Over the last few years, it has become apparent that competition for political power takes place in an ever widening array of arenas, with significant innovation in the tools being used to wield influence over others. Global interdependencies, once assumed to promote cooperation, can now be wielded as a weapons: economic sanctions, tariffs and investment screening can target vulnerable individuals and dependent states, while disinformation campaigns and social media operations can intervene at a relatively low cost in national elections and referenda. These developments suggest that the very repertoires of power politics are changing, with resulting judgments about what constitutes appropriate responses to actions by other states less sure than in the past. These developments provide an important, and often overlooked, context for assessing debates about the strategic direction of NATO and the EU.

Participants:

Stacie Goddard (Prof. Wellesley College), Europe and China

Dan Nexon (Georgetown University), Europe and US

Tine Gade / Morten Bøås (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), Europe and Middle East

David Cadier (SAIS, Johns Hopkins), Europe and Russia

Moderated by Alex Cooley (Director of Harriman Institute, Columbia University)

Event organized by the Columbia University Global Center in Paris in partnership with the Harriman Institute and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.