11 November 2015
13:00 Europe/Oslo
Event
Why Ukraine matters
NUPI has the pleasure of inviting you to a public seminar with James Sherr from Chatham House.
Language: English
NUPI
Seminar
Why does the situation in the Ukraine matter for Europe and the West? Will our ability to put forward an effective policy towards Russia be measured by the way we handle the Ukraine crisis? In a recent comment, James Sherr writes:
"From the outset of the Ukraine crisis, the West has acted on the premise that economic sanctions would induce Russia to modify its actions. But while sanctions do constrain capacity, they do not constrain behaviour. Their immediate impact is bearable. Moreover, they do nothing to diminish Russia’s most usable and effective form of power: military force. Given the stakes, the case for strengthening Ukraine’s defences is compelling."
James Sherr is Associate Fellow (and former Head) of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and was a member of the Social Studies Faculty of Oxford University until 2012. He is also a Visiting Fellow of the Razumkov Centre, Kyiv and a Senior Associate Fellow of the Institute of Statecraft. Between 1995 and 2008 he was a Fellow of the Conflict Studies Research Centre of the UK Defence Academy, in 1999-2000 an adviser to the House of Commons Defence Committee and between 1983-85 Director of Studies of the Royal United Services Institute. For twenty years, he has advised governments in the UK, NATO, the EU about developments in Russia and Ukraine and for a number of years worked closely with Ukraine on defence and security sector reform. He is a regular participant in the Harvard JFK School Black Sea and Russia Security programmes and is a member of the Valdai Club. He is the author of Hard Diplomacy and Soft Coercion: Russia’s Influence Abroad (Chatham House, 2013). His most recent publication is ‘Ukraine: A War of Narratives and Arms’ (in The Russia Challenge, Chatham House, June 2015), Ukraine and Europe: Final Decision? (2013), The Mortgaging of Ukraine’s Independence (Chatham House 2010), Russia and the West: A Reassessment (UK Defence Academy 2008.
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Welcome, by Director Ulf Sverdrup, NUPI
Why Ukraine matters, by James Sherr, Chatham House
Comment, by Geir Flikke, UiO
Comment, by Julie Wilhelmsen, NUPI
Speakers
James Sherr
Associate Fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
Ulf Sverdrup
Former Director
Geir Flikke
Professor, University of Oslo
Julie Wilhelmsen
Research Professor
Related publications
Publications
Publications
Report
Has the EU Learnt from the Ukraine Crisis? Changes to Security, Energy and Migration Governance
The Russia-Ukraine crisis has not only dramatically changed the EU’s security situation but also poses challenges well beyond the security arena. The conflict between Europe’s main energy supplier and its most important gas transit country has already had an impact on regional energy cooperation. The gas-price dispute between Russia’s Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftohaz has halted gas deliveries to Ukraine. This in turn has raised fears of potential disruptions of gas supplies to the rest of Europe, putting energy security and solidarity mechanisms in the spotlight. The conflict also has had an obvious humanitarian dimension with the wide displacement of people from areas with fighting. Estimates of these people show many Ukrainians are seeking shelter in the EU. With the beginning of the new legislative cycle, the EU has the chance to respond to these outside events through its own internal logic of action. But have the lessons been fully understood? Is Europe lacking some instruments specific to the current crisis or are the deficiencies more structural? Find out in the new publication by the GoodGov project in which its authors analyse the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on EU security, energy and migration and take a closer look at Poland and Norway, two medium-size countries with different relations with the EU.
11 November 2015
13:00 Europe/Oslo
Language: English
NUPI
Seminar