Annual Conference 2023

Dealing with Autocracies in a Fragmented World

With the rise of China and Russia's war against Ukraine, the question of how democracies shape their relationship with autocracies has become a highly topical issue. There is much talk of regime rivalry, which gets reduced to a polarized conflict between democracies and autocracies in certain areas of academic and political debate. The reality, however, is much more complex: Relations between democracies and autocracies can take on extremely different forms.

The PRIF Annual Conference 2023 “Dealing with Autocracies in a Fragmented World” will discuss from an empirical and normative perspective how democracies can and should deal with autocracies in the current multipolar world. The focus will be on international development and infrastructure policy, climate and energy policy, international democracy promotion, and international security. The conference is aimed at academics, students and representatives of politics and the media. Its goal is to deconstruct simplistic, dichotomous views of world politics and provide nuanced views of contemporary international relations.

Roger Mac Ginty will receive the Czempiel Award on October 12, 6:15 pm. The political scientist from Durham University, United Kingdom, is being honored for his innovative monography “Everyday Peace: How So-Called Ordinary People Can Disrupt Violent Conflict.”

The conference was broadcast via livestream. All panel recordings except the one on the MENA region are available on the PRIF YouTube channel: October 12 and October 13.

Program

Thursday, October 12, 2023

1.30–2 p.m. Welcome & Opening Statements

Nicole Deitelhoff, PRIF
Pascal Abb, PRIF
Irene Weipert-Fenner, PRIF

2–3.45 p.m. Panel 1: Dealing with China in International Development and Infrastructure Policies

Chair: Pascal Abb, PRIF

Pascal Abb, PRIF
Zhang Hong, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge (MA)
Wrenn Yennie Lindgren, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Oslo

Discussant: Marina Rudyak, Institute for Sinology, Heidelberg University

3.45–4.15 p.m. Coffee Break

4.15–6 p.m. Panel 2: Dealing with Autocracies in the MENA Region in Climate and Energy Policies

Chair: Irene Weipert-Fenner, PRIF

Imane Boukhatem, Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (ZNES), Europa-Universität Flensburg / Irene Weipert-Fenner, PRIF
Yana Popkostova, European Centre for Energy and Geopolitical Analysis (ECEGA), European Union Institute for Security Studies, Paris
Benjamin Schütze, Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute (ABI), Freiburg

Discussant: Hannes Warnecke-Berger, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kassel

6.15–7.15 p.m. Czempiel Award Ceremony

Friday, October 13, 2023

9–10.45 a.m. Panel 3: Dealing with Autocracies in Democracy Promotion

Chair: Jonas Wolff, PRIF

Christine Hackenesch, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn
Michelle Pace, Roskilde University, Roskilde
Richard Youngs, Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Carnegie Europe, Brussels

Discussant: Marianne Kneuer, Professor of Comparative Politics, TUD Dresden University of Technology

10.45–11.15 a.m. Coffee Break

11.15 a.m.–1 p.m. Panel 4: Dealing with Russia in Europe and at the Global Stage

Chair: Stefan Kroll, PRIF