News

PIN conference ‘Negotiating security in Eurasia’
01 Sep 2016 - 10:40
Source: althistory.wikia.com

At 8 and 9 September Clingendael's international research group Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) gathers in The Hague for its new book project: ‘Negotiating Security in Eurasia’.

Security in the region has increasingly suffered the past few years from a growing gap between Russia on the one hand and the EU member states and the US on the other. This gap is caused by differences of interest, differences in political systems, but it is also a gap of communication and understanding. The security narratives from both sides have become ever more divergent with the Ukraine crisis as the strongest example.

Add to this the geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the USA, the differences in negotiation styles and the increasing pressure on international regimes – such as the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the UN – and we have a framework of increasing non-cooperation between vital security actors in Eurasia.

However, the number of issues that need negotiations and cooperation has not decreased and might even have increased. Ukraine and Syria are the most problematic cases, but also Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabkh, conflicts in Central-Asia and the Caucasus, as well as fights against transnational crime and terrorism would all benefit from cooperation.

Considering the above, the book project will explore security negotiations in the past 25 years, what worked and what did not work, where and why. It examines the impact of the different geopolitical outlooks as well as cultural differences in a comparative case study to enhance both the theory of  negotiations as well as its practice.

This new PIN project is a joint East-West effort: this book is to be edited by prof. Fen Osler Hampson, the director of the Global Security & Politics programme, part of the Canadian Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and Dr Mikhail Troitskiy, associate professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). Contributing authors come from Europe, Russia and the USA to comment on each other’s draft chapters.

Side events
During their visit the PIN Steering Committee members and experts also participate in two other events:

  • 7 September (evening): speed date sessions with students and alumni from the Master of International Relations and Diplomacy - the joint master of Clingendael and Leiden University - and other participants in recent Clingendael training courses;
  • 8 September (morning): a public seminar on the narrative gap between Russia and the West and the consequences of that gap for negotiations.

Clingendael organises these events together with the Canadian Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).