december, 2018

06decalldayEurope and its Neighbourhood 2018Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management in the 21st Century

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Event Description

Al Sharq Forum, Chatham House, International Crisis Group, and Institut Montaigne will host the fourth annual conference on Europe and its Neighbourhood: Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management in the 21st Century, focusing on the political, security and societal challenges that Europe’s leaders must address, and how they can do so at a time when the traditional ties and strategic relations within Europe and between Europe and its allies are under increasing strain.

This year’s discussions will bring together perspectives from across Europe and neighbouring regions to discuss:

  • Challenges for decision-making and political leadership in a changing Europe
  • The competition for power and influence in Europe’s neighbourhood
  • Conflict and instability in key regions and Europe’s capacity to address common security challenges.

In partnership with:

Time

All Day (Thursday)

Location

Chatham House

10 St James's Square SW1Y 4LE UK

Schedule

    • Day 1
    • 6 December 2018

    • 09:30 Session One | The Future of European Leadership: Implications for Europe’s Role in a Transforming Global Order09:30 - 10:30Traditional institutions and leaders in Europe are under increasing pressure from nationalist and ‘populist’ political ideas and the indecision surrounding a post-Brexit settlement between the UK and the EU is exacerbating a sense of uncertainty for Europe’s decision-makers. This opening discussion will explore what European leadership may look like in the coming years including its impact on conflict prevention and management.
      - Amid concerns about the stability of the global ‘liberal order’ and differences over the practical implementation of core EU principles within its membership, what are the values that Europe’s leaders are able, collectively, to protect in Europe and project further afield? - What kind of EU–UK relationship can be expected post-Brexit? What will it mean for cooperation on foreign and security policy? How will Brexit impact cooperation with the EU on issues of nuclear security and deterrence? - What is the political climate for European reforms? To what extent can proposed reforms of the EU project, and Franco-German-led attempts to promote them, bridge divisions between member states? - What is the view of what Europe should be and the contribution it can be expected to make to global peace and security in countries that lie beyond its borders? - What can Europe do to prevent the collapse of the liberal international order?

    • 10:30 Session Two | Europe’s Regional Influence: Relations with Heavyweight Neighbours and Traditional Allies10:30 - 11:30Europe’s leaders have interacted largely with the US as the major international power in the neighbourhood, but now they contend increasingly with the interests of other major powers, particularly Russia and China. This generates new questions and challenges for building strategic relationships and competing for regional influence. This discussion will assess Europe’s ability to assert itself and act as a stabilizing force in its neighbourhood in the face of a transforming regional and international order. - What sort of future role will Europe have in conflict prevention and resolution in its neighbourhood? How far can this stretch? - To what extent is Europe’s ability to project influence dependent on its relationship with the US? How can the current vulnerabilities in transatlantic unity be exploited by other powers? - How will Europe’s relationships with China evolve? - What will happen to EU–Russia relations in coming years in light of the current US–EU dynamics? - How are Europe’s relations with regional heavyweights such as Turkey and Iran set to evolve?

    • 13:00 Discussion A | Contours of Conflict and the Prognosis in the Levant and North Africa13:00 - 14:00This discussion will focus on the current dynamics in countries in the Levant and North Africa – Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria – assessing local policy and the security environment, trends in migration and Europe’s ability and appetite for engagement in the region. The nature of the crises in the region is undergoing a major transformation. This in return necessitates the recalibration of European policy towards the region at a time when it is becoming a theatre upon which established (US, Russia) and emerging (India, China) international players are interacting with each other and vying for influence. - To what extent is the political and economic instability in North Africa impacting on European countries and their will to engage in new investments in these countries? - Given the US withdrawal from JCPOA, what alternative path will and can Europe take to prevent the regional arm-race and confrontation? - What policy goals does Europe have towards the region beyond stemming tides of refugees and radicalism? - Is Europe’s much desired quest for ‘stability’ possible without transformation in its southern neighbourhood? - What policy options does Europe have in dealing with deepening humanitarian crises (Syria, Yemen, Libya) in the region? - How is Europe interacting with both old and new international players in the Mediterranean? - Is a European-wide consensus on dealing with the migration issue possible? - How should European leaders address and respond to public sentiments about immigration?

    • 14:00 Discussion B | Contours of Conflict and the Prognosis in the Eastern Neighbourhood14:00 - 15:00The conflict in Ukraine is in its fifth year since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine with military and financial support. A resolution appears difficult to achieve given Russia’s continued support for the destabilization and the lack of political will in Kyiv to tackle the Minsk agreement’s political provisions. Russia’s playbook in Ukraine and its instrumentalization of other conflicts in Georgia, Moldova and the South Caucasus feed deep-rooted concerns elsewhere along Russia’s borders. - What are the motives and forecast for Russia fomenting tension on multiple fronts? - Are the post-Soviet states around Russia’s borders doing enough to justify Western political and donor support? - Are the EU and NATO living up to expectations of the roles they can play in mitigating tension and promoting peace, and what needs to change? - What does the current US administration’s stance to US-Russia relations and its approach to NATO mean for the reality in the neighbourhood?

