Diplomacy & Defense Think Tank News

L'Agence européenne de défense (AED) a publié le 30 mars son rapport annuel 2020, qui donne un aperçu complet des travaux réalisés dans les différents domaines d'activité. Le rapport fait le point sur la mise en œuvre des initiatives de défense de l'Union ainsi que les lancements de nouveaux instruments et incitations à la coopération en matière de défense avec le rôle de l'AED dans les politiques plus larges de l'Union.

Le rapport 2021 sur l'écart entre les sexes, publié par le Forum économique mondial le 30 mars, souligne que les inégalités entre femmes et hommes se sont accrues avec la pandémie. L'indice de parité est revenu à 68%, un recul de 0,6 point par rapport à 2020. Selon le calcul du Forum économique mondial, il faudrait 135,6 années pour combler l'écart, soit quatre ans de plus qu'avant la crise.

Le 29 mars, la ministre française de la Culture Roselyne Bachelot a annoncé que le nom de l'ancien Président Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, décédé le 2 décembre 2020,sera ajouté à la dénomination de l'établissement public du musée d'Orsay et du musée de l'Orangerie. Cette décision, a-t-elle expliqué, "vient saluer l'engagement du Président Giscard d'Estaing en faveur de la création de cette grande institution muséale". C'est en effet Valéry Giscard d'Estaing qui avait décidé en 1977 d'aménager l'ancienne gare d'Orsay en musée des arts de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle.

France Médias Monde et Deutsche Welle, en partenariat avec des médias de six pays européens lancent ENTR, un nouveau média numérique à destination des 18-34 ans. D'ici l'été, ENTR abordera des sujets qui touchent les jeunes au travers de reportages, de portraits, de sujets ou vidéos sur YouTube, Instagram et Facebook en six langues : français, allemand, anglais, polonais, portugais et roumain.

Le musée Albertina de Vienne accueille jusqu'au 4 juillet l'exposition "Ville et paysage. Entre rêve et réalité", consacrée à des artistes-clés de la peinture de paysages romantiques sur cinq siècles, tels que Bruegel, Rembrandt et Canaletto. L'exposition est complétée par des aquarelles autrichiennes du XIXe siècle, avec en vedette le paysage urbain viennois de Jakob Alt.

L'Orchestre national d'Espagne organise le 9 avril un concert extraordinaire à l'auditorium national de musique de Madrid. Au programme, le Concerto pour violon et orchestre en mi mineur de Felix Mendelssohn,l'ouverture des Noces de Figaro et la Symphonie n°41 de Mozart.

L'Opéra comique de Paris organise le 11 avril une journée spéciale famille en ligne. Activités, ateliers et instants musicaux sont au programme pour les enfants et leurs parents.

Jusqu'au 20 juin, le Kunstmuseum de Bâle présente la rétrospective Abstraction vivante sur l'artiste Sophie Taeuber-Arp, connue pour illustrer le billet de 50 francs suisses. Cette exposition, organisée en coopération avec le Museum of Modern Art de New York et la Tate de Londres, est consacrée à cette pionnière de l'abstraction, l'une des grandes figures de l'avant-garde moderne.

L'Orchestre philharmonique de Cracovie et son Choeur Capella Cracoviensis propose plusieurs concerts en avril dont le 8 avril Acis et Galatée de Georg Friedrich Haendel. Le concert se déroulera à 19h30 et sera disponible en ligne et en direct. L'orchestre sera dirigé par le chef d'orchestre Marek Toporowski, et le choeur par Piotr Piwko.

Le 11 avril, ie théâtre de la Scala de Milan propose un concert en ligne sur son site Facebook et sur Youtube à 20 h. La soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, accompagnée au violon de Tomasz Wabnic et au piano de Marek Ruszczynski, interprètera des oeuvres de Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms et Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Le musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux propose une exploration de l'oeuvre en haute définition pour l'admirer dans ses moindres détails. Créée au XIe siècle, la tapisserie longue de 70 mètres et inscrite au registre "Mémoire du monde" de l'UNESCO, raconte l'invasion de l'Angleterre par Guillaume le Conquérant en 1066.

