The Battle for International Relations
in association with the Sovereignty and its Discontents (SAID) working group
Europe: where's the big idea?
Empire building or nation building? A decade after Dayton
China: threat or opportunity?
Sunday 30 October 2005
Opening remarks: Philip Cunliffe co-convenor of the Sovereignty And Its Discontents working group
11am - 12.30pm
Europe: where's the big idea?
The European Constitution was supposed to bring the European Union (EU) closer to its citizens. But referendums in France and the Netherlands exposed the gulf between Europe’s elites and masses. Many believe the EU enables us to transcend the parochialism of the nation state, and its destructive legacy. In the past, ideas born in Europe swept over the world and gave rise to epoch-making struggles for democracy, equality and freedom. Does the EU provide an equally compelling model for the 21st century? What does the ‘No’ vote tell us about the vision of Europe that was on offer in the EU constitution, and is there are better alternative that has yet to be articulated? On the one hand, Europe’s elites have repeatedly sought to connect with citizens by offering technocratic solutions in the realms of consumer protection, environmentalism and anti-immigration. On the other, politicians have long been conscious of the problems posed by the EU’s ‘democratic deficit’.
What is the relationship between EU politics and national political life? Are the problems of the ‘democratic deficit’ closer to home than Brussels? This session will explore the European political terrain in the early 21st century and ask, ‘Where is Europe’s big idea?’
Robert Cooper Director General for External and Politico-Military Affairs, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union
Thomas Deichmann chief editor of Novo magazine and freelance writer
Marc Glendening campaign director of the Democracy Movement
Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane Labour MP for Rotherham, Foreign Office Minister 2001-2005
Chair: Bruno Waterfield editor of EUPolitix.com and Parliament magazine
2 - 3.30pm
Empire building or nation bulding? A decade after Dayton
The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have firmly established nation building on the agenda of international politics. Many people claim that re-building and strengthening states through external intervention is the only viable way of tackling global problems ranging from natural disasters to human rights abuses, and from the spread of terror to disease epidemics. Many have welcomed this rediscovery of the state’s role in development, as a corrective to the excesses of market-driven ‘neo-liberalism’. Yet the problem of building viable political institutions that can cohere fragmented societies is not restricted to the developing world, but is also apparent in Western countries. Is this the real drive behind nation building overseas? Following the invasion of Iraq, many accused the US of imperialism. What is the difference between today’s nation building projects and past colonial empires?
Ten years since the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the war in the Balkans, the international community is still running Bosnia Herzegovina as a protectorate. What does the nation-building and democratisation experiment in Bosnia portend for other nation building projects? With more and more societies falling under the administrative regulation of international institutions, is it possible to reconstruct states and build nations from the outside?
Dr David Chandler senior lecturer in International Relations, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster
Johann Hari columnist, Independent
Gerald Knaus is the founder of the Berlin-based think-tank, the European Stability Initiative (ESI)
Dr John Laughland writer and commentator on European affairs; associate of Sanders Research Associates
Chair: Chris Bickerton co-convenor of the Sovereignty And Its Discontents working group
4 - 5.30pm
China: threat or opportunity?
Popular opinion has it that if the 20th century was the American century, the 21st will belong to China. With Chinese industrialisation already an important element in global economic growth, many believe the country will become a fully-fledged superpower in the next few decades. But how certain is China’s rise, and what are its implications? Some see China as the economic saviour of global capitalism, while others see it driving a global ‘race-to-the-bottom’ in wages. Some fear a resurgent China will threaten international peace and security, and others claim Chinese industrialisation is already precipitating ecological catastrophe. Moreover, the rise of China has consistently been dogged by predictions of impending chaos, as an authoritarian government struggles to manage colossal social change and widening inequality in a country of 1.3 billion people.
But how much do these concerns reflect Western preoccupations, and how much Chinese reality? In an alternative scenario, could a progressive, confident China blaze a trail for the rest of humanity in the 21st century? What can we in the West learn from studying China in its own terms rather than Western ones?
Dr Nicholas Bunnin chairman of the British Committee of the Philosophy Summer School in China and director of the Philosophy Project of the Institute for Chinese Studies, University of Oxford
Isabel Hilton writer, broadcaster and editor of openDemocracy.net
Sheila Lewis lectures on China’s political economy and modern history at City Lit
Professor Peter Nolan professor in the Judge Business School and chair of Development Studies, University of Cambridge
Chair: Penny Lewis editor of Prospect architecture magazine