Europe is once again facing a crossroads: will it lose importance in the face of the global changes and power shifts that have been evident for some time now, or will it be able to regain influence on future regional and international organisations? Much depends on whether the countries in Europe, mainly organised in the European Union and NATO, can quickly agree on future governance structures, common objectives and strategies for action in the face of global dynamics. Only on a common basis can Europeans assert their own strategic ideas in the international arena alongside the USA, China and other emerging powers.
The new CASSIS research framework "Europe's Future Orders - Europe in the Future International Orders" focuses on the negotiation processes on the way to the changing internal structures of European and transatlantic regulatory frameworks (EU and NATO) as well as the repositioning of Europeans in the face of continental and global upheavals.

Changing relations and Europe's changing influence on neighbouring countries play a special role here. Accordingly, special attention is being paid to European-African relations, now in close cooperation with the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) (this also continues the work of the previous IFV on the "EU-Africa security complex").