Du 6 au 28 avril, le Théâtre Antoine et le Théâtre libre organisent la 4ème édition de Paroles citoyennes, un festival où la voix des auteurs contemporains rencontre celle de grands témoins de la société civile. Les rencontres sont à suivre cette année en direct sur Facebook.

Dans "Napoléon, Entre l'éternité, l'Océan et la nuit - Correspondance" publié aux Editions Robert Laffont, Loris Chavanette, historien et spécialiste du Premier Empire, propose de découvrir ou de redécouvrir le visage de Napoléon Bonaparte à travers ses correspondances, dans lesquelles on assiste à l'apprentissage littéraire de l'empereur à travers l'action, l'exercice du commandement et le travail gouvernemental.

With the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on 15 November 2020, the announcement of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) on 30 December, and the prospects of enlarging the Compre­hensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), trade policy with and within Asia is gathering speed. In the greater East Asia region, consisting of Japan, South Korea, China and the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN), economic integration via trade, investment, supply chains and digital connectivity will accelerate. In contrast, regions that remain on the outside – i.e. North America, Europe and India – surely fear that trade flows will be diverted. At the same time, geo­politics have become a determining factor of trade policy. Any agreement also represents political positioning in the context of the Sino-American rivalry, or at least a reinsurance against the risks of economic or technological decoupling. What are the economic and political perspectives of these trade and investment agreements? What goals and strategies are the relevant actors pursuing? And what are the con­sequences for Europe’s trade policy?

With the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on 15 November 2020, the announcement of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) on 30 December, and the prospects of enlarging the Compre­hensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), trade policy with and within Asia is gathering speed. In the greater East Asia region, consisting of Japan, South Korea, China and the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN), economic integration via trade, investment, supply chains and digital connectivity will accelerate. In contrast, regions that remain on the outside – i.e. North America, Europe and India – surely fear that trade flows will be diverted. At the same time, geo­politics have become a determining factor of trade policy. Any agreement also represents political positioning in the context of the Sino-American rivalry, or at least a reinsurance against the risks of economic or technological decoupling. What are the economic and political perspectives of these trade and investment agreements? What goals and strategies are the relevant actors pursuing? And what are the con­sequences for Europe’s trade policy?

Scientific and expert knowledge is central to any sustainable future. Because consensual knowledge establishes the parameters within which decisions can be made despite complexity and uncertainty, it assumes a facilitating function. This can be for example well observed on how national strategies to achieve sustainability are developed, legitimized, implemented, and assessed. Policy-makers consult scientific experts to better understand problem issues and to come up with evidence-based solutions that can be jointly accepted by any political ideology and by the constituents. At the same time, the reliance of policy-making to scientific knowledge increases the demand or need to be critical of the emerging scientific authority or technocracy. In the context of transformation to sustainability (T2S) where the outcomes of bargaining and persuasion games represent new lock-ins, the ability or the inability to influence the definition of these lock-ins through equitable access to knowledge is integral to the legitimacy of T2S.
Knowledge diplomacy (and how it leads up to consensual knowledge) is an important driver of creating visions and narratives on sustainable futures. At the same time, the transformation process towards sustainability creates new norms for example in governance and social relations that have implications to how knowledge diplomacy is conducted. Expanding access to education as a strategy to reduce income inequality is more likely to empower a broader citizen participation in consensual knowledge making and thus in policy-making. Building on the author’s work on Sustainable Development Pathways, this article introduces three possible futures scenarios of how knowledge diplomacy can unfold depending on how access to scientific and expert knowledge translates into convening power: convergent cosmopolitan society (melting pot 1), convergent liberal world (melting pot 2), and divergent glocality (salad bowl).

