The Academy is a place for discussion. With its different events – evening lectures, panels, summer academies and fireside chats – it aims to share ideas from its work and from the Fellows’ research with the public. It invites guests from science, politics and other areas of society to join in the dialogue.
Current
events
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WorkshopChallenges of the neutrality status in new realities: lessons for the Republic of Moldova
Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine was a trigger for challenges to the neutrality status in Europe. Finland and Sweden abandoned their militarily non-aligned status and applied for NATO membership. Denmark decided to abolish the 30-year-old opt-out clause related to EU defense as the outcome of the national referendum. Malta’s and Ireland’s neutrality also sparked public debates. Switzerland declared that the adoption of the EU sanctions does not alter its neutrality in any way. Both Switzerland and Austria signed a memorandum of understanding on joining the German-led initiative Sky Shield aimed at strengthening Europe’s air defenses, denying that their participation would in any way compromise their traditional posture of neutrality.
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WorkshopDeconstructing Masculinities as the Local Meets the Global
When gender is approached from the perspective of international relations, we often see references made to the SDGs and global partnerships around gender and development. When masculinities are inserted into the analyses we often focus on issues of peace and conflict (eg. wars, terrorism, peace initiatives) or international political leadership, without sufficiently historicizing and contextualizing these. The history of colonialism in Africa has had a profound impact on the construction of masculinities in Africa as colonial powers imposed their own ideals of masculinity on African societies. Many of these—for example notions of a male “bread winner”— have persisted and influenced how African men interact within their communities as well as the world beyond their borders.
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Summer AcademyOuter Space Affairs – a critical key domain of international politics
Space exploration was always linked to military and strategic interests and was long ruled by the rivalry between the two super power blocs led by the USA and the Soviet Union. During the period of international relaxation, scientific and civilian goals temporarily came to the fore. For example, the International Space Station (ISS), which was initially planned as a military station by the USA, is operated and further developed in international cooperation by 16 states or five space agencies.
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WorkshopEuropean Security and Defence after Russia’s War on Ukraine
Dr. Mayssoun Zein Al Din (Executive Director of the Academy of International Affairs NRW), cordially greeted the distinguished participants hailing from the realms of academia and practical policymaking during the workshop’s commencement, delivering a keynote address to set the tone. Under the guidance of Dr. Iulian Romanyshyn (Fellow at the Academy) the session’s context was elucidated. The Russian war against Ukraine, which transpired on February 24, 2022, marks a resurfacing of large-scale military conflict in Europe and is widely regarded as a pivotal moment for EU and Euro-Atlantic security, according to numerous analysts. Of particular surprise is the extent of unity demonstrated through unprecedented support for Ukraine. Equally significant are the sanctions imposed on Russia and the resulting shifts in defense policies among several European nations. Nonetheless, previous security crises failed to produce comparable transformations in the European defense and security framework. Thus, what sets this event apart from its predecessors? This question formed the crux of the subsequent discussion, wherein the impact of the existential military threat on security and defense cooperation in Europe was examined.
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Hybrid EventThe Situation in Moldova and the Role of the European Union in Southeastern Europe
Expert Panel with Discussion
The Academy of International Affairs NRW (AIA NRW) organized an expert discussion with Inna Șupac (Fellow at the AIA NRW) and Thomas Mayr-Harting (Austrian Ambassador and Special Representative of the OSCE for the Settlement of the Transnistrian Conflict) on the current situation of the Republic of Moldova and the role of the European Union in South-Eastern Europe on the fourth of May 2023.
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The Evacuation of the Local Forces in Afghanistan – Lessons Learnt
Parliamentary meeting at the Bundestag
On March 15, the Academy for International Politics of North Rhine-Westphalia (AIA NRW) hosted a Parliamentary Encounter on “The Evacuation of the Local Forces in Afghanistan – Lessons Learnt” at the Bundestag from 12:00-13:30.
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Ethics, Law and Artificial Intelligence – a Tense Relationship
Prof. Dr. John-Stewart Gordon in cooperation with the Deutsches Museum Bonn – Artificial Intelligence Forum
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly and often unnoticed becoming part of our everyday lives. Many decisions in job application processes, in finding a partner, in granting loans or in legal proceedings are now made with the help of AI and are difficult to question due to a lack of transparency. But our overconfidence in machine neutrality is also leading us astray. It is time to better understand the nature of artificial intelligence.
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WorkshopThe EU AI Act and voices from the Global South
“The Council of the European Union adopted its common position (‘general approach’) on the Artificial Intelligence Act in December’2022. The draft regulation presented by the Commission in April 2021 is a key element of the EU’s policy to foster the development and uptake across the single market for safe and lawful AI that respects fundamental rights. The EU AI act aim is to ensure that AI systems placed on the EU market and used in the Union are safe and respect existing laws and union values.
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WorkshopBordering on disorder
Fragile borders in a global world
Global borders are dynamic. As a political phenomenon, borders are undergoing perpetual change: the bordering process is an ongoing project, one that responds to a global and regional assortment of anthropogenic and naturogenic pressures. Conflict, climate change, pandemics, trade, technology and migration patterns are just a few examples of the many stresses, often interrelated, to which borders are subject and to which they subsequently adjust. As much as borders are dynamic, they are equally heterogenous; they differ as a function of diverse security environments. In other words, how borders adjust in response to new and evolving pressures, such as climate change or a global pandemic, will look different at each border.
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Freedom of Expression in the 21st Century
Between democratic backsliding, disinformation, and the limits of tolerance
In December, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. To mark the occasion, the Academy of International Affairs NRW has invited the co-founder and Executive Director of Memorial International Dr. h.c. Elena Zhemkova to Bonn. The former President of the European Court of Human Rights, Prof. Dr. Róbert Spanó, will discuss the topic of freedom of expression with her. The Minister for Federal and European Affairs, Nathanael Liminski, will deliver the greeting.
