Global Strategy Forum
Stephen King and Lord Lamont
Global Chief Economist at HSBC; Chancellor of the Exchequer (1990-1993)
Stephen King, the global chief economist at HSBC, spoke on the themes of his new book, 'Losing Control - The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity' in an event chaired by GSF Advisory Board Member, the Rt Hon Lord Lamont of Lerwick (Chancellor of the Exchequer 1990-1993). Stephen King concluded that in an age of globalisation, there are two options for the west - either to 'grow old gracefully' and accept that the baton of economic growth has been passed to other parts of the world. Or, to try and disengage from globalisation. Yet while this desire might be understandable, he argues that the 'really big losers' from western disengagement would be the west itself, given that the extent to which the west has become dependent on the ongoing success of the emerging world 'strongly suggests that ultimately it is engagement rather than disengagement that will matter for the years ahead, no matter the fact that the west will be struggling to cope with all of the domestic implications of globalisation over the next few decades.'
Dr Shirin Akiner
Author of 'The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: A Networking Organisation for a Networking World'
Dr Shirin Akiner, Fellow of the Cambridge Central Asia Forum and Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, presented her new paper, 'The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: A Networking Organisation for a Networking World', which was published by Global Strategy Forum in June 2010. In her lecture, she highlighted the main internal and external issues relating to the SCO and the extent to which it has the potential for further development, concluding that in the longer term, it has 'the potential to transform itself from a regional organisation, with a purely Eurasian focus, into an international body.'
The May Debate - Tuesday 18th May 2010
Dr Stefan Halper, Michael Ancram and Nigel Inkster
Dr Stefan Halper, Senior Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University and Nigel Inkster, Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, took part in a discussion prompted by the themes of Dr Halper’s new book, ‘The Beijing Consensus: How China’s Authoritarian Model Will Dominate the Twenty-First Century’. In his book, Dr Halper argues that China’s challenge to the West stems from its ‘transformative brand of capitalism' and an entirely different conception of the international community. He suggests that rather than promoting democracy through economic aid to the developing world, instead, through the policy of no-strings attached gifts and loans, China is building a new Beijing Consensus that will replace the so-called Washington Consensus. During the debate, Dr Halper was not altogether pessimistic that this alternative, authoritarian model would prove more popular to the developing world and that power would necessarily be diffused away from the West, but he believed it to be a warning to western policy-makers: ‘China promotes a form of authoritarian capitalism that discreetly confronts the post-war US-led liberal order and erodes western principles of governance….its success will diminish the principles on which our global standing rests'. He concluded that how the West addressed this challenge would answer the question of the extent to which we were content with this state of affairs. Nigel Inkster agreed with the analysis that China had emerged on the international stage far faster than might have been expected and in ways which might not have been expected, but he described this emergence as 'inchoate'. He questioned whether the promotion of western ideas and interests was an essential pre-requisite to the west’s survival and prosperity, particularly in view of the shortcomings of the Washington Consensus – as described by Stefan Halper - and its ‘wilful imposition of a one-size-fits-all approach and its failure to take account of historical and social contexts and different cultural backgrounds.’ He remained sceptical of the need to assert and sustain the primacy of western values and indeed, whether this ‘article of faith’ could in fact be fulfilled, but he agreed that there was a clear need to understand China ‘far better than we do now.’
