LOCATION: Westin Lobby
The security challenges the world is facing today are radically different than those in the past. How well can our existing institutions, especially the UN, adapt to these new realities and serve as an effective instrument towards accomplishing global security? This was the central question surrounding this year’s seventh plenary event: UN-specific: Aging Institutions, Modern Solutions.
This panel included a range of perspectives from leaders of some of the world’s foremost multilateral institutions and civil society organizations. Marc-André Blanchard, Canada’s Permanent Representative to the UN, spoke about how the UN continues to be the most important multilateral institution in the world. Despite facing challenges in leadership and organizational structure, it is constantly finding new ways to adapt and has had recent successes, including Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement. Veronique Roger-Lacan, the French Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Ms. Rose Goettemoller, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, both spoke to the continued effectiveness of the Western Alliance for collective defense, and the shared benefit of Europe taking greater responsibility for its own security. A consistent message from all speakers was that interconnectedness of the modern world requires states to remain engaged globally and committed to multilateralism.
This year’s Halifax International Security Forum paid respect to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, but in its final plenary session, Present Tense: Our World in Ten, the attention shifted to the future. How will the issues discussed throughout this year’s Forum play out over the next decade? Will democratic states be able to defend their values and institutions from growing threats like great power politics and cyber-warfare? This diverse set of panelists spoke confidently and optimistically about the resilience of democracies to withstand this challenge.
Former Ambassador to NATO, R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School spoke about the need for democratic states to preserve their collective self-confidence, and their values and institutions, in the face of rising authoritarianism from China and Russia. Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza, Vice Chairman of Open Russia, urged participants to challenge the perception of President Vladimir Putin’s invincibility within Russia, citing examples from Russian history that demonstrate the country’s capacity for and inclination towards leadership change. Pastor Esther Ibanga, Executive Director of Women Without Walls Initiative and General (Ret) Amos Yadlin, Executive Director of the Institute for National Security Studies, provided sobering outlooks on Africa and the Middle East respectively, but both pointed to the passion and potential of the coming generation to serve as a catalyst for positive change in these regions in the future. The plenary provided participants with important questions to reflect upon as they leave Halifax, and a path towards achieving the goals set out at this year’s Forum of ensuring the strength and prosperity of liberal values and democracy.
LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom
