Special International Affairs Event, 19 February

International Affairs Today: Towards Order or Anarchy?

Thursday 19 February 2015, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Maison de la Paix, Avenue de France, Geneva

This special seminar, hosted by the Graduate Institute and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, has been developed and organized by Michael Parmly, Democrats Abroad Member-at-Large, International Policy Issues. Michael will moderate the panel discussion.

A distinguished panel of diplomats, officials, academic scholars and opinion-shapers will discuss the state of the world and world order in early 2015. Beyond looking back at distant or recent history, they will draw on their own breadth of experience and insights to seek to identify ways forward.

When: 19 February 2015, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Maison de la Paix on Avenue de France
Cost: admission is free

Program Description:

World affairs today appear to ignore ‘order.’ Enshrined in the age-old Westphalian system, the role of the nation-state is more than ever under challenge. Governments compete with multinational businesses, NGOs and ever-multiplying informal networks to attempt to control the narrative. Globally, analysts ponder whether newcomers such as ISIS constitute ‘anti-state’ actors that do not adhere to any rules which civilised parties recognise. Elsewhere, some states behave as if adherence to international rules is merely optional while others modulate cautiously their influence and responsibility. Competition for scarce natural resources worldwide is as fierce as it has ever been. The United Nations Security Council, foreseen in 1945 as a main arbiter of disputes between and among nations, seems paralysed, often impotent beyond rhetoric.

Where is this scene heading?
Who is in charge? 

To tackle these pressing questions, a distinguished panel of diplomats, officials, academic scholars and opinion-shapers will discuss the state of the world and world order in early 2015. Beyond looking back at distant or recent history, they will draw on their own breadth of experience and insights to seek to identify ways forward.

Chair: Michael Parmly, retired U.S. State Department official and Democrats Abroad Switzerland Member-at-large

Speakers:

• Michael Moller, Acting Director General of United Nations Office in Geneva
• Miguel Angel Moratinos, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain
• Jussi Hanhimaki, Professor, Graduate Institute
• Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Deputy Director, Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Adjunct Professor, Graduate Institute
• Frederic Koller, journalist, Le Temps