Conference Program

Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, after its escalation to a full-scale invasion in 2022, has provoked a shift in Germany’s strategic discourse. However, this shift, generally welcomed among Germany’s allies, has also been accompanied with a governmental discourse that, borrowing a concept coined by John Schoneboom, could be described as Surrealpolitik. In the German case, this discourse is structured by antinomies: The war is simultaneously a catastrophic break with past expectations of peaceful coexistence – yet, at the same time, a return to normalcy is imminent. German leaders are prudently avoiding any potential risks of escalation – however, they were completely unaware of the possibility of aggression before February 2022. Germany is competently co-managing Western reactions to the war on an equal footing with the great powers – yet, it is condemned to a complete lack of agency regarding the actual course of events.

While these antinomies may represent, to a certain degree, a reflection of a general German unease in dealing with the first great power war in Europe since the Second World War, they also bear the hallmarks of previous surreal waves of post-truth politics in other countries. At the same time, they beg the question whether such a reaction has been generally typical of postwar Germany’s reaction to armed conflicts in its vicinity, or whether it actually represents a genuinely new quality in German political discourse.

In the 2000s, Japan adopted the Cool Japan policy as an official public diplomacy strategy, capitalizing on the global phenomenon of manga and anime. This policy aims to enhance Japan's soft power, particularly among foreign populations, by creating allure through popular cultural products such as manga and anime. Soft power can be succinctly defined as a state's ability to attract appeal in the values, foreign policy, and culture among the populations of other states. The construction of this appeal is highly political, as it shapes the subjectivity of other states' populations. In contrast to previous studies in public diplomacy, this research will focus on how images emotionally construct bodies biopolitically. This paper will be carried out by scrutinizing Japan's Cool Japan policy, specifically investigating how Japan creates allure in other states through manga and anime, elucidated through the identity of "otaku." The otaku identity has become globalized, influenced by the Cool Japan policy since the 2000s. This paper aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the profound implications of the global otaku identity resulting from the Cool Japan policy. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the allure generated by the Cool Japan policy, this paper will delve into Akihabara, which has become a center of allure through the circulation of emotions. Additionally, the impact of this policy will be demonstrated through the lens of George Ritzer's concept of the "consumption cathedral."

In the last three decades energy usage has been increasingly linked to many environmental issues, e.g., climate change, air and water pollution etc. Although main environmental damage can be traced back to the consumption of fossil fuels the use of nuclear energy and its impact on environment is a highly controversial topic on both political and societal levels. Germany and France are diametrically opposed in their energy preferences towards the use of nuclear energy. Whereas in February 2022 France announced plans to build at least six new reactors, and joined a Nuclear Club at COP28, Germany finalized the nuclear phase out in April 2023, despite an ongoing energy crisis.

How can these diverging energy policy strategies be explained? I argue that the foundations of these varying paths lie in the societal acceptance of nuclear technology. Thus, this paper explores the tangled relations between public opinion and the use of nuclear energy in Germany and France. It scrutinizes relevant opinion polls and dominant discourses in the media to provide empirical base for the analysis. It evaluates how public opinion and party programs on environmental issues and nuclear energy change over time and how these shifts influence governmental policy preferences. It elaborates on the impact that this decision can have on the position of Germany and France in the international arena and on the future cooperation modes in the energy sector.