Scientific and expert knowledge is central to any sustainable future. Because consensual knowledge establishes the parameters within which decisions can be made despite complexity and uncertainty, it assumes a facilitating function. This can be for example well observed on how national strategies to achieve sustainability are developed, legitimized, implemented, and assessed. Policy-makers consult scientific experts to better understand problem issues and to come up with evidence-based solutions that can be jointly accepted by any political ideology and by the constituents. At the same time, the reliance of policy-making to scientific knowledge increases the demand or need to be critical of the emerging scientific authority or technocracy. In the context of transformation to sustainability (T2S) where the outcomes of bargaining and persuasion games represent new lock-ins, the ability or the inability to influence the definition of these lock-ins through equitable access to knowledge is integral to the legitimacy of T2S.
Knowledge diplomacy (and how it leads up to consensual knowledge) is an important driver of creating visions and narratives on sustainable futures. At the same time, the transformation process towards sustainability creates new norms for example in governance and social relations that have implications to how knowledge diplomacy is conducted. Expanding access to education as a strategy to reduce income inequality is more likely to empower a broader citizen participation in consensual knowledge making and thus in policy-making. Building on the author’s work on Sustainable Development Pathways, this article introduces three possible futures scenarios of how knowledge diplomacy can unfold depending on how access to scientific and expert knowledge translates into convening power: convergent cosmopolitan society (melting pot 1), convergent liberal world (melting pot 2), and divergent glocality (salad bowl).

Scientific and expert knowledge is central to any sustainable future. Because consensual knowledge establishes the parameters within which decisions can be made despite complexity and uncertainty, it assumes a facilitating function. This can be for example well observed on how national strategies to achieve sustainability are developed, legitimized, implemented, and assessed. Policy-makers consult scientific experts to better understand problem issues and to come up with evidence-based solutions that can be jointly accepted by any political ideology and by the constituents. At the same time, the reliance of policy-making to scientific knowledge increases the demand or need to be critical of the emerging scientific authority or technocracy. In the context of transformation to sustainability (T2S) where the outcomes of bargaining and persuasion games represent new lock-ins, the ability or the inability to influence the definition of these lock-ins through equitable access to knowledge is integral to the legitimacy of T2S.
Knowledge diplomacy (and how it leads up to consensual knowledge) is an important driver of creating visions and narratives on sustainable futures. At the same time, the transformation process towards sustainability creates new norms for example in governance and social relations that have implications to how knowledge diplomacy is conducted. Expanding access to education as a strategy to reduce income inequality is more likely to empower a broader citizen participation in consensual knowledge making and thus in policy-making. Building on the author’s work on Sustainable Development Pathways, this article introduces three possible futures scenarios of how knowledge diplomacy can unfold depending on how access to scientific and expert knowledge translates into convening power: convergent cosmopolitan society (melting pot 1), convergent liberal world (melting pot 2), and divergent glocality (salad bowl).

Carlos Malamud y Rogelio Núñez. ARI 42/2021 - 06/04/2021

Este año de pandemia en América Latina ha desencadenado no sólo importantes cambios coyunturales, transformando dinámicas políticas e institucionales, sino que también ha profundizado la magnitud de los problemas estructurales que ya aquejaban a unos sistemas democráticos latinoamericanos, que dan nuevas y preocupantes señales de debilidad e incluso de crisis.

In March 2021, the Institute of International ad Strategic Affairs (IRIS) published a report entitled “Sport mondialisé : les défis de la gouvernance”, co-authored with Carole Gomez and Pascal Boniface. The article below is an English translation of the paper’s executive summary.

Since the end of the 20th century, globalised sport has gained exponential significance in terms of politics, economics as well as popularity, as shown by the evolution of sport competitions’ television broadcasting rights. Indeed, whereas the Olympic Games in Rome (1960) were broadcasted in 18 countries, the London Games (2012) were watched in 220 countries and territories, with an increase of broadcasting rights by 21,398% between the two events.

