Politics

CENTRE FOR GEOPOLITICAL RESEARCH

Relevant politics, governance, social movements, foreign relations, influences and coups. Forecasts and scenarios for political trends from our global expert consultants.

CASE STUDY EUROPEAN ORDER: Europe has always been shaped by an order - or orders. Historically, most of these have been internal to the continent, though over the past one hundred years external powers have become more prominent. Today, we once again find ourselves in the force-field of competing orders: the European Union, Brexiting Britain, the USA in the aftermath of Trump, or Putin's Russia. Many of these actors are themselves internally conflicted about their place in the world and their attitude to Europe.

At this time of exceptional flux, the Centre for Geopolitics is convening events which bring together leading academics, policy makers, analysts and business people. The aim of these events is to explore various facets of future European orders(s), allow intellectual exchange, create networking opportunities and produce concrete outputs and policy impact. The formats include recurring events such as annual non-hierarchical meetings of academics, NGOs and grass root activists to discuss concrete steps for a bottom up approach of European integration, and an annual high-level roundtable bringing together key decision makers from politics, business and civil society to explore visions for the European continent. In addition, the European orders project also organises thematical conferences, talks and lectures throughout the year focusing on specific political, economic or cultural challenges and chances for the European order. 

Despite this history, there is a considerable ignorance in the contemporary UK about the area. Much of its history, language and culture is not taught in our universities. As Britain withdraws from the ordering system of the European Union but remains deeply engaged in the politics of the continent through NATO and other bonds, this is not a sustainable situation.

Providing historically-grounded approaches to enduring geopolitical problems.

We focus on understanding questions of state and institutional formation, disintegration, interaction, and competition, globally and across key regions of the world. We approach these questions from perspectives deeply grounded in history and place-specific expertise across four main types of 'orders'.

• Middle Eastern and Eurasian Orders - Analysis of issues and questions rooted in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, or the former USSR

• European Orders - Analysis of issues and questions rooted in Europe

• Indo-Pacific Orders - Analysis of issues and questions rooted in South, Southeast, or East Asia, as well as Oceania
• Global Orders - Analysis of issues and questions of truly universal scale and scope