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Digitalization and social media established world-encompassing publics that engage with international organizations. While scholarship has analyzed how international organizations communicate with such digital publics, this article determines who participates in these publics. We created a novel dataset to map the UN’s digital public on Twitter and analyzed the bios of 243,168 accounts that have interacted with the UN. Members of this public provide self-identifications (such as researcher, consultant, or scientist) that indicate a professional interest in the UN. We analyzed clusters of users that self-identify with similar words. We find high heterogeneity in the UN’s digital public: Clusters of professional, academic, and organizational users suggest that the technocratic history of international organizations reflects in the members of its digital public. At the same time, the digital public of the UN extends to very different groups (human rights activists and K-Pop fans feature in the UN’s public on Twitter). We demonstrate for future research how multiple correspondence analysis can reveal clusters in unstructured biographical data. The article contributes the first analysis of self-identifications in digital publics of global politics.

Submarine cables handle over 95 percent of the world’s internet traffic, making them essential for everything from finance to foreign affairs. The September 2022 attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and increased Russian naval activity brought greater awareness of how European - and German - interconnectedness also brings vulnerability. The urgency of tackling this threat offers Germany an opportunity to take a structural and joined-up approach that shows it can act as a "team power."

Since net zero targets have become a keystone of climate policy, more thought is being given to actively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while con­tinu­ing to drastically reduce emissions. The ocean plays a major role in regulating the global climate by absorbing a large proportion of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emis­sions. As the challenges of land-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches are increasingly recognised, the ocean may become the new "blue" frontier for carbon removal and storage strategies in the EU and beyond. However, the ocean is not an "open frontier"; rather, it is a domain of overlapping and sometimes conflicting rights and obligations. There is a tension between the sovereign right of states to use ocean resources within their exclusive economic zones and the international obli­gation to protect the ocean as a global commons. The EU and its Member States need to clarify the balance between the protection and use paradigms in ocean governance when considering treating the ocean as an enhanced carbon sink or storage site. Facilitating linkages between the ongoing review of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the establishment of the Carbon Removal Certification Framework could help pave the way for debate about trade-offs and synergies in marine eco­system protection and use. (author's abstract)

In recent months, the implementation of Germany's Indo-Pacific policy from September 2020 has started to take shape. With maritime security concerns as principal drivers, naval deployments have taken centre stage. Yet, as the voyage of the frigate Bayern exemplifies, the German approach - similar to other European policies - suffers from contradictions which are hidden under the "rules-based order" label. Adopting terminology that originated in Australia and Japan, also the German "Policy Guidelines for the Indo-Pacific" employ a variation of the rules-based order concept for describing what they seek to preserve. Symbolically powerful naval deployments aimed at safeguarding the "freedom of navigation" through Southeast Asian waters have spearheaded the implementation of the Guidelines, while overshadowing their many other dimensions. The conflation of legitimate concerns about Chinese expansion in the South China Sea with questionable projections of China's linear path to hegemonic power and concomitant courting of "like-minded" "value partners" altered the Guidelines' characteristically European emphasis on inclusivity, de-escalation, and the rule of international law. The rules-based order has come to signify the common interest among a diverse group of powerful states in curbing Chinese influence. This complicates the question of which shared "values," "rules," and conceptions of "order" are at stake. The increasingly wider usage of "rules-based order" has also led to policymakers glossing over the fact that they have themselves been part of, and are driving, the scramble for new spheres of influence. German policymakers must admit that talking about the rules-based order raises more questions than answers. This is also a precondition for getting clear about whether they seek to help contain China. To play a stabilising role, they and other European governments must listen to what the many less-powerful actors in the Indo-Pacific have to say, and clearly articulate the specific rules, norms, and institutions they are seeking to promote to the benefit of all.

The international system of states displays an inherent drive to territorialize the global commons. But territorialization is not a continuous process - it occurs in episodes. In this article, I use one case from ocean governance, the expansion of territory into near-shore areas of the seas, to advance a twofold argument about the nature of these episodes. First, I argue that the root causes of this drive to territorialize "empty space" are located in global politics, norms, and economics. Second, a territorializing episode occurs when there are impelling economic incentives, and when great powers are unable or unwilling to oppose territorialization. However, this can lead to different outcomes: sovereign territories, functional territories, or internationalized territories. Oceanic space has seen a series of these territorializing episodes since the end of the Second World War and functional territorialization has become more prevalent over time.

