TBC

TBC.

This paper examines whether external security threats reduce popular support for far-right parties, focusing on Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Existing scholarship suggests that such threats should weaken extremist parties by generating rally effects, shifting attention to foreign policy, and increasing demand for experienced leadership. Contrary to these expectations, descriptive trends show that far-right support in Western Europe increased following the invasion. We examine this question through two studies.

Abstract: Throughout the 19th century and into the 20th, over-indebted people engaged in large, vigorous campaigns to demand governments’ protection from ruinous debt. Their appeals to state legislatures across the country extended into the national arena, leading the U.S. to have one of the most protective debt relief regimes in the world by the end of the 19th century. Yet by the second half of the twentieth century, culminating in a creditor-led retrenchment of the bankruptcy code in 2005.

As Europe confronts a convergence of long-term challenges, from defence and geopolitical instability to demographic decline and the pressures of the green transition, questions about its future power and resilience are becoming increasingly urgent. The discussion will focus on six concrete ideas for strengthening the European Union’s capacity to act, offering practical policy recommendations on how to sustain competitiveness, enhance security, and adapt to structural change.

Almost 80 years of peace have shaped a European mindset in which war seemed unthinkable, yet today’s geopolitical realities are challenging this assumption. As the idea that “integration is security” comes under pressure, fundamental questions arise: can Europe adapt, and is it ready to confront a more dangerous world? Caroline de Gruyter is a journalist, author and lecturer based in Brussels. She is a European Affairs correspondent and columnist for the leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and a regular contributor to Foreign Policy, EUobserver and De Standaard.

Professor Dunbabin will discuss his book, the Longest Boundary, which tells the story of how the course of what became the US-Canadian border was agreed. The process occurred in steps between 1763 and 1910, and took in episodes, like the 1790 Nootka Sound crisis, that had major impacts but seldom figure in accounts of Anglo-American relations.