International Politics

In its new series Without Blueprint: Young Internationals  The Bruno Kreisky Forum provides  young women and men with the opportunity to discuss their fields of research with experienced interlocutors.

The lens through which Europe, and indeed the international community as a whole, used to look at Africa was for a long time that of development policy. It was only with the presentation of a common European strategy for Africa that political aspects and the new African institutions shifted into focus.

The “Arab/Middle East Changes” series curated by Gudrun Harrer was established in response to the upheavals in the Arab world during and after the revolutions of 2011. The multi-faceted programme covers a wide span of aspects: the presentations held by renowned experts range from developments in individual Arab states to broader issues such as democracy, authoritarianism, demography etc.

The way China is perceived by us in the EU affects our political positioning. The way the EU is perceived in China affects China’s political positioning. It is not unusual that the external view and the respective self-image are not congruent. With respect to China and the EU, however, the curator believes that the discrepancy between self-image and external view is sometimes particularly striking.

The Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue has an internationally recognized standing and reputation in one of the most complex conflicts. In 2012 the Forum commenced a multi-faceted process of bold thinking, frank discussions, and thorough intellectual engagment and turned an intellectual, academic exercise to a relevant political project tested in Europe, in the US and in the region. It is timely to continue this effort not only against the background of the collapse of the so called peace talks but also on the assumption of a different approach needed. The newly introduced discourse based on rights and values instead of power and interests is gaining momentum in the discussions.

When in February 2022, Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s “special operation to prevent genocide” in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk on the territory of Ukraine, not only European but also global geopolitics have changed dramatically. Year 2022 marks Russia’s exiting the world stage, leaving us only a small window to peak in.

Despite the international financial and economic crisis, and despite the many fundamental changes in international relations the transatlantic relationship remains of central importance. The U.S. and the European Union are not only the most significant mutual economic partner, they are also in political terms, a guarantee for a global order.