“Bearing the Burden” – Germany’s Role in a World of Upheaval

About

Shortly before the German election, European politics seem to be in a state of suspension – and that could continue if the outcome leads to lengthy coalition negotiations. But the world will not wait. The foreign and security policy agenda awaiting the new government is momentous: a renewal of the Franco-German motor for European integration, Brexit, fraught relationships with challengers like Russia and China, and even traditional partners like the US and Turkey, as well as global issues like nuclear proliferation, migration, and international terrorism. Join our evening debate shortly after the election to hear a variety of different perspectives by renowned international experts on the most pressing foreign policy challenges for the new German government.

François Heisbourg is the Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London. He also chairs the Foundation Council of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and serves as the special advisor for the Foundation for Strategic Studies, Paris. His expertise in the field of foreign and security policy includes nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament/defence and terrorism. Prior to his current position, Heisbourg served at the French Permanent Mission to the U.N., New York, as the International Security Advisor to the French Minister of Defence, and has been Senior Executive at Thomson-CSF (now Thales) and Matra (now part of Airbus). He is a founding member of the French-German Commission on Security and Defence and is currently a member of the European and International Council of the CNRS (Conseil National pour la Recherche Scientifique).
 
Fyodor Lukyanov is the editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs, published in partnership with the American magazine Foreign Affairs. Russia in Global Affairs is one of the most authoritative Russian editions devoted to foreign policy and international relations. Moreover, Fyodor Lukyanov is the chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, an independent organization providing foreign policy expertise. He is also research director of the International Valdai Discussion Club and member of presidium of Russian International Affairs Council. He is research professor at the faculty of World Economy and World Politics at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He is a laureate of the Russian Government Award for his contributions to international journalism.
 
Soli Özel is a professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul and a columnist at Habertürk daily newspaper. He also advises the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSIAD) on foreign policy issues. He has guest lectured 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 has spent time as a fellow of St. Anthony’s College, Oxford and was a visiting senior scholar at the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris. He has been a Fisher Family Fellow of the “Future of Diplomacy Program” at the Belfer Center of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2013, he was a Keyman fellow and a visiting lecturer at Northwestern University. Soli Özel is on the board of directors of International Alert and a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
 
Philip Stephens is Chief Political Commentator and Associate Editor at the Financial Times, where he is also a member of the Editorial Board. He is Vice Chair of the Council of the Ditchley Foundation, a member of steering group of the Anglo-French Colloque and a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Public Policy Research. He joined the Financial Times in 1983 after working as a correspondent for Reuters in Brussels. Philip Stephens was awarded three main prizes in British political journalism. He was named as winner of the David Watt prize for Outstanding Political Journalism (2002), as Political Journalist of the Year by the UK Political Studies Association (2005), and as Political Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards (2008).

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