What do middle powers think?
As the global order continues to rapidly evolve, Europe faces important questions: how to cooperate and compete on climate, the digital economy and defence? With whom? How will the strategic choices of an increasingly diverse set of powers shape the world order? What kind of foreign policy do European citizens want to see with the 2024 European elections on the horizon?
Hybrid event
Guests
- Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Aspen Centre
- Feliciano de Sá Guimarães, Professor, Institute of International Relations, University of São Paulo
- Ivan Krastev, Chair, Centre for Liberal Strategies
Chaired by
Janka Oertel, Senior Policy Fellow and Director, Asia Programme, ECFR
Tensions between the Global South and the West have risen sharply over how the international community should respond to the wars in Ukraine and now Israel-Palestine. This comes at a time when the EU faces major geopolitical tests ahead of the 2024 elections in the EU and US as well as declining influence in multilateral settings. Can public sentiment guide policymakers on how Europe can become a partner in building the world of tomorrow?
This event will launch the major new report Living in an à la carte world: What European policymakers should learn from global public opinion by Timothy Garton Ash, Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard, based on public opinion polling in 21 countries (China, India, Turkey, Russia, US, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil, plus Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, UK and Switzerland). The report will examine public perceptions of the West and its implications on global power dynamics.
Joining the launch event to present the report is co-author and European political thinker Ivan Krastev, before entering a debate with speakers from the Global South: Indrani Bagchi, expert and commentator on India’s foreign policy, and Feliciano Guimarães, leading Brazil watcher and thinker on President Lula’s international agenda. Janka Oertel, author of End of the China illusion: How we must deal with Beijing’s claim to power, will chair this debate, with an eye towards bringing the audience in for questions.
This is the first of a series of events ECFR will host. Our follow-up webinars will take a deep-dive into public opinion polling from the regions themselves to uncover new insights into how Europe should reflect on using a new foreign policy approach – strategic interdependence – in a world of middle powers.