The structure of sport governance, often perceived as outdated, has had to adapt to new economic, political and social challenges while addressing recurring threats to its integrity. The development of international sport has led to the formulation of criticisms against sport governing bodies, whose numerous polemics and accusations have negatively impacted the integrity of sport itself. The Fifagate or the 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal figure among the controversies which have led various stakeholders to think about a new, or at least a better, type of governance. This recently published report presents a geopolitical and innovative approach to better comprehend and address the contemporary geopolitical stakes that have been impacting modern sport governance.

A wide variety of stakeholders has engaged with this issue: international sport governing bodies, supranational, national, as well as non-government organizations have formulated a number of approaches pushing for the implementation of a good sport governance. Academia has also published studies on the matter, such as the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration and its “Principles for good governance in sport”, authored by Jean-Loup Chappelet and Michael Mrkonjic and published in 2013. Finally, and in addition to hybrid initiatives gathering civil society and sport organisations, athletes themselves – who have tended to be excluded from governance matters until recently – have been increasingly involved in governance reform in sport.

These initiatives serve as responses to recurrent criticisms faced by sport governance, whose shortcomings have been intensified by contemporary geopolitical challenges. For example, as early as 2001, the then IOC president Jacques Rogge identified match-fixing and doping as the two largest threats to sport. Also, organised crime has now made globalised sport a fertile ground on which it can launder dirty money by allying match-fixing with sport bets. The Russian doping scandal which debuted in 2014 figures among the many examples involving sport and doping in recent years. This particular episode placed the integrity of sport at the very centre of geopolitical confrontations between states which traditionally use sport as a soft power tool. Inscribed within this context, the adoption of the Rodchenkov Act by the US Senate in November 2020 signified two messages: one was directed against Moscow while the other confirmed Washington’s ambition to position itself as a sport integrity “policeman”. As a result, the efficiency of the Anti-doping World Agency, a multilateral organisation founded in 1999, was then largely questioned.

Additionally, international trends such as the fight against climate change have posed direct challenges to globalised sport governance. Indeed, global sport itself, which is directly threatened by climate emergency, is also being called out for its negative effects on the environment. Some sport governing bodies that are aware of this increasingly prominent challenge have added ‘sustainability’ to their governance pillars. Once again, there are exogenous actors to the sport movement involved in these reform policies, such as the United Nations and their Sport for Climate Change Action Framework.

The fight for gender equality has also played a significant role in global sport on two different levels, within the practice of sport itself and inside sport governing bodies. Although more women athletes have kept joining the sport movement since the 1990s, the IOC has recommended that such tendency should also be visible within sport governance itself during a 1996 global conference on “Women and sport”. However, as of today, women still have a limited role within sport governing bodies, particularly when compared to that of men. Within Olympic federations for example, only 8% of presidents and 11% of vice-presidents are women. Hence, despite substantial efforts spread over the past 15 years, a long way remains to be paved towards gender equality.

Finally, international movements in favour of human rights have also influenced an increasingly politicised globalised sport. Whereas apoliticism constitutes a fundamental pillar of sport’s organisation, athletes’ socio-political advocacy must now be considered. Indeed, through their engagement on and off the pitch, notably through social media, the principle of apoliticism itself has been called into question. Within the Olympic movement, the Rule 50, which has traditionally limited athletes’ freedom of speech, has for example been under scrutiny by the Athletes’ Commission, which will propose a set of policy recommendations in the Spring of 2021 to reform the rule, hence confirming how athletes are becoming game changers in sport governance reform.

It is therefore necessary that global sport considers contemporary geopolitical trends, by which it has been directly impacted, in the formulation of a new approach to governance. To read the full report (in French): Sport mondialisé : Les défis de la gouvernance

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This article belongs to the GeoSport platform, developed by IRIS and EM Lyon.