The principal investigator of the Foreign Policy Observatory, Esther Barbé, is coordinating the current series of conferences by IBEI and the Social Observatory of the Fundació “la Caixa” in May 2024. The series is titled “Geopolitics of a Liquid Fragmented World” and will take place at the Palau Macaya in three sessions – May 16, 23, and 30 – on the successive themes of “The Return of Geopolitics in Europe,” and “Alliances, Conflicts, and Geopolitics of the Middle East,” as well as “Connectivity in the Global World”.
Altogether, the roundtable series addresses how the international order created in the wake of the Second World War is showing signs of obsolescence, and rather than affording any glimpse of an alternative world order, competition among the major powers and the strengthening of non-state actors point towards an order that is not only more complex but also more fragmented. The aim of this roundtable series is to analyse how the liquid world and geopolitics coexist in terms of three concentric circles: Europe, its neighbours and global connectivity.
The Observatori researchers Oriol Costa (UAB/IBEI) and Eduard Soler (UAB/IBEI) will be participating as panellists, as well as Rosa Balfour (Carnegie Europe), Glen Rangwala (University of Cambridge), Cristina Gallach (Global Women Voices) and Luis Simón (Vrije Universiteit Brussel ).