also voiced this assumption in an article published on Open Democracy in January 2010.[15] It was proved correct by reports showing that the Stuxnet attack must have started at least half a year before the January 2010 conversation at the US Embassy.[16]
In a The Guardian interview about the January 2010 event at the US Embassy, Perthes said he had suggested that “unexplained occurrences” or “computer failures” were preferable to military strikes. And that military strikes or military escalation with Iran definitely needed to be avoided.[17]
2016 hacking attack[edit]
According to a report by German news outlet Spiegel Online, authorities suspect Russian hacking group known as "Fancy Bear" or "APT28" was behind a December 2016 attack on SWP.[18]