Can Germany learn from Ukraine? Resilience in a time of polycrisis

This contribution to the Forum explores whether Germany has engaged in political learning from Ukraine’s societal resilience amid Russia’s war of aggression since 2022. To answer this question, the article draws on literature about policy diffusion and, in particular, the learning mechanism. It analyzes an original corpus of over 1000 statements from German decision-makers and policy documents from 2016 to 2025. The analysis reveals that although the concept of “resilience” has been referenced more frequently in German political discourse, there is little quantitative or qualitative evidence of direct learning from Ukraine’s experience. Ukraine is primarily discussed in the passive voice as a victim of Russian aggression and recipient of German aid, rather than as an entity from which lessons can be learned. The article concludes that differences in political context, persistence of pre-existing foreign policy ideas, and collective action problems in German policymaking may explain why learning from Ukraine’s resilience has been limited.