After a voyage through the Indian and Pacific Oceans lasting almost seven months, the frigate Bayern has returned to Wilhelmshaven. Above all, Germany's intention in sending the ship was to signal its political willingness to be more actively involved in the stability and security of the Indo-Pacific. Retrospectively, the mission has helped to vitalize and deepen relationships with partners in the region through military and diplomatic dialogues as well as combined exercises by the armed forces. It is now cru­cial to maintain the relationship momentum this has created, for instance by con­tinuing with consultations. However, Germany has not lived up to the claim - or just barely - that the frigate’s voyage would contribute to maintaining the existing rules-based order and international law. It remains to be seen what conclusions Germany will draw for future engagement in the Indo-Pacific. (author's abstract)

Nach fast siebenmonatiger Fahrt im Indischen und Pazifischen Ozean ist die Fregatte "Bayern" nach Wilhelmshaven zurückgekehrt. Mit der Entsendung des Schiffes wollte Deutschland vor allem ein sichtbares politisches Zeichen für seine Bereitschaft set­zen, sich aktiver für Stabilität und Sicherheit im indopazifischen Raum zu engagieren. Im Rückblick hat die Mission dazu beigetragen, die Beziehungen mit Partnern der Region durch militärpolitische und diplomatische Gespräche sowie gemeinsame Übungen von Streitkräften zu beleben und zu vertiefen. Nun gilt es, den entstandenen Schwung in den Beziehungen aufrechtzuerhalten, etwa indem Konsultationen fortgesetzt werden. Dem Anspruch, mit der Fregattenfahrt zum Erhalt der regel­basierten Ordnung und des internationalen Rechts beizutragen, ist Deutschland je­doch nicht oder allenfalls in geringem Maße gerecht geworden. Zu klären ist, welche Folgerungen die Bundesrepublik für ihr künftiges Indo-Pazifik-Engagement zieht. (Autorenreferat)

