Source description last updated: 1 September 2021
 
In brief: The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a German political foundation associated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) that promotes peace, freedom and justice through political education and provides fundamental scientific concepts and analysis for political action.
 
Coverage on ecoi.net:
Country reports (“Länderberichte”) and reports on foreign issues (“Auslandsinformationen”) (Special or Analytical Report)
Covered monthly on ecoi.net for countries of priorities A-C.
 
Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“Nationally and internationally, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is committed to achieving and maintaining peace, freedom and justice through political education. We promote and preserve free democracy, the social market economy, and the development and consolidation of the value consensus.” (KAS website: Front page, undated) The foundation is associated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) (BPB: Politische Stiftungen, 2013).

“We focus on consolidating democracy, the unification of Europe and the strengthening of transatlantic relations, as well as on development cooperation.
As a think-tank and consulting agency, our soundly researched scientific fundamental concepts and current analyses are meant to offer a basis for possible political action.” (KAS website: About us, undated)

“Analysis and Consulting is the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung think tank. Here, we elaborate in-depth analyses and policy recommendations for the national, European and international levels. Along with our experts in a wide variety of subject areas, we develop consultancy products for practically-oriented, applied policy and introduce innovative strategies and new formats into our policy consulting, in order to offer support in an increasingly complex world.

Our expertise comprises democracy, law and political parties; national and international security; social cohesion; economics and innovation; sustainable development; and empirical social research.” (KAS website: Analysis and Consulting: About us, undated)

Funding:
“99% of the funding for Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung stems from public grants, while attendance fees and other types of income account for 0.8%. This is supplemented by private income (returns on funds and donations) which accounts for the remaining 0.2% (data based on the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s 2017 budget). Most of the public grants are project-based.” (KAS-Website: Finanzierung, undated, working translation by ACCORD)

Scope of reporting:
Geographic scope: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America
Thematic scope: research on politics and democracy; international politics, education, science and culture, social market economy, state and society, globalisation

Methodology:

“The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung holds 107 foreign offices worldwide.” (KAS website: Worldwide, undated)

Country reports and reports on foreign issues contain analysis by KAS staff working in the relevant foreign offices. Country reports sometimes provide a list of secondary sources at the end (see, for example, KAS: Präsidentschaftswahl im Iran, 17. Juni 2021 and KAS: Sieger ohne Gegner, 13. Juni 2021) while reports on foreign issues always include such a list (see, for example, . KAS: Nach der Krise ist vor der Krise, 19. April 2021 und KAS: Veraltete Eliten, neues Selbstverständnis, 9. April 2021).

 
Languages of publications:
German and English
 
Further reading / links:
Lepszy, Norbert: Politische Stiftungen, in: Andersen, Uwe/Wichard Woyke (eds.): Handwörterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. 7th edition, 2013, quoted from BPB
http://www.bpb.de/nachschlagen/lexika/handwoerterbuch-politisches-system/202095/politische-stiftungen?p=all
 
NZZ - Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Merkel kann sich in ihrem Think-Tank nicht durchsetzen, 14 November 2017
https://www.nzz.ch/international/merkel-kann-sich-in-ihrem-think-tank-nicht-durchsetzen-ld.1328659
 
Der Spiegel: Lammert neuer Vorsitzender der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 1 December 2017
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/norbert-lammert-neuer-vorsitzender-der-konrad-adenauer-stiftung-a-1181349.html 

Heisterkamp, Ulrich: Think Tanks der Parteien? Eine vergleichende Analyse der deutschen politischen Stiftungen, 2018
https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658185213

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: Jahresbericht 2020 Einblicke in das Jahr 2020, March 2021
https://www.kas.de/documents/252038/11055681/Jahresbericht+2020.pdf/2d8f9e33-a3c2-52c0-c1e9-2c1db4d08e38?version=1.0&t=1624013074651

Mohr, Alexander: The German Political Foundations as Actors in Democracy Assistance, 2010
https://dissertation.com/books/1599423316

Unmüssig, Barbara: Promoting democratic values, 21 November 2017
https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/germanys-political-foundations-are-unique-world-over


All links accessed 1 September 2021.

Methodological note:

ecoi.net's source descriptions contain background information on an organisation’s mission & objective, funding and reporting methodology, as well as on how we cover the source. The descriptions were prepared after researching publicly accessible information within time constraints. Most information contained in a source description was taken from the source itself. The aim is to provide a brief introduction to the sources covered regularly, offering information on relevant aspects in one place in a systematic manner.