'Turkey's Role in an Emerging Network World'
House of Lords, Monday 8th February 2010
On Monday 8th February, Global Strategy Forum hosted a seminar on 'Turkey's Role in an Emerging Network World'. The seminar, which was the initiative of GSF Advisory Board Member Hüseyin Gün of Avicenna Capital, took place in the House of Lords. With the participation of a high level Turkish delegation, including HE Egemen Bagis, the Turkish State Minister for EU Affairs, the event provided a series of expert perspectives on how and where Turkey can bring her influence to bear effectively on the wider international scene, focusing on Turkey’s position as a hub connecting east and west, both strategically and politically. It explored the growing influence and role of Turkey, westwards in terms of its relationship with the EU but also eastwards, in terms of its relationship with the Middle East and the broader region and the wider, constructive role that Turkey can play in regional issues and beyond, in a period of rapid change. The seminar was chaired by the Rt Hon Michael Ancram MP, Chairman of Global Strategy Forum and speakers included: HE Egemen Bagis, Turkish State Minister for EU Affairs; Dominic Grieve QC MP, UK Shadow Justice Secretary; HE Kursad Tuzmen, Former State Minister and Chairman of External Affairs, Justice and Development Party; Rt Hon the Lord Howell of Guildford, Shadow Deputy Leader of the Lords and Shadow Minister for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs; HE Yasar Yakis, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Lord Wallace of Saltaire, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, House of Lords, Spokesperson for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs; Suat Kiniklioglu MP; AK Party Deputy Chairman of External Affairs, Chairman of the Turkish-British Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group; Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, Liberal Democrat MEP (South East Region) 1999-2009; Dr Ibrahim Kalin, Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey; Lord Hannay of Chiswick, GCMG, CH, Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative to the UN (1990-1995) and Special Representative for Cyprus (1996-2003); Nursuna Memecan MP, Member of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and AK Party Deputy Chairman of Communications; and Mehmet Öğütçü, Director, International Government and Corporate Affairs, BG Energy Holding Group. A summary of the proceedings is available by clicking above and the proceedings will be published in full at a later date.
Ambassador Chas W Freeman, Jr
US Ambassador (retired)
Ambassador Chas W Freeman, Jr, gave Global Strategy Forum's first lecture in 2010. Entitled 'China's Challenge to American Hegemony', his lecture provided a succinct and perceptive analysis, which drew on his many years of expertise to elucidate the Chinese perspective on some of the key areas of divergence with the west, as well on its attitude to hegemony and the responsibilities of global leadership. He concluded that 'the world in future will be more "democratic" and, likely, more muddled than in the past because many countries, not just the United States or China, will share power in it. There will be ample opportunities for countries with trusted relationships with Washington and Beijing to influence how they participate in global affairs. There will be no hegemon, and there will be no "G-2".
Michael Ancram PC DL QC
Chairman - Global Strategy Forum
At Global Strategy Forum’s Christmas Drinks Party on 8th December, GSF's Chairman, Michael Ancram, launched his new pamphlet, ‘Turkey: a New Bridge in a Network World?’ The pamphlet examines the potential of Turkey and where she might bring her influence to bear most effectively on the wider international scene, both in the region and more broadly. In it, Michael Ancram argues that Turkey is ideally placed to play a leading role in a network world and to be a force for good in the Middle East and wider region as well as in Europe and around the Mediterranean. He concludes that Turkey, if it so chooses, can become a 'real and vibrant bridge in a world that needs bridging more than ever'.
Lord Howell of Guildford
Lecture - Tuesday October 27th 2009
Lord Howell opened GSF's 2009-2010 lecture series with a fascinating speech, entitled 'Britain's Foreign Policy: 'adamant for drift?', in which he argued that in this period of great change and uncertainty, it is time for a clean break and a new strategic direction in our foreign policy. Just as Winston Churchill described Britain's foreign policy as 'adamant for drift' in the 1930s, he fears that so the same could be said of our foreign policy today. The transcript of his lecture is available by clicking above.
Debate - Tuesday 14th July 2009
Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, the Rt Hon Malcolm Rifkind QC MP, the Rt Hon Michael Howard QC MP
Ambassador Tom Pickering and Michael Howard discussed the question of whether the use of torture could ever be justified. In a cogent and detailed contribution, Ambassador Tom Pickering concluded that it could not and while Michael Howard agreed substantively with Ambassador Pickering, he argued for the need for a better definition of what constituted torture in international law and he questioned what would happen in the extreme hypothesis of the 'ticking time bomb' scenario. There followed a lively debate from the audience and the chairman, Malcolm Rifkind, concluded that it had been a fascinating exchange and invited a show of hands at the end, revealing that the vast majority of the audience were against the use of torture in any circumstances.
