ETH Workshop on Swiss Security Policy: World Politics in 2019

On 12 April 2019, the CSS launched “Strategic Trends 2019” at the ETH Workshop on Swiss Security Policy on “World Politics in 2019”. Strategic Trends is an annual CSS publication and the 2019 edition is the eleventh edition in the series.

On the first panel, National Councilor Christa Markwalder and Thomas Rothacher, Head of Science and Technology at armasuisse, discussed the future of the ‘West’ and the liberal world order with CSS staff members Jack Thompson and Michael Haas. More specifically, the panel addressed the consequences of America’s trade policy under President Donald Trump as well as the new dynamics in modern armament technologies, particularly whether Western industrialized nations are losing their technological superiority.

The second panel focused on Russia’s influence strategies in its Eurasian neighborhood and in the Arab world. To address these issues, two journalists - Zita Affentranger from Tages-Anzeiger and Daniel Steinvorth from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung – joined Lisa Watanabe, head of the Switzerland and Euro-Atlantic Security team at the CSS Think Tank and Jeronim Perovic, Professor of Eastern European History at the University of Zurich.

Overall, the second panel provided a cautious reading of Russia’s significance for the future of international relations. In contrast, the first panel agreed that US trade policy will promote sustaining ruptures in the West and pose major challenges to new dual-use technologies.