"After the War in Ukraine: Prospects and Implications for Europe and South Caucasus"

June 9, 2023

UGSP Conference

Conference Agenda

Registration for Conference
ugsp logo

Conference Concept

Within the UG-Security Platform (UGSP) the School of Social Sciences of the University of Georgia (UG) is planning to organize fourth annual conference on June 9, 2023. The major effort of the conference titled "After the War in Ukraine: Prospects and Implications for Europe and South Caucasus," is devoted to the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine, its potential strategic (military and political) outcomes, and impact on regional and international security. We ask speakers and participants to look into the future and attempt to distill in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine the relevant conclusions upon which a general silhouette of the security arrangements in Europe and the South Caucasus can be identified. It implies the institutional dynamics of the EU and NATO, the national strategies of the nations involved, conflicts resolution in post-Soviet space and (new) conceptual proposals for strengthening regional security and cooperation.

The event's aim, which has been initiated since 2019, is to promote a high-level academic and policy-related discussion in which leading foreign and local experts explore the range of provided topics and contribute to generating new (theoretical or policy) concepts, discovering respective solutions and providing recommendations. The conference is primarily designed for established academic researchers, relevant policy experts, representatives of civil society organizations and think tanks, professionals, and individuals with respective analytical backgrounds.

The preliminary conference design includes the first panel to be devoted for key note speakers, the second panel divided into three working groups (workshops) on specific policy issue, to allow invited experts, analysts and researchers to review and discuss multiple policy, strategic options that could contribute to sustainable security mechanisms in Europe and beyond; and the third panel, where the results of the workshop sessions (2nd panel) will be discussed. The discussion and workshop-panel results will be finalized in a follow-up report to be published.

click to download conference concept

Audience:

The Conference discussion is primarily designed for relevant policy experts, civil society organizations and individuals with respective academic background. Invitation will also be extended to Georgian and foreign government institutions, to NATO, EU and member state embassies of these organizations in Tbilisi.

Design of UGSP - Conference:

Major goal of the fourth UGSP annual conference is to look into the future and based on the plausible outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war to discuss and outline the post-war scenario, the framework of the future security architecture in Europe, balance of power in post-Soviet space and prospects of conflicts resolution in this area. Although the state of play in the battlefield and the prospects of political solution are quite vague at the moment it is high time to launch discussions on post-war arrangements and its implications on the European security and beyond.

In order to meet this challenging task, the conference will have specific design consisting of ordinary and experts’ working groups sessions, content wise interconnected and transitioning to each other.

  • Options of Military Outcome and Respective Politico-Economic Consequences

  • Distinguished Speakers will present their vision on ongoing developments in the battlefield and discuss political, economic and aspects of the war. However, the focus will be driven on how they see the end of Russia-Ukraine war and what would be the major plausible outcomes and implications of it in the regional and international dimensions.

  • Working Groups Discussion

  • Working Group One – European Security Architecture;
    Working group one should, but not limited, to discuss following topics: Post-war security architecture in Europe; Prospects of NATO and EU enlargement and their institutional interplay; Establishment of a new and/or enhancement of existing regional bilateral and multilateral alliances in Europe; Security guarantees for Ukraine and other post-Soviet states.

    Working Group Two – Russia and Post-Soviet Space;
    Working group two should, but not limited, to discuss following topics: Prospects of Putin’s power and  Russia’s role in post-Soviet space after the end of Russia-Ukraine war; Russia’s relations with the West (USA, UK, Germany, France); Russia’s relations with China; Prospects of CSTO and Eurasian Economic Union; Political, security and economic modalities in post-Soviet area;

    Working Group Three – Conflicts Resolution in Post-Soviet Space.
    Working group three should, but not limited, to discuss following topics: The prospects of conflicts (Transdnestria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia (Tskinvali Region), Karabakh) resolution in post-Soviet area after the end of Russia-Ukraine war.  The impact of the outcome of Russia-Ukraine war on conflicting regions such as Transdnestria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia (Tskinvali Region), Karabakh; The role of USA, EU, Russia, Turkey in conflicts resolution in post-Soviet states.
    Each working group will consist of from a moderator and up to four participants (researchers, experts and subject matter specialists) to stimulate discussion and come to major findings and conclusions. Representatives from the audience (up to 20 people), which will be presented to each working group, will be given a chance to ask questions and express their opinion as well.

  • Major Findings and Conclusions

  • The moderators of each working group will present vision, essential findings and conclusions that have been distilled during the discussions.
    Based on the third session organizers of the conference will produce a follow-up conference report to be published.

Who Speaking?

UG Security Platform