Can the European Union be a genuinely strategic actor in the 21st Century?

Today, global multilateral institutions and the international rules-based order are facing more sustained pressure than at any point since the end of the Second World War. The actions of United States, Russia and China in recent years suggest we are returning to an era of Great Power politics, with unilateral action and more transactional relationships with international partners increasingly preferred.

What does this mean for the EU? Can it - and indeed should it - seek to behave as a Great Power, and will its member states enable it to do so? How should it pursue its international priorities? This panel will discuss the challenges facing the EU as it seeks to navigate a changing and turbulent international environment.

Speakers

• Professor Sven Biscop - Director of the Egmont Institute, Brussels and author of European Strategy in the 21st Century: New Future for Old Power
• Sophia Besch - Research Fellow, Centre for European Reform
• Chaired by: Dr Nick Wright - School of Public Policy, UCL
   

Image credit: EEAS Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

This event is kindly supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies