Lecture Abstract

Three grand schemes characterise the international order today and put it to a test: new rivalries of great powers, the rise of uncertainty and insecurity in international relations and the decline of the liberal world order. Big players like the United States and China are major driving forces behind these factors, all the while a growing number of more diverse local and regional conflicts call to the attention of the international community. This lecture provides a view from the EU on the chances and challenges that arise from the decline of the global order as we know it.

About the Speaker 

Volker Perthes has been Executive Chairman and Director of SWP (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik), the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, since October 2005.

In 2015/2016 he also served as UN Assistant Secretary General and Senior Adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria; from 2016 – 2018 he chaired the Ceasefire Task Force (CTF) for Syria on behalf of the UN.

Volker Perthes earned his doctoral degree in 1990 and his habilitation in 1999 from the University of Duisburg. He was an assistant professor at the American University of Beirut from 1991 to 1993, and has been teaching International Relations at Humboldt University Berlin and other schools.

Volker Perthes serves on various national and international bodies such as the Scientific Advisory Council of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) (as chairperson), the International Advisory Council of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) or the Robert Bosch International Advisory Council.

Dr Perthes is a frequent commentator in German and international media on German and European foreign and security policy, international relations and geopolitics, and regional dynamics and transitions in the Middle East.

The S. T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture Series

The S. T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture Series at RSIS was established in 2007. It is funded by an endowment established from a generous personal donation by Dr Lee Seng Tee, a well-known Singapore philanthropist, and a matching grant from the Singapore Government. More information: rsis.edu.sg/events/the-s-t-lee-distinguished-annual-lecture/