Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship

Harvard Kennedy School Study Group led by Dr. Karen Donfried, Belfer Center Senior Fellow

Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00pm

Over the course of six sessions, a study group, led by Dr. Karen Donfried, will examine key foreign policy debates flowing from Russia’s war against Ukraine. The objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the geopolitics of the war in Ukraine and the implications for U.S. interests.

Eligibility requirements: Harvard graduate and post-graduate students, who can attend all six sessions. We will seek to accommodate several undergraduates. Applicants with a strong interest in foreign affairs are encouraged to apply. No specific experience or first-hand knowledge of the issues is required. 

• Apply online through this link by 12:00 PM on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. Late applications will not be considered.

Over the last two decades, the EU has faced a myriad of crises. During the 2010s, it experienced the sovereign debt and migration crises. During the 2020s, the pandemic and the Russian aggression against Ukraine have confronted the Union with a new set of challenges. While the 2010s crises were averted through monetary policy and an established social structure, the 2020s crises have called the social structure itself into question. In particular, the Russian war is affecting the EU’s consensus on major strategies, such as the growth model and the security model. This seminar will assess critical questions on how Brussels is dealing with the consequences of the pandemic and the war to manage these crises successfully.

This event is part of the Center for European Studies' European Union Seminar and is co-sponsored by the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship.

Speaker

• Sergio Fabbrini– Dean, Political Science Department; Professor of Political Science and International Relations, LUISS Guido Carli
• Metin Hakverdi - Member of the Bundestag, Federal Republic of Germany; Board Member, Atlantik-Brücke; John F. Kennedy Memorial Policy Fellow, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Chairs 

• Karl Kaiser – Fellow, Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, Harvard Kennedy School; Seminar Co-chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
• Nicolas Prevelakis – Associate Senior Lecturer on Social Studies & Assistant Director of Curricular Development, Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University; Seminar Co-chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Please join the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship for a seminar on the current European security landscape with Audra Plepytė, Ambassador of Lithuania to the US; Kristjan Prikk, Ambassador of Estonia to the U.S., and Māris Selga, Ambassador of Latvia to the U.S. The Ambassadors will discuss how Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has affected transatlantic and regional security as well as increasing threats to critical infrastructure in the Baltic states. This conversation will be moderated by Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project.

Please join the Belfer Center’s Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship and Defense Project for a seminar on the current European security landscape with Janne Kuusela, Defense Policy Director of Finland. Mr. Kuusela will discuss Finland’s recent NATO bid, security challenges for Northern Europe, the future of European defense cooperation and its implications for the transatlantic relationship. Professor Eric Rosenbach, co-Director of the Belfer Center, will moderate the discussion.

This event will be hybrid.

The United States and Europe have maintained an adversarial relationship with Russia since President Putin illegally annexed Crimea and invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014. The U.S.-Russia relationship was further damaged by Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. How can the U.S. work with European partners to develop a new approach toward Russia that pushes back against Putin’s aggression while making progress on vital interests such as arms control and non-proliferation?

 Please join the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship for a discussion with Michael Carpenter, Managing Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Faculty Chair Nicholas Burns and Research Director Torrey Taussig will moderate the discussion. 

 Dr. Carpenter previously served in the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, the Balkans, and Conventional Arms Control.  He also served in the White House as a foreign policy advisor to Vice President Joe Biden as well as on the National Security Council as Director for Russia.

PLEASE NOTE: This seminar will be conducted via Zoom. Please register in advance for this meeting:

https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpcempqjwrEtBPRownPG5_zNFwhEGdRrvD

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Please join the Project on Europe and the Center for European Studies for an event with Jessica Brandt, Head of Policy and Research, Alliance for Securing Democracy, and Torrey Taussig, Research Director, Project on Europe, on Europe's counter-strategy against Russia and China's assaults on free and open societies across the continent. Sebastián Royo, Professor of Government at Suffolk University, and José Manuel Martinez Sierra, Jean Monnet ad Personam Professor in EU Law and Government at Real Colegio Complutense, will chair the discussion.

This conversation will highlight a spectrum of Russian and Chinese overt and covert activities in Europe, ranging from benign state tools, such as public diplomacy, to more malevolent efforts, including direct interference in electoral processes. Moving forward, it will be incumbent on European policymakers to avoid looking any one vector in isolation and to close vulnerabilities across their political systems, economies and societies.

The Future of Diplomacy Project welcomes an esteemed panel of U.S. Ambassadors to NATO to discuss the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's leadership challenges, as NATO reaches its 70th anniversary.