Welche Macht darf es denn Sein? Tracing ‘Power’ in German Foreign Policy Discourse

The relationship between ‘Germany’ and ‘power’ remains a sensitive issue. While observers tend to agree that Germany has regained the status of the most powerful country in Europe, there is debate whether that is to be welcomed or whether that is a problem. Underpinning this debate are views, both within Germany and amongst its neighbours, regarding the kind of power Germany has, or should (not) have. Against this backdrop, the article reviews the dominant role conceptions used in the expert discourse on German foreign policy since the Cold War that depict Germany as a particular type of ‘power’. Specifically, we sketch the evolution of three prominent conceptions (constrained power, civilian power, hegemonic power) and the recent emergence of a new one (shaping power). The article discusses how these labels have emerged to give meaning to Germany’s position in international relations, points to their normative and political function, and to the limited ability of such role images to tell us much about how Germany actually exercises power

Enzyme-Capped Relay-Functionalized Mesoporous Carbon Nanoparticles: Effective Bioelectrocatalytic Matrices for Sensing and Biofuel Cell Applications

The porous high surface area and conducting properties of mesoporous carbon nanoparticles, CNPs (<500 nm diameter of NPs, pore dimensions ∼6.3 nm), are implemented to design electrically contacted enzyme electrodes for biosensing and biofuel cell applications. The relay units ferrocene methanol, Fc-MeOH, methylene blue, MB⁺, and 2,2′-azino­bis(3-ethyl­benzo­thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), ABTS^2–, are loaded in the pores of the mesoporous CNPs, and the pores are capped with glucose oxidase, GOx, horseradish peroxidase, HRP, or bilirubin oxidase, BOD, respectively. The resulting relay/enzyme-functionalized CNPs are immobilized on glassy carbon electrodes, and the relays encapsulated in the pores are sufficiently free to electrically contact the different enzymes with the bulk electrode supports. The Fc-MeOH/GOx CNP-functionalized electrode is implemented for the bio­electro­catalyzed sensing of glucose, and the MB⁺/HRP-modified CNPs are applied for the electrochemical sensing of H₂O₂. The ABTS^2–/BOD-modified CNPs provide an effective electrically contacted material for the bio­electro­catalyzed reduction of O₂ (<i>k</i>_cat = 94 electrons·s^–1). Integration of the Fc-MeOH/GOx CNP electrode and of the electrically wired ABTS^2–/BOD CNP electrode as anode and cathode, respectively, yields a biofuel cell revealing a power output of ∼95 μW·cm^–2