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WorkshopEmerging Market Democracies as Pivotal States
Regional Powers in an eroded Liberal International Order
The dawn of the 21st Century signaled that a multipolar world would emerge after the American dominance after the end of the Cold War. The acronym BRICs—which stands for the initials of Brazil, Russia, India, and China—was created in 2001 by an investment bank to signal to the market that the global markets would no longer evolve around the advanced industrial democracies of the G7, composed by the United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, and Canada. Two decades after the BRICS—now with a capital S, which stands for South Africa—hold regular meetings in several issue areas. Yet, more than a multipolar world, it seems that we have witnessed the rise of a new bipolarity that opposes Washington and Beijing amidst a global decline in the indexes of democracy and adherence to liberal ideas.
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Panel Discussion LivestreamAssessing Climate and Security Research in North Rhine-Westphalia
Panel discussion as part of the Bonn Future Lab on Strategic Foresight “Climate Change and Security”, International Security Forum Bonn 2022
Short-term extreme weather events such as storms or floods as well as long-term transformations of climatic conditions change environments and human habitats in the long term. In unstable regions affected by armed conflicts, they can become so-called “threat multipliers” (e.g. through tightening of food security due to climatic changes), also in high-income countries they can tie up capacities and investments for adaptation and resilience building in the medium and long term and in exceptional cases even fundamentally endangering the very existence of states or sub-state regions, as some island states in the South Pacific are increasingly finding out.
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WorkshopDigitalization of Memory in China
Digitalization transforms museums, theaters, cinemas, heritage sites, and other identity-creating stakeholders. They began providing streams and other online participation opportunities to stay in touch with visitors. Digitalization offers new modes of interaction and might impact shaping and curation memory. This workshop explores the digitalization of memory in China. Digitalization and datafication spread out much faster in China than in other countries. Despite the rapid digital development in China, research on digital memory is still an unattended field.
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Summer AcademyThe Geopolitics of Disinformation
Social Media and International Relations
In the wake of the “Arab Spring” and the social protests related to the financial crisis, there was a widespread enthusiasm about the role that social media channels can play for democratic protest movements. Ten years later the euphoria over new, democratic opportunities for communication and political opinion-forming online has largely given way to disillusionment. It has now long been the case that the collective political movements being formed through social media are not just grassroots and democratic in kind, and they are using social media for populist, propagandist and at times openly anti-democratic disinformation campaigns. Their intentions and intitiators are becoming ever harder to trace: we can no longer tell bots from humans, while astroturfing mimics spontaneous grassroots movements in order to manipulate masses of people.
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WorkshopThe Global Politics of Artificial Intelligence
Historical, Comparative, and Critical Perspectives
The aim of this workshop is to contribute to the global study of artificial intelligence (AI) from the postwar to the present. It will bring together intellectual historians, political theorists, and sociologists in order to investigate the political theories and world order visions conveyed by historical and present-day AI technologies; to compare them across contexts; and to reflect on the challenges raised by such comparisons.
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EventFriendship without boundaries?
The Russian-Chinese relationship during the war in Ukraine and its implications for Europe’s future
Russia and China seem closer than ever notwithstanding the war in Ukraine. The Chinese leadership has refused to criticize Russia despite mounting pressure to condemn the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Just as Russia becomes economically and politically more reliant on its eastern neighbour, China is unwilling to give up years of trust building and forming a united ideological front against NATO and the US. At the same time, China is worried about being affected by the Western sanctions levied against Russia.
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WorkshopSocial Media Impact on International Affairs
This workshop brings together academics from computer science, economics, psychology, sociology, and political science to exchange opinions on contributions each of the disciplines can make to mitigate the risks of (social) media-based disinformation and polarization in international relations and develop options for interdisciplinary cooperation to this end.
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EventUkraine – Russia
Identity and History in a Current Conflict
Russia is pursuing a war of aggression against Ukraine with the goal of forcing its disappearance as an independent state and of fundamentally altering the security architecture of Europe. At the same time, it has become clear how much the return of thinking in terms of spheres of influence builds on historical arguments, which were used by Vladimir Putin himself in 2021 in an essay more than 20 pages long. There he insisted that the Ukraine belongs to a Russian and Orthodox cultural sphere. The justification it has given for the invasion of its neighbour is also based on purported historical circumstances.
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ImpulseLectures for the Consular Corps
On 15 February 2022, the Consular Corps of North Rhine-Westphalia was invited to the Academy of International Affairs NRW. There, Regine Grienberger, Ambassador for Cyber Foreign Policy at the Federal Foreign Office, spoke about Cyber Diplomacy. Political scientist Volker Kronenberg from the University of Bonn reported on his department.
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Celebratory EventOpening Ceremony
At the invitation of the Minister-President of North Rhine–Westphalia, Armin Laschet, the opening ceremony of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie für Internationale Politik – Academy of International Affairs NRW was held on 25.08.2021. At the seat of the Academy at Bad Godesberg in Bonn, the Executive Director Mayssoun Zein Al Din welcomed numerous guests from the worlds of politics and research. Among those present were Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, and the former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
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Summer AcademyArtificial Intelligence and International Politics
The first event, the Summer Academy ‘Artificial Intelligence and International Politics’, has already taken place. The Academy held a discussion with members of the scientific and diplomatic communities about the role of Artificial Intelligence in international relations. Individual lectures were broadcast online in a livestream and are now freely available as video or audio recordings.
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