IE and Harvard: Building bridges between Europe and the United States
27 /04 /2018 Academics Events Manuel Muñiz News Politics
There is a crisis
in the transatlantic relationship, and that is why more than ever we need to
build stronger bridges. On Wednesday April
24th, Harvard¡¯s Kennedy School of Government launched its
Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship. This project has
partnered with IE¡¯s own Transatlantic
Relations Initiative to address some of the biggest
challenges our world faces. The European-American relationship has been the
cornerstone of the international liberal order built since the end the Second
World War. The fundamental pillars of that order – liberal democracy, human
rights, open markets, and a rules-based international system – are, however,
today more questioned than ever. The threats to the liberal architecture come
not just from without but also from within. Indeed, democracy is under threat
not just from exogenous attacks but also from growing disillusionment within
our own societies. The benefits of free trade, open markets and globalisation
are contested by groups of citizens in Europe and America that have seen their
economic prospects stagnate or worsen over the last three decades. The ultimate
result of these trends is a sense of drift and fracture that calls into
question the entire edifice. It is with the aim
of buttressing the American-European partnership that Harvard and IE have
decided to work together. This partnership is born out of the desire of both
institutions to promote research and teaching on transatlantic relations. The
partnership also aims to build a community of scholars and practitioners
committed to understanding and to perfecting a partnership that has underpinned
much of the human progress of the last seven decades. In addition to all
the activities that each institution will carry out in Spain and the United
States, we will collaborate on a annual conference on transatlantic relations
that will take place in Europe every summer. This gathering will bring senior
academics and practitioners to the table to discuss some of the pressing issues
enumerated above. The first edition will take place in Madrid and Segovia in
July of 2018. As an institution that
was itself constructed on the values of openness, diversity, cosmopolitanism,
freedom of thought and expression, as well as entrepreneurship and an open
global economy, IE is fully committed to this partnership and to the agenda
that it will develop. Dean Manuel Muñiz was also able to
have a quick interview with university professor, columnist, lecturer and former American diplomat Nicholas Burns to talk about the
initiative. ¡°Europe is vital to
the U.S.¡± Burns stated. This initiative
focuses on NATO, the European Union and the
transatlantic bridge between Canada/US and Europe. Our Dean Manuel Muñiz of the
School of International Relations with the help of our Executive Director
of the Master in International Relations Waya Quiviger, have been working
on this project throughout the past year. For more
information, please visit our website on the Transatlanic Relations
Initiative.
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