Areas of Expertise
- Europe and European integration
- The EU’s internal and external security policies
- Relations between EU members and UK European policy
Short Bio
Dr. Roderick Parkes has been director of the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) until January 31, 2024. He also headed the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for the Future of Europe, where he works on issues of European integration and the EU’s role in the world. He joined DGAP from the Institute for Security Studies, a Paris-based agency of the EU, where he provided advice to decision-makers on dealing with the intersection of EU internal security and foreign policy.
Over the past 15 years, Parkes has worked across Europe. At the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), he worked on a special research project for the foreign ministry on the geopolitics of migration; at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), he headed the Europe Program; and at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), he worked as a researcher in Berlin before heading its liaison office to EU institutions and NATO.
Parkes holds a PhD from the University of Bonn and studied at Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, and Sciences-Po Grenoble. He has taught at the European Security and Defense College, NATO School Oberammergau, and NATO Defense College.
Languages
English, German, French
[Last updated: February 2024]
Contributions
Germany Needs a Strategy—Grand and Democratic
German leaders have long been reluctant to discuss, let alone set, grand strategy. Now, with the world in flux and the old ways no longer working, Berlin needs to step up and clearly lay out what it wants—and how it plans to get it.
The Future of the Zeitenwende: Futureproofing German Security Policy
Stubborn stasis. Huge unilateral change. Stubborn stasis. Germany has repeated this pattern for decades, causing gridlock in Europe. Now it is in danger of repeating it yet again.
The Future of the Zeitenwende: A Team Power Strategy for Germany
Berlin needs international partners for a successful foreign and security policy. Unfortunately, Germany hasn’t really understood yet what it takes to be a “team power”: five rules to see it win the day.
A Different Way of Thinking about EU Enlargement and Reform
After a lost decade-and-a-half that saw the establishment of German predominance, there is now the acute danger of Berlin and Paris applying rejected ideas to enlarging and reforming the EU: Four principles for a future-oriented EU expansion and adaptation.