Lecture - Monday 13th July 2009
The Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes and Michael Ancram MP, GSF chairman
In his lecture, Lord Patten gave a comprehensive overview of what is happening in China today. In response to the question of whether the 21st century belongs to China, Lord Patten said that while he admired what China's achievements, he did not see an equivalency to 19th century Bismarckian Germany. In his view, the US remains the world's sole superpower, while increasingly understanding that its post-war period of domination is at an end and that in order to solve any serious problem in the world today, it will have to work with China and India and to some extent Brazil and others as well. Lord Patten concluded that he did not see the future as being one 'in which China is going to have to work out how it can work with the US in order to exercise global domination. The argument is still the other way round. One of the principle jobs that America has, and Europe as well, in the next years is to persuade China that as a great economic power with considerable political influence, it has a vested interest in stability.'
Debate - Tuesday 19th May 2009
Oliver Kamm, Sir David Omand, Gideon Rachman
Oliver Kamm, leader writer and columnist for the Times, Sir David Omand GCB, Visiting Professor, Department of War Studies, King's College, London and former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator; and Gideon Rachman of the FT, joined GSF on 19th May to debate whether the world economic crisis was our biggest security threat. The panel had different perspectives on the extent of the security threat posed, but there was general agreement that the economic crisis at the very least had indirect implications for security. The audio transcript of the debate is available by clicking above.
May Debate I - 12th May 2009
Baroness Falkner of Margravine, Dr Farzana Shaikh, Sir Hilary Synnott KCMG
Baroness Falkner of Margravine, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Dr Farzana Shaikh, Associate Fellow of the Asia Programme at Chatham House and Sir Hilary Synott of the IISS and former British High Commissioner to Pakistan, spoke in our first May debate, addressing the question, 'Is Pakistan the World's Most Dangerous Place?' The audio transcript of the debate is available by clicking above.
The Rt Hon Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hambdon GCMG KBE PC
Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats
The Rt Hon Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hambdon GCMG KBE PC was our March guest lecturer. His lecture, entitled ‘Ashdown's Third Law: why the world will never be the same again and what we should do about it’, is now available as an audio transcript by clicking above. This event was chaired by Lord Wallace of Saltaire, a Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader in the House of Lords as well as a spokesperson for Home Affairs and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Baroness Neville-Jones of Hutton Roof and Lord Howell of Guidlford
Advisory Board members
On Monday 8th December, Baroness Neville-Jones, the Conservative Shadow Security Minister, gave a lecture entitled 'A Conservative National Security Policy' in which she provided a comprehensive and thought-provoking overview, both of the present national security situation and of Conservative policy. Her speaking notes can be downloaded by clicking above.
Sir Emyr Jones Parry, GCMG
UK Permanent Representative to the UN (2003-2007)
On Monday 27th October, Sir Emyr Jones Parry (UK representative to the UN from 2003-2007) gave a lecture at Global Strategy Forum entitled 'Is the UN's future behind it?' Following his remarks and the frank and absorbing Q&A session which followed, Sir Emyr concluded that the 'economic, political, strategic and... security interests of the United Kingdom are bound up with the United Nations continuing and making a better success of the challenges we face.'
"Radicals v. moderates: does Islam in Britain face a 'war within'?"
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Sir Gulam Noon, Baroness Warsi, Michael Ancram QC MP
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, Sir Gulam Noon and Baroness Warsi took part in a debate entitled 'Radicals v. moderates: does Islam in Britain face a 'war within?'' on Monday 9th June 2008. Each of the panellists brought a distinctly different perspective to this fascinating debate as they discussed the various issues affecting Muslims in the UK today.
Politics and Pipelines: Central Asia's role in European energy security
Mehmet Ogutcu, Dr Shamil Yenikeyeff, Michael Ancram QC MP, Rt Hon the Lord Fraser QC and John Roberts
On 6th May 2008, GSF held its first event covering both Central Asia and energy security, entitled 'Politics and pipelines: Central Asia's role in European energy security'. Our panel consisted of the Rt Hon Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC, Mehmet Ogutcu of BG, John Roberts of Platts and Dr Shamil Yenikeyeff of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. The hour of debate and Q&A did not do justice to the scale of the subject and we shall be returning to this topic in future events.
