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

European Union flag lies on the ground during the Pro-Europe "Pulse of Europe" movement protest at Gendarmenmarkt square in Berlin, Germany, April 2, 2017.

Why Europe Needs to Rediscover the Art of Political Innovation

Squeezed between the United States and China when it comes to innovation, the EU has been pointing to the “Brussels Effect.” Producing rules, though, does not compensate for not producing things. Europe needs more inclusive structures that reach beyond its borders rather than closing them down.

Roderick Parkes
IPQ
Essay
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attend the their bilateral meeting at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany February 17, 2023.

In Europe’s Transatlantic Beauty Contest, Germany Wins Again

The political peacocking at the Munich Security Conference seemed supercharged this year. At stake: the prize for Best Atlanticist. In the end, much to the frustration of their fellow Europeans, Germany came out on top once again.  

Roderick Parkes
IPQ
A demonstrator holds a poster during a protest following the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, in Berlin, Germany, October, 22, 2022.

Iran Is no Litmus Test for Germany’s Feminist Foreign Policy

When it comes to the protests in Iran, critics ask: Where is Germany’s bold new foreign policy? They are misguided, while Berlin, in its response, seems to have forgotten three of its own principles.

Roderick Parkes
Dana Schirwon
Leonie Stamm
IPQ
Feminist Foreign Policy and Beyond
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 26, 2022.

Why France and Germany Need to Get Together With the UK Again

The Franco-German “engine” is spluttering, France’s neo-Gaullist tendencies are undermining what remains of Germany’s reform ambitions. Where they still seem to agree is on an imaginary Anglo-Saxon menace. Linking arms with London may actually solve Paris and Berlin’s problems.

Roderick Parkes
IPQ

Roderick Parkes

Twitter
@RoderickParkes

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