The PRIF Annual Conference 2023 will discuss from an empirical and normative perspective how democracies can and should deal with autocracies in the current multipolar world. The aim of the conference is to deconstruct simplistic dichotomous views of world politics, to provide nuanced assessments and to identify practice-related options for action in contemporary international relations.
12-13 October, 2023, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt | Baseler Strasse 27-31 | 60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
The PRIF Annual Conference 2023 will discuss from an empirical and normative perspective how democracies can and should deal with autocracies in the current multipolar world. The focus will be on climate and energy policy, international development and infrastructure policy, international democracy promotion, and international security. The aim of the conference is to deconstruct simplistic dichotomous views of world politics, to provide nuanced assessments and to identify practice-related options for action in contemporary international relations. The conference is aimed at scholars, students, and representatives from politics, civil society, and the media.
With the rise of China as well as Russia's war in Ukraine, the question of how Western democracies shape their relations with autocracies has become a highly topical issue. There is much talk of regime competition, which in parts of the academic and political debate is reduced to a polarized conflict between democracies and autocracies. In contrast, the reality is much more complex: Relations between democracies and autocracies can take extremely different forms.
The first panel on October 12, 2023, "Dealing with China in International Development and Infrastructure Policies,” will discuss China's growing influence, the competitive advantages of the Chinese development model, and offers from Western actors. Presenters include Pascal Abb (PRIF), Zhang Hong (Harvard University), Wrenn Yennie Lindgren (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), and Marina Rudyak (University of Heidelberg). The second panel is dedicated to the MENA region. On the topic "Dealing with Autocracies in the MENA Region in Climate and Energy Policies,” Imane Boukhatem (University of Flensburg) together with Irene Weipert-Fenner (PRIF), Yana Popkostova (European Centre for Energy and Geopolitical Analysis (ECEGA), European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris), and Benjamin Schütze (Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg) will speak.
The first day of the conference will conclude with the awarding of the 2023 Ernst Otto Czempiel Prize to Roger Mac Ginty. The political scientist from Durham University in the United Kingdom is being honored for his innovative monograph "Everyday Peace: How So-Called Ordinary People Can Disrupt Violent Conflict.” Roger Mac Ginty explores how people in conflict zones can resist or even disrupt totalizing war logics.
The second day of the conference opens with Panel 3, "Dealing with Autocracies in International Democracy Promotion,” which focuses on issues of democracy promotion in and in competition with autocratic states. The panel, chaired by Jonas Wolff (PRIF), includes Christine Hackenesch (IDOS, Bonn), Michelle Pace (Roskilde University), Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe), and Marianne Kneuer (TU Dresden). The fourth panel is dedicated to the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and its consequences for the security architecture of Europe and NATO. Nicole Deitelhoff (PRIF), Jonas J. Driedger (PRIF) and Sofia Oliynyk (Heinrich Böll Foundation, Kyiv) will speak on the topic "Dealing with Autocracies in Europe and at the Global Level: Implications of the Russian War in Ukraine”. Marianne Kneuer (TU Dresden), Marina Rudyak (University of Heidelberg) and Hannes Warnecke-Berger (University of Kassel) will be among the panelists.
The conference will be held in English at PRIF in Frankfurt a. M., Germany. It is sponsored by the German Foundation for Peace Research. The full program can be found at www.hsfk.de/en/events/annual-conference/annual-conference-2023 Please send registrations to annualconference@hsfk.de.