Iran panel
Iran debate - 26th February 2008
We held our first Iran debate on Tuesday 26th February, entitled 'Iran: time to stand against the "forces of extremism?"', in reference to President Bush's State of the Union address in January. Our panellists were Professor Ali Ansari, Douglas Murray and the Rt Hon Lord Lamont of Lerwick. The debate was expertly chaired by Sir Richard Dalton, formerly Ambassador to Iran (2002-2006) and while no conclusions were reached, it proved a fascinating exchange of views.
Rifkind, Ross & Kamm
Ten years on: what happened to the ‘ethical dimension’ to British foreign policy?
Panellists [L-R] Carne Ross, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, (Michael Ancram) and Oliver Kamm all proffered different views on what had happened to the 'ethical dimension' in the UK's foreign policy. The debate was well argued and those relishing a good bout of verbal fisticuffs were not disappointed, especially when, from the floor the journalist Bruce Anderson offered the view that "nothing is necessarily wrong with ethnic cleansing so long as it happens in an reasonably unmurderous fashion".
Lord Mark Malloch-Brown
Guest Speaker - 5th November 2007
Lord Malloch-Brown, a serving Foreign Office Minister, presents his views on where he sees Britain's place in the modern world. A 'tour d'horizon' it certainly was, with Lord Malloch-Brown covering, amongst others, Britain's relations with the United Nations and the EU, and exploring the policy deficit between the elements of hard and and soft power.
Ambassador John Bolton
Guest Speaker
Speaking at the 2007 Conservative Party Annual Conference during a fringe event hosted by Global Strategy Forum, Ambassador John Bolton gave a packed audience his views on the current threat posed by the likes of North Korea and Iran in their persuit to develop weapons of mass destruction; the threats posed to the Middle East and to Israel, and the suggested response should such actions succeed.
Sir Christopher Hum KCMG
Guest Speaker
Speaking with great experience, from nearly five years as UK Ambassador to Beijing, Sir Christopher Hum spoke not only of managing China's rise but where China had risen from. This is a very thoughful speech and this half-hour audio file will get you up to speed on events in modern-day China. This event was kindly sponsored by Lloyd George Management.
Donald C McKinnon
Guest speaker
The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Don McKinnon, gave a lecture for Global Strategy Forum, entitled 'Multilateralism: a crowded highway' on 19th June 2007. He was responding to Lord Howell of Guildford's GSF lecture 'A Post Neo-Conservative Foreign Policy', delivered in October 2006. While both considered the Commonwealth to be a huge and underused asset, there were some significant areas of disagreement. For the full text, please click the title of the lecture.
Lord Howell of Guildford
Lecture - Tuesday October 27th 2009
Lord (David) Howell proposes a radical rethink of Conservative foreign policy direction. His view is that Britain needs to find a new body through which to best represent her interests on the World stage. The present 'system' whereby Britain is a bridge between the United States and Europe was doomed from the outset. The EU, whilst having a powerful voice, does not best represent the United Kingdom. His answer is to look toward a rejuvenated Commonwealth. In this Lecture he explains exactly what he means and how it can be done.
Dr Patrick Sookhdeo
Guest Author
As the world’s second largest religion, Islam consists of a variety of streams and of interpretations of the Muslim source texts and of Islamic law (shari‘a). The real question is which interpretations are favoured by contemporary dominant movements within Islam? At one end of the scale they engage in semantics to prove that democracy is an Islamic invention, while at the other end they totally reject all notions of democracy as incompatible with Islamic scripture and law.
Michael Ancram PC DL QC
Chairman - Global Strategy Forum
In a speech to a GSF hosted fringe event at the 2006 Conservative Party Conference Michael Ancram gave his thoughts on the state of present British foreign policy. His speech was based on this recent pamphlet, 'The Wrong Game, why British Foreign Policy must Change'.
