What is the role of populism and nationalism from an international perspective? And can they maybe be something positive? 

These questions and many more will be tackled by Dr. h.c. Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck in his lecture. He will view populism and nationalism from a new angle - keeping in mind that also positive concepts such as the UN Charta have populist aspects. 

Dr. h.c. Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck has extensive experience in international relations and diplomacy. From 1968 to 2000 he worked for the United Nations in different regions, such as India, Turkey and Ghana. From 1998 on he served as the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq and held the position of a UN Assistant Secretary General. Today, Dr. h.c. von Sponeck is teaching at the Centre of Conflict Studies at University Marburg.

Come to listen to an engaging lecture and get the chance to ask questions! See you there!

Dr. Constantine Manolchev (University of Exeter Business School) will offer a join exploration of some concepts around precarious work in populism in the UK, highlight overlaps with populist movements and then introduce a new concept, a 'way forward'. 

This ‘way forward’ is a new field (‘the circular economy’) with origins in Chinese central planning, and includes the so-called triple bottom line of: society, economy and environment.  This is an emerging field with only a handful of studies but one offering some hope for movement out of the constraints and pressures of linear capitalism. 

In his lecture for the Global Order Project, Dr. Takis Pappas will dive deeper into the topic of populism and the root causes of it. He will explore the impact that people's distrust in current politics and globalization has on growing populist movements and the implications for politics and society on a national and global level.

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Dr. Pappas is a specialist in comparative politics and social sciences with teaching experience in many well-known universities. He teaches for instance at the University of Strasbourg, in Florence, at Yale, in Athens, and at the European University Institute. 

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Why did Donald Trump become elected as president of the United States? And what impacts will that have?

As a part of the Global Order Lecture Series on Nationalism and Global Challenges, we were honored to be able to welcome not only one, but two expert speakers on this important topic: Dr. Roberta Haar and Dr. Kai Heidemann who both teach at the University College Maastricht. Dr. Roberta Haar’s focus of research lies on domestic and foreign politics of the US and she has published numerous articles in this field, including several on Donald Trump. 
Dr. Kai Heidemann is a lecturer in sociology with a special interest for social movements, the sociology of education and sociolinguistics. 

In its interactive lecture, the speaker duo provided vital background information on the social developments that led to the rise of nationalism and populism in the US as well as on foreign policy implications, including the effects of insurgents on American foreign policy. 

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We would like to thank Dr. Roberta Haar and Dr. Kai Heidemann for their engaging lecture and the interesting insight that they offered!

On February 1, Dr. Stoyan Panov (lecturer for International Law at UCF) and Dr. Iannis Carras (Department of East European History, University of Freiburg) will hold a workshop to dive deeper into the topics of populism and illiberal democracies.
In this workshop, we will define the term populism and discuss examples from Greece, the UK, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Afterward, we will talk about populism as a reaction to the global economic challenges and in the end have  an open discussion on the topic of populism as a whole. 

For our final talk of the academic year, the Global Order Project welcomed Prof. Dr. Klaus Dingwerth from the Uiversity of St. Gallen. He had been invited in cooperation with the Colloqium Politicum to round up the two-part lecture series.

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Giving some very interesting and engaging insights into his own research, Prof. Dr. Dingwerth talked about the legitimacy of international organizations he had looked at during past research projects, especially the shift towards attempts at democratic legitimization which he was able to identify by analyzing statements and publications by international organizations and evaluating the language use within them.

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We thank Prof. Dr. Dingwerth for coming and the Collquium Politicum of the Uni Freiburg for a successful cooperation.

On May 3, 2016, we welcomed Professor Ned Lebow from King's College London for his talk "Good-Bye Hegemony!" in which he presented the core ideas from his book of the same name. We would like to thank Professor Lebow for coming and giving such an interesting talk with many insights into international politics, US foreign policy, and also academic culture.

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Our special thanks go to the Colloqium Politicum which hosted the talk and invited Professor Lebow to speak on this occasion, as well as for cooperating with us for the mini-series "Global Order: New Perspectives on Power, Influence and Norms".

On April 21st, we were honored to welcome Dr.h.c. Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck to Freiburg. The former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General gave an insightful talk on the changing world order and the role of the United Nations within this evolving system. As “mega-threats” such as poverty, climate change, youth-disillusion, and terrorism cannot be tackled by a single country, there is a need for an inter-governmental organization such as the United Nations in the current world system. However, with geo-political shifts towards a de-westernized global order, the UN’s structure of 1945 needs to adapt to the current system in order to contribute to the convergence and re-calibration of the global order. Consequently, the multifaceted linkages between uni-and multilateralism need to be taken into consideration.

We would like to thank Dr.h.c Graf von Sponeck for his inspiring talk and we are looking forward to welcoming him as an expert to the track “Global Governance of Migration” at this year’ Global Order Conference in June.

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Original Announcement

We proudly announce our next talk by Dr. h.c. Hans-Christof Graf von Sponeck on the topic "From Unilateralism to Multipolarity - The United Nations and De-Westernization".

Mr. von Sponeck was already a guest expert for the 2015 Global Order Conference and now we are honored to be able to welcome him as a speaker and invite you to discuss with him the necessity of and perspectives for UN reform in the 21st century.

About the speaker
Mr. von Sponeck served as a UN diplomat for more than 30 years. A UN Assistant Secretary-General and the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq from 1998 - 2000, he eventually resigned to protest against the UN sanctions regime in place in Iraq. Since then he has become a renowned proponent of UN reform and is known for his principled stance in favor of an ethical and humane world politics. He is the author of several books on human development and the Iraq War, and is currently teaching at the United Nations System Staff College in Torino/Italy and at the Center for Conflict Research at the University of Marburg/Germany.​

[Update: Missed the talk? Watch the video right now!

0:00 - Introdution to the Global Order Project

5:19 - Dr. Tim Epkenhans

50:47 - Prof. Dr. Tim Krieger

We warmly thank Prof. Dr. Tim Krieger and Dr. Tim Epkenhans as well as everybody in the audience for coming!]

This year alone, hundreds of thousands of people have fled the Middle East and Africa to escape civil war and terror. As a result, the influx of refugees Europe is currently experiencing poses many challenges.

The Ambiguities of Order: The Disintegration of the Middle Eastern State System
In light of these developments, Dr. Tim Epkenhans elucidates what role the historical legacy of decolonization and the end of the bipolar world order play in the disintegration of the Middle Eastern state system, which is fuelling today's migrant streams.

The Challenges of the Syrian Refugee Movement for European Immigration Policy
Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Tim Krieger gives insights on the significance of the refugee crisis for Europe and its immigration policy, in particular regarding border enforcement mechanisms and the perspectives for a quota system within the Schengen area.