Im Rahmen des BMBF-Verbundprojekts "MeWiKo - Medien und wissenschaftliche Kommunikation", das die Auswirkungen wissenschaftsjournalistischer Berichterstattung auf den innerwissenschaftlichen Impact von Publikationen untersucht, wurde im Januar 2020 eine vierwöchige Redaktionsethnographie im Science Media Center Germany (SMC) mit Sitz in Köln durchgeführt. Während dieser Ethnographie, die besonders an der Rolle und Struktur der intermediären Organisation interessiert war, brach erstmals COVID-19 in Europa aus. Diese unvorhersehbare Entwicklung führte dazu, dass im Oktober 2020 eine Folgeethnographie beim SMC durchgeführt wurde, die sich auf die Entwicklungen in der Redaktion seit der Pandemie fokussierte. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse sind im Folgenden zusammengefasst: Das SMC ist eine redaktionelle, intermediäre Organisation zwischen Wissenschaft und Journalismus. Sein Hauptpublikum ist der Wissenschaftsjournalismus, den es durch die Bereitstellung wissenschaftlicher Expertise unterstützt, beispielsweise durch die Vorauswahl neuer wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse, das Identifizieren von öffentlich diskutierten wissenschaftlichen Themen und das Zusammenfassen komplexer Wissenslagen. Mithilfe der ethnographischen Daten konnten drei übergeordnete Ziele definiert werden, die die Arbeit des SMC prägen: Den praktischen Journalismus zu unterstützen; wissenschaftliche Themen von gesellschaftlicher Relevanz in den öffentlichen Diskurs bringen; den Stellenwert gesicherten wissenschaftlichen Wissens in Gesellschaft und Politik zu erhöhen. Wir konnten in unseren Ethnographien mehrere Redaktionsprozesse identifizieren: Gatewatching verschiedener wissenschaftlicher, medialer und politischer Quellen; Entscheidungsfindung über Berichterstattung basierend auf journalistischen, wissenschaftsimmanenten, strategischen und organisatorischen Kriterien; Erstellung und Verbreitung von Berichten. Die Position und Arbeit des SMC ist abhängig von flexiblen, vertrauensvollen Beziehungen zu Akteur:innen aus Wissenschaft, Journalismus und Gesellschaft. Als intermediäre Organisation muss das SMC flexibel auf externen Einflüssen in Journalismus, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft regieren können. Es muss seine Arbeitspraktiken ständig an die Entwicklungen in diesen Bereichen anpassen, und auf dadurch neu entstandene Bedürfnisse eingehen können. Das SMC entwickelt sich ständig weiter. Es verändert sich als Organisation durch personelle Veränderungen, überarbeitet und erschafft redaktionelle Praktiken und innoviert Produkte. Das SMC nimmt in seinen Arbeitspraktiken mehrere intermediäre Rollen ein: Knowledge-Broker, Trust-Broker, Value-Broker. Insbesondere die letzten beiden Rollen waren während der COVID-19 Pandemie verstärkt wahrnehmbar. Das SMC tritt vermehrt als eigenständiger Akteur auf und nimmt eine zentrale Position in der Wissenschaftskommunikation ein, die über ihr Wirken in den Journalismus hinausgeht. As part of the BMBF joint project "MeWiKo - Media and Scientific Communication", two four-week newsroom ethnographies were conducted in January and October 2020 at the Science Media Center Germany (SMC), based in Cologne. During the first ethnography, which was particularly interested in the role and structure of the intermediary organization, the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Europe. This unpredictable development led to a follow-up ethnography being conducted in October 2020, which focused on developments in the SMC-newsroom since the beginning of the pandemic. The dataset from both ethnographies contains 28 interviews, 42 field notes, 168 SMC publications. The main findings are summarized below: The SMC is an editorial, intermediary organization between science and journalism. The SMC main audience is science journalism, which it supports by providing scientific expertise, for example, by pre-selecting new scientific findings, identifying publicly debated scientific issues, and summarizing complex scientific knowledge. With the help of the ethnographic data, we were able to define three overarching goals that shape SMC work: To support practical journalism, to bring scientific topics with socio-political relevance into the public discourse, and to raise the status of qualitative, scientific knowledge in society and politics. We were able to identify several editorial processes in our ethnographies: Gatewatching of various scientific, media, and policy sources; decision-making about reporting based on journalistic, scientific, strategic, and organizational criteria; and the production of publications ad broadcasts. The position and work of the SMC depends on flexible, trusting relationships with actors from science, journalism, and society. As an intermediary organization, the SMC must be able to react flexibly to external influences in journalism, science and society. It must constantly adapt its working practices to developments in these fields and be able to respond to new needs that arise as a result. The SMC is constantly evolving. It changes as an organization through personnel changes, revises and creates editorial practices, and innovates products. The SMC assumes several intermediary roles in its work practices, defined by us as Knowledge-Broker, Trust-Broker, Value-Broker roles of which the latter two were particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SMC increasingly emerges as an independent actor, occupying a central position in science communication that extends beyond its impact into journalism. Arbeitspapiere des Hans-Bredow-Instituts

Der Haushaltsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestages hat in seiner letzten Sitzung vor der Sommerpause 2021 der Anschaffung von fünf Flugzeugen P-8A Poseidon für 1,43 Milliarden Euro zugestimmt. Dieses Flugzeug erfüllt alle technischen und opera­tiven Anforderungen, die an einen modernen Seefernaufklärer der Marine gestellt werden. Die Anschaffung behebt nicht nur einen kurzfristig auf­getretenen Mangel an entsprechenden Luftfahrzeugen, sondern schließt auch eine Lücke in der Aufklärung. Notwendig geworden ist dies durch die militärischen Aktivitäten, die Russland im arktisch-nordatlantischen Raum entfaltet. Dort spielt Deutschland eine besondere geostrategische Rolle. Darum sollte es seine maritimen und mili­tärischen Fähigkeiten weiterentwickeln. (Autorenreferat)