Abstract

Professor Wolff is Professor at the University of Birmingham and has extensively written on contemporary security challenges, ethnic conflict, conflict management and state-building. He holds degrees from the University of Leipzig, an MPhil in Political Theory from Madgalene College, Cambridge (1996) and a PhD from the LSE (1999).

Abstract Over the past two decades, the European Union has significantly expanded its role as a conflict manager both in terms of the scope of activities and in terms of their geographical spread. Over 20 civilian and military crisis management operations have been conducted by the Union and its member states in Africa, Asia, and Europe, in cooperation with other international and regional organisations (including the UN, OSCE , AU, NATO , and ASEAN ), and deploying thousands of civilian experts and military personnel. While none of these missions can be classified as failures, the track record of the EU in terms of achieving a lasting and positive impact on local conflicts, beyond the often narrow mandate that the Union gives itself, is somewhat patchy. This is not surprising given the complexity of the conflict situations the EU has become involved in and the only gradual development of capabilities to deal with them. More importantly, the unqualified and qualified successes that the Union has had in managing conflict offer important lessons that can enable the EU to become a more effective conflict manager in the future.

The talk will be chaired by Dr Josip Glaurdic (Clare College)

For more information please visit: http://www.stefanwolff.com/ and http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/cisa/