Generation Z(eitenwende): Young Perspectives on Foreign and Security policy

With the “Generation Z(eitenwende)” project, we are working with Polis180 to examine the foreign and security policy attitudes of young people in Germany against the backdrop of current geopolitical changes. In view of the turning point proclaimed for 2022, increasing international conflicts, and growing debates about security, global partnerships, and Germany’s role in the world, the question arises as to how younger generations in particular perceive, evaluate, and classify these developments.  

The project aims to better understand young people’s perceptions of threats, expectations, and normative ideas with regard to foreign and security policy. In particular, it focuses on how young adults interpret issues of military and non-military security, international cooperation, European integration, and global power shifts, and to what extent they feel addressed or excluded by political debates.  

The aim of the project is to use focus groups to identify key patterns in the foreign and security policy thinking of the younger generation and to derive practical recommendations for political institutions and civil society organizations. A particular focus is on the question of how foreign policy issues can be communicated in a way that is more understandable, accessible, and relevant to young people, and how dialogue formats should be designed to better integrate their perspectives into political decision-making processes.