A Partnership of

For Europe, the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in 2016 meant a dual shock. It was first read as part of the wider popu-list revolt against globalisation – as ‘Brexit-plus’, potentially destroying the European Union (EU). However, with the May 2017 election of French President Macron, the fears of the disintegration of the EU has been somewhat allayed. However the geopolitical challenge of a Trump’s America First order still stands. Trump’s undermining of NATO obliges European countries to take their “destiny” into their own hands (as Angela Merkel put it). Can the EU truly shake off its image of “an economic giant and a geopoliti-cal dwarf ”?

In his talk, Prof Luuk van Middelaar discusses what the Trumpian wake-up call means for Europe’s relations with the US, Russia, Turkey and Asia; and how it will confront the geopolitical challenges posed by migration from Middle East and Africa.

BREXIT, TRUMP AND EUROPE’S GEOPOLITICAL AWAKENING

25 August 2017 (Friday) | 10.30 am – 12 pm | CIT Auditorium

Register HERE(by 24 August 2017, 12pm)

Directions to venue: http://bit.ly/CIT-Auditorium-Directions

Luuk van Middelaar is Professor at the Europa Institute of Leiden University. He studied History and Philosophy at the Universities of Groningen and Paris-IV Sorbonne (1991-1999).

He obtained his doctorate degree cum laude in 2009 at the University of Amsterdam on his work De passage naar Europa: geschiedenis van een begin (Historische Uitgeverij). This book appeared in English (The Passage to Europe: How a Continent Became a Union) (Yale University Press, 2013), French (éd. Gallimard 2012) and six other languages including Chinese. It was awarded many prizes including the Socratesprijs, the D.J. Veegensprijs from the Royal Netherlands Acade-my of Arts and Sciences, the Prix du Livre Européen and the Prix Louis Marin from the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.

About the Speaker

Abstract

Van Middelaar was the speechwriter and advisor of the first permanent President of the European Council, H.A. Van Rompuy (2010-2014); he was Political Secretary for the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy in the Dutch Lower House under J.J. van Aartsen (2004-2006) and worked for the office of European Commissioner for the Internal Market F. Bolkestein (2002-2004).

He is currently Academic Visitor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Homepage: http://www.passage-to-europe.eu