The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s “From Fall of the Wall to Unity” traces how the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 and the collapse of the GDR regime paved the way for German unification in 1990. It highlights how grassroots protest movements, mass demonstrations in Leipzig, and political negotiating maneuvers (like Kohl’s Ten-Point Plan) combined to dismantle the East-West divide.
The narrative is not just historical it’s a lens for viewing the fragility of political orders, how legitimacy can erode, and how transformation demands both vision and institutional will. For Germany today, revisiting this moment offers more than nostalgia. It reminds Berlin of the costs of polarization, the importance of civil society, and the challenge of integrating divergent systems lessons still relevant as the country wrestles with social change, European cohesion, and the recalibration of its role abroad.
Learn more about it on KAS.
Europe’s AI Act: Setting global rules through risk-based regulation
The EU’s new AI Act is widely seen as the first comprehensive law to regulate artificial intelligence. At its core lies a risk-based framework, which classifies AI systems according to the potential harm they may cause from minimal risk to unacceptable risk, and applies obligations accordingly. The aim is to safeguard fundamental rights while still encouraging innovation, making Europe a standard-setter in global AI governance. For Germany, this means both opportunity and challenge: as one of Europe’s largest tech and industrial hubs, it must ensure compliance while also showing how regulation and competitiveness can go hand in hand.
Read more about it on the official website of the European Union AI Act.
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