    • 15:00 Session Three | Europe and its Neighbourhood: The Need for a Security Dialogue15:00 - 16:00This closing discussion will assess the contemporary threat landscape for Europe’s security and the decisions that need to be taken amidst demands by the US for increased defence expenditure by its NATO partners and questions over President Trump’s commitment to the post-Second World War transatlantic security alliance. - What are the biggest security threats facing Europe? What should be the primary responses? - What sort of security role will institutions such as NATO have in the future? How might a credible European alternative to US leadership on security matters emerge? - Given the security interdependency between Europe and its neighbourhood, what are the best ways for Europe and its neighbours to address these shared security challenges? - How will competition between regional hegemons resist the shift to conflict? - How will Brexit impact cooperation with the EU on issues of nuclear security and deterrence? - What is the role of the different options – diplomatic and military - in Europe’s deterrence strategies?

    • 17:30 Close of conference and post-conference reception17:30 - 17:30 Close of conference and post-conference reception

Speakers for this event

  • Wadah Khanfar

    Wadah Khanfar

    President of The Al Sharq Forum

    Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

    President of The Al Sharq Forum

  • Brad Staples

    Brad Staples

    Chief Executive Officer, APCO Worldwide

    Chief Executive Officer, APCO Worldwide

  • Galip Dalay

    Galip Dalay

    Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

    Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

    Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Stra...

  • Kristina Kausch

    Kristina Kausch

    Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States\' (GMF) Brussels office

    Kristina Kausch is a Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States' (GMF) Brussels office. Her research focuses on Europe’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa, and political transformations in the Arab world. Prior to joining GMF, she was a non-resident associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the head of its Middle East program, and research coordinator at FRIDE. She has edited three books and published articles in academic journals.

    Senior Resident Fellow at The German Mar...

  • Jana Puglierin

    Jana Puglierin

    Head of Programme, Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies, German Council on Foreign Relations

    Head of Programme, Alfred von Oppenheim ...

  • Michael Kohler

    Michael Kohler

    Director Neighbourhood, DG for Development Cooperation. European Commission

    Director Neighbourhood, DG for Developme...

  • Robert Malley

    Robert Malley

    Vice President for Policy, International Crisis Group

    Vice President for Policy, International...

  • Lord Mark Malloch-Brown

    Lord Mark Malloch-Brown

    Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations (2006) anc Co-Chair, International Crisis Group

    Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations...

  • Tarik M. Yousef

    Tarik M. Yousef

    Director of Brooking Doha Center and Senior fellow

    Tarik M. Yousef is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and the Director of the Brookings Doha Center. His career has spanned the academic world at Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School; the public policy arena at the IMF, the World Bank and more recently the NGO space at Silatech. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University

    Director of Brooking Doha Center and Sen...

  • Fuat Keyman

    Fuat Keyman

    Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University

    Fuat Keyman is the Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University. Keyman is a leading Turkish political scientist and an expert on democratization, globalization, international relations, Turkey – EU relations, Turkish foreign policy, and civil society development. He is a member of the Science Academy. He has worked as a member on the Council of Wise People as part of the Peace Process to the Kurdish issue. He also serves on advisory and editorial boards for a number of respected international and national organizations as well as for academic journals.

    Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a...

  • Soli Özel

    Soli Özel

    Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University

    Soli Özel is a professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul and a columnist at Habertürk daily newspaper. He worked as a guest lecturer at Georgetown, Harvard, Tufts and other US universities and has taught at UC Santa Cruz, SAIS, the University of Washington and the Hebrew University. He is also a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations

    Professor of International Relations at ...

  • Anne Applebaum

    Anne Applebaum

    Professor in Practice, Institute of Global Affairs, LSE

  • Anna Arutunyan

    Anna Arutunyan

    Senior Analyst, Russia, International Crisis Group

  • Bernard Cazeneuve

    Bernard Cazeneuve

    Prime Minister of France (2016-17)

  • Michel Duclos

    Michel Duclos

    Ambassador of France to Syria (2006-09), and Special Advisor, Geopolitics, Institut Montaigne

  • Claudia Gazzini

    Claudia Gazzini

    Senior Analyst, Libya, International Crisis Group

  • Liana Fix

    Liana Fix

    Program Director International Affairs, Körber Foundation

  • Susan Jakes

    Susan Jakes

    Editor, ChinaFile, and Senior Fellow, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society

  • Nader Kabbani

    Nader Kabbani

    Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center; Senior Fellow, Brookings Global Economy and Development Program

    Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center; Senior Fellow, Brookings Global Economy and Development Program

    Director of Research, Brookings Doha Cen...

  • Aleksander Kwaśniewski

    Aleksander Kwaśniewski

    President of Poland (1995-2005)

  • Ramtane Lamamra

    Ramtane Lamamra

    Minister of Foreign Affairs, Algeria (2013-17) and Board Member, International Crisis Group

  • Alain Le Roy

    Alain Le Roy

    Executive Secretary General, European External Action Service (2015-16)

  • Dominique Moïsi

    Dominique Moïsi

    Visiting Research Professor, King’s College London; Special Advisor, Institut Montaigne

  • Tom Tugendhat MP

    Tom Tugendhat MP

    Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and Malling, and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

  • Leslie Vinjamuri

    Leslie Vinjamuri

    Head, US and the Americas Programme; Dean, Queen Elizabeth II Academy

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Al Sharq Strategic Research is a think tank that looks to undertake impartial, rigorous research to promote the ideals of democratic participation, an informed citizenry, multi-stakeholder dialogue and social justice.

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