African Questions

Publications of Dr. Klaus Frhr. von der Ropp

Political Observer and Consultant on Southern African Issues

About Klaus

Dr. Klaus Frhr. von der Ropp

Born in 1938; German baccalaureate (Abitur) in 1958 followed by military service in the West German Air Force, exit as reserve officer;

Studied law, history, English and French at the universities of Heidelberg, Cologne, London, Paris and Brussels. First and second juridical state exam in Germany (German bar exam), DAAD-funded (German Academic Exchange Service) doctoral disseration in law on a topic of French and Belgian private law.

From 1975 through 1999 headed the liasion office of the German think tank "Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik" (SWP) in the West-German capital, Bonn, and - after Germany's reunification - in Berlin. SWP works for all parliamentary parties, federal ministries, political foundations, NGOs and churches in matters of foreign affairs and security policy.

As already in his school and university years he continued to travel frequently including to the USA, Soviet Union, Asia (China, Taiwan and India), Israel and the Arab world.

Concurrently he worked as independent consultant on questions of Southern Africa, on cooperation between the EU and ACP countries and regional integration in Subsaharan Africa in particular. Spent more than six years in Southern, Eastern and Western Africa.

A highlight of his time in Africa was his participation in the historic Dakar Conference, organised by Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA), in July 1987, where the (back then still) illegal African National Congress (ANC) and Afrikaner dissidents discussed a new South Africa. The Dakar Conference helped to convince the Pretoria government to neogtiate the future of the country with the ANC and other opposition parties.

Plenty of Publications (~180) on African questions (with a focus on Southern Africa) in Festschriften and other miscellanies (Sammelbände), especially yearbooks of the German Council on Foreign Relations (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik) as well as numerous German and international journals: Außenpolitik, Europa Archiv, Internationale Politik, liberal, Le Mois en Afrique, Politique Etrangère, Australian Outlook, Internationale Spectator, International Affairs Bulletin (South Africa), die Suid-Afrikaan, Politikon, Afrique Contemporaire, Verfassung und Recht in Übersee, afrika süd, African Security Review, Das Parlament, Tiefdruckbeilage der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung (FAZ), Europäische Sicherheit, Zeitschrift für Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik (ZFAS), KAS Auslandsinformationen, Berliner Republik, Die Zeit, Foro Internacional (Mexiko-Stadt), Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift, E+Z / Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, Vrye Weekblad, Democracy in Action, Internationales Afrika-Forum, South Africa Intemational Quarterly, Vereinte Nationen, Race Relations News, Présence Libérale, Evangelische Kommentare, Financial Mail, aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, WeltTrends, Insig, Report/Southern African German Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

since retirement in 2000:

  • Lawyer for destitutes (until 2007)
  • Managing board member of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) Havelland (until 2009)
  • CEO of Southern African Consulting Potsdam

Dr. Klaus Frhr. von der Ropp aged 80 in October 2018 Dr. Klaus Frhr. von der Ropp aged 80 in October 2018

Klaus and his dear friends Ilse and Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé during the Dakar Conference in July 1987 shortly before Oom Bey's banning order had been lifted by the South African apartheid government Klaus and his dear friends Ilse and Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé during the Dakar Conference in July 1987 shortly after "Oom Bey's" banning order had been lifted by the South African apartheid government