“No peace under the Shea tree – Climate change and conflicts in the Sahel: Debunking the myths”

Launch of KAS-Policy Report

A reality-check for the EU’s climate-security policy nexus in the Sahel.

Joint Working Group on International and EU Water Diplomacy - In Focus: Central Asia

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) & the EastWest Institute (EWI): second iteration of the exclusive Joint Working Group (JWG) series

On January 27, 2021 the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and the EastWest Institute (EWI) held the second iteration of their exclusive Joint Working Group (JWG) series—launched last year—on EU’s water diplomacy with respect to the three most water-stressed regions in the world: the Himalayas, Central Asia, and the Euphrates-Tigris. The second convening of the JWG was devoted to Central Asia, a region known for its broad and capacious transboundary river systems shared by the upstream countries, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and the downstream countries, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.

Third Atelier of the Sahel Security Dialogue Series

Does Ownership Mean Ownership for All?

In order to unpick the different interpretations of ownership, we wish to gather a small number of stakeholders from MINUSMA, the G5 Joint Force, EUTM, the EEAS and the French, German and British governments to discuss what challenges they see with the EUSR vision and how to bridge differences, in order to make security interventions in the region more effective. Building partner capacity is not just a technical endeavour, but it has a significant political component: how do Sahelian states and regional organisations account for such political component? Should external intervening forces behave differently with regard to ownership and participate more or less in political decision-making? In this third and final atelier of our Sahel Security Dialogue Series we will be delving deeper into questions of ownership and political legitimacy and explore some of the concerns from both a Sahelian and European angle. This event is jointly organised by the Multinational Development Policy Dialogue of KAS Brussels and Delina Goxho, Independent Security Analyst.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

Reshaped Geopolitics and the Role of the EU

The recent developments in and around Nagorno-Karabakh represent a challenge to the security architecture of Europe as a whole. While it may be tempting for the EU to dismiss the newly redrawn borders in the South Caucasus as a matter of little importance, the map of Europe has been changed by force in a matter of weeks. As with such changes previously, the consequences of that may be felt for years to come. This event is jointly organised by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and the Multinational Policy Development Dialogue of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Brussels.

The External Dimension of the European Green Deal

Prospects for Cooperation with (Re)Emerging Powers

The European Green Deal is the main roadmap of the EU Commission for energy transition and for tackling climate change. First and foremost, it defines internal plans and strategies for the EU that will also have global effects. For promoting the global public good, the EU will need partners to jointly work with. The Green Deal Diplomacy is in place since the end of 2019. What has changed in EU external action since the Green Deal was adopted? How is the EU perceived in matters of climate policy by its external partners since its adoption? A joint understanding of actions towards the common good will require the EU to exchange ideas and policy plans with critical partners. This is all the more necessary as COVID-19 is currently changing dynamics for any planning and for global partnerships. Based on brief input papers, the workshop will discuss with participants from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Russia: (a) Understandings of key requirements necessary for "green leadership" globally, (b) Partners’ perspectives on "greening" (including plans for re-building after the COVID-19 pandemic and what is known/planned already), and (c) Where are potential joint interests or disagreements with regard to partner countries and the EU's Green Deal? Which role should the EU have? The event will be a preparatory workshop that is aspiring to feed into a conference in 2021. It is organised by the ‘Managing Global Governance’ (MGG) programme of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in cooperation with the Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

Joint Working Group on International and EU Water Diplomacy - In Focus: the Himalayan Region

KAS & EWI launch a Joint Working Group series on the EU’s water diplomacy with respect to 3 key water-stressed regions: the Himalayas, Central Asia, and the Euphrates-Tigris.

Mitigating harm through collaboration – Protection of civilians in the Sahel

SAHEL Security Dialogue Series: Seminar #2

Following repeated calls for more effective protection of civilians by UN mission MINUSMA, and a number of organisations working in and on the region, European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for the Sahel Ángel Losada recently stated that human rights will be amongst the top EU priorities for the region. As the EU prepares to release its renewed Sahel Strategy, we intend to unpack some of the priorities identified by the EUSR and discuss them with counterparts in the region. What has worked so far in terms of respect for human rights? What is left to tackle? How can cooperation amongst very different actors be made more efficient in order to address some of the most pressing security threats in the Sahel?

Inter-Libyan Dialogue: efficiency and outcomes

Future Dialogue on Libya #1

This event is part of an online seminar series entitled “Future Dialogue on Libya: Insights on the Libyan crisis and ways forward”. This online event will allow for a constructive conversation on what these efforts on Libya entail, what motivation the foreign key actors have to get involved in the mediation, how Libyan stakeholders react to the prospect of the latest inter-Libyan talks and what are its chances of success.

EU-China economic relations

in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and its tremendous impact on economies around the world, this webinar is to bring together Chinese and European experts to discuss macroeconomic and crisis policy measures taken during the pandemic, both in the EU and China, as well as cooperation potential between both sides to boost the recovery of their own and global economy considering the current geopolitical intergovernmental relations and developments (e.g. EU-China and US-China relations, trade and investment issues etc.).

Ways out of the European-Cambodian Relations Crisis

Discussing solutions for the strained European-Cambodian relations

The roundtable will gather a selected group of experts from Cambodia and the EU in order to discuss the recent EBA withdrawal, future outlooks for Cambodia’s EBA status, how Europe’s relations with Cambodia can be improved through possible trust building activities and what impact the current relations will have on the ASEM meeting in May 2021 hosted by Cambodia. It is our aim to discuss and develop constructive and forward-looking approaches to improve and strengthen the relation between Cambodia and the EU.