In the fifth Arqus Academic Debate, Europe as a global actor will be discussed

On Wednesday 17th March at 18:00 CET, Arqus holds the fifth Arqus Academic Debate. This time, the focus will be globalisation and the role of Europe. Researchers from five Arqus alliance will take part in the discussion. Vilnius University will be represented by Dr Margarita Šešelgytė, the Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science.

Europe is involved in a wide range of global interactions and competitions. For a long time, however, it has relied on its integration into the blocs of the Cold War and later into the continuation of the Atlantic Alliance. This is not only less and less adequate but is also perceived as increasingly unsatisfying.

This raises the problem of answering the question – both in individual European societies and at the EU level – of how one envisions the future European strategy in relation to global challenges. What concrete steps need to be taken to achieve this? This general problem can be played through on various objects (from the environment to pandemic, from copyright to international law, from foreign trade to knowledge society, etc.).

In this debate, experts from different Arqus universities and fields of expertise will focus on how Europe acts internationally and how it reacts to what is perceived as a substantial crisis full of challenges: Brexit, climate change, pandemic, etc. The panellists from very different perspectives will discuss what they think about Europe’s quality as an actor in comparison to the member states; how they interpret the European capacities to act according to its economic potential on the international stage and in comparison to competitors such as the US, China, Russia etc.; how they see Europe being prepared for challenges of a truly global character.

The panellists of the debate are Margarita Šešelgytė from Vilnius University, Solveig Richter from Leipzig University, Paolo Roberto Graziano from University of Padua and Luis Hinojosa from University of Granada and Florian Bieber from University of Graz. Matthias Middell from Leipzig University will moderate the debate.

The debate will be broadcast live on the Arqus YouTube channel.

More information about the panellists and moderator here.