since the mid-1980s mertes has continuously published articles and book chapters on european and international affairs, interreligious dialogue, and (comparative) government. the newspapers and journals to which he contributed include frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, international herald tribune, neue zürcher zeitung, the independent and several dailys belonging the project syndicate, as well as dædalus, foreign affairs, internationale politik, neprikosnovenny zapás (неприкосновенный запас), obshchaya tetrad (общая тетрадъ), politique étrangère, prospect, the washington quarterly, transit, and the israel journal of foreign affairs. he co-authored and co-edited (with steven muller and heinrich august winkler) “in search of germany” (1996), and he is the author of “german questions – european answers” (2001). mertes also came out with a german translation of william shakespeare’s sonnets (2006), of selected love poetry, verse letters and religious poems by john donne (2017), and of a selection of sonnets from petrarch to gerard manley hopkins (2018).