What do the current contestations of the liberal script mean for the practice of foreign policy? And how do foreign policymakers deal with multiple challenges posed by authoritarian actors like China or Russia, the rise of populism in Europe, climate change or the restrictions of academic freedom in universities around the world?

In order to address those questions, the SCRIPTS Knowledge Exchange Lab (KEL) has developed a series of talks, together with its partners in the Federal Foreign Office. With this project, KEL aims to regularly bring together “practitioners” of foreign policy with SCRIPTS researchers in order to discuss various topics which are relevant to both SCRIPTS and foreign policy.

At the kick-off event on 04 July 2022, the roles were switched: policy officials gave their insights in their daily work and told the SCRIPTS members how they deal – in practical terms – with the multiple challenges linked to the contestations of the liberal script. The discussion has shown: the challenges are complex and at the same time very concrete for the practice of German and European foreign policy. “We have to find common answers to the rapidly changing international landscape, especially from a European perspective”, said the Minister of State for Europe and Climate, Dr. Anna Lührmann.

All in all, the kick-off event was successful and the dialogue between foreign policy and SCRIPTS will continue, which SCRIPTS is looking forward to.