ETH Workshop: The State of Global Politics 2014

28 March 2014

Against the background of current developments in global politics, this ETH workshop debated core issues in Swiss foreign and security policy. The topics of the workshop was “Switzerland and her neighbors”. Based on the “Strategic Trends 2014” publication, the CSS initially presented a brief assessment of the geopolitical constellation. The subsequent panels dealt with two topic areas of particular relevance to Swiss foreign and security policy.

Panel I: What next for Switzerland and the EU?

The EU is still suffering from the effects of the economic and financial crisis that began in 2008. Nevertheless, in the seven years since the Lisbon Treaty, it has gained decisionmaking authority on foreign-policy matters. The EU is part of the negotiations with Iran and the US; European police officers serve in Kosovo, while European soldiers are stationed in the Balkans as well as, increasingly, Africa. Nevertheless, however, it is still the nation-states that continue to call the shots; and in view of the UK’s flirtation with leaving the EU, the next steps of the European project are less than clear. Therefore, the first panel dealt with questions such as: Where is the EU’s development headed? Will it manage to establish itself as a foreign-policy actor on the global stage? What would that mean for Switzerland? The panelists were Almut Möller, Marco Overhaus, Lisa Watanabe, and Bruno Rösli.

Panel II: Switzerland and Russia – Mediation between East and West?

The turn of the new year 2013/2014 was marked by the Ukraine conflict. The Ukrainian people’s internal struggle over the future course of the country – Moscow-friendly or Brussels-friendly – reveals a new tension between East and West that will necessarily also affect Switzerland’s relationship with Russia. In which direction is Russian foreign and security policy moving? Will Berne continue to exert a moderating influence in the future? What role could the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office play in 2014? The discussion featured Falk Bomsdorf, Gerhard Mangott, Andreas Gross and Jonas Grätz.

This half-day event is organized annually as a platform for an exchange of views between representatives of politics, the public administration, the corporate sector, organizations, academia, and the media.