Established in the Second World War, partly as a project to maintain inter-state peace, the European Union has for over 60 years been a singular model of peaceful economic, political and cultural integration. Up until the current financial crisis, the EU as a peacebuilding model was largely uncontested and widely seen as a success – the recent award of the Nobel Prize to the EU testifies to this.
Recent developments and changes have given rise to a number of complex and arguably new forms of conflict that cut across the different ‘layers’ in the European region. Tensions and threats to stability within Europe are not limited to war between states but manifest themselves with different implications at the local national and regional level. In summer of 2011, England had its riots while in Greece we see wide-spread anti-austerity popular uprisings. Across Europe, organised crime is thriving and migration flows pose challenges to local community cohesion.
The first Conflict Ideas Forum will seek to discuss the reasons for these expressions of violence.
- Are they reflective of economic strains that challenge individuals’ sense of social belonging?
- Are they a response to a more professionalized and distant politics?
- Are we witnessing a response to what could be labelled as the disintegration of the European welfare project in the midst of austerity?
- What do these trends mean for peace and conflict in Europe?
- Can the European peacebuilding model adapt to respond to these developments?
The Forum will seek to explore peace and conflict dynamics at play in Europe through the lens of ‘layered governance’, as well as implications and potential for responses within the peacebuilding community. Experts from across Europe will be invited to
- Discuss the pressures on Europe as a peacebuilding model
- Identify responses
- Define resulting implications for peacebuilding policy and practice