German policymakers continue to believe that political and economic means of influence are more effective than violence, implying further development of soft-power tools, including digital diplomacy. They are also eager to develop more “networked” national and European foreign policies that take into account the activities and possible contributions of non-state actors.

In the two years since Germany’s president, foreign minister, and defence minister signalled that their country would take on a larger role in international affairs, the country’s leaders have received a crash course in geopolitical realism.

When Rami Haki fled to Germany in early 2015, becoming an entrepreneur was the furthest thing from his mind […] he was also missing those foods that reminded him of home […] He decided to become Germany's first Syrian cheese-maker. […] When he told a Facebook group for Syrians in Germany about the cheese [...] "Many people wanted to order cheese," he says. "I didn't have enough for everyone."

Nations and Jewish communities around the globe are set to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday with ceremonies and memorials coinciding with the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday opened a major exhibition featuring works by Jewish concentration camp prisoners, as she pledged to combat a feared rise in anti-Semitism in Germany linked to a record influx of refugees. The show, "Art from the Holocaust", brings together 100 works [...] by 50 artists created in secret between 1939 and 1945 while they were confined to the camps or ghettos.

What makes a country the best? Is it leadership? Military might? Economic strength? A rich and deep vein of culture and history? Freedom, a stable government and transparency when it comes to business and the political process? In a word, yes. All of the above contribute to how people perceive what makes one country better than another – and ultimately which one ranks as the best overall.