Talk by
Matthew G. Boyse,
Senior Fellow, Center on Europe and Eurasia, Hudson Institute; former Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasia Affairs, U.S. Department of State and former U.S. Consul General in North Rhine-Westphalia

followed by a discussion with
PD Dr. habil. Hendrik W. Ohnesorge,
Managing Director, Center for Global Studies, University of Bonn

Tuesday, June 2 | 7:00 p.m.
EY | Börsenplatz 1 | 50667 Cologne

 

U.S. foreign policy has changed fundamentally under the second Trump Administration, and the reverberations are felt around the world. Hard power – meaning military strength and economic prowess – is taking center stage in an increasingly volatile and conflict-ridden international environment. Soft power, on the other hand, long regarded as a subtle yet important dimension of international influence, is under growing pressure amidst geopolitical rivalry and shifting alliances. What are the driving forces behind the United States’ changed approach to foreign policy? How does the Trump Administration recalibrate the relationship between hard and soft power? And what does this mean for Germany, Europe and the future of transatlantic cooperation?

We are very much looking forward to welcoming Matthew Boyse, the former U.S. Consul General in Düsseldorf who played a critical role in founding the AmerikaHaus NRW e.V. He will discuss these and further questions together with PD Dr. Hendrik Ohnesorge, an expert on transatlantic relations and soft power from the University of Bonn.

 

Matthew Boyse is a Senior Fellow with Hudson Institute in Washington, DC and a Professorial Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and George Washington University in Washington. A former U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer, in his last role as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs during the first Trump Administration, he oversaw U.S. policy toward Central Europe and the Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues and served as Sherpa for the Three Seas Initiative. He also served for varying periods of time as Chargé d’Affaires in Switzerland, Finland, Romania, and at the U.S. Mission to NATO. He had three assignments in Germany: as the Political Advisor to three Commanding Generals, U.S. Army Europe in Wiesbaden, as Consul General in Duesseldorf, and at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. His other assignments were Ottawa, Kabul, New Delhi, Warsaw, Moscow, Dhaka, and London, as well as Washington. Prior to joining State, he was an East Germany and Soviet analyst at Radio Free Europe and a DAAD Visiting Fellow at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.

PD Dr. habil. Hendrik Ohnesorge is Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Political Science and Managing Director of the Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn. His research focuses on International Relations theory, global power shifts, soft power, US foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and charismatic leadership in international affairs. He studied at the University of Münster and the University of Bonn, where he completed his PhD summa cum laude as valedictorian and later completed his habilitation in 2025. He has held visiting positions and lectureships at institutions including UC Berkeley, Harvard University, Leiden University, the University of St Andrews, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milan, and is a Non-Resident Visiting Distinguished Fellow at New York University. He is the author of eleven books and over thirty academic publications, with recent works on soft power, international relations theory, and political thought.

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The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please contact us prior to the event for further instructions. 

 

We cordially thank our partner EY for the generous hospitality.

 

This event is kindly supported by the Federal Foreign Office.