GERMAN-AMERICAN-RUSSIAN DIALOGUE
GARD
FIRST SEMINAR, ASPEN INSTITUTE BERLIN
JUNE 23RD – 25TH, 2001
Seminar Programme

Sunday, June 24th, 2001

Introductory Remarks GARD Project
Catherine McArdle Kelleher (Project Director, GARD)

First Session: Russia in Europe

With the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of December 1997, Russia and the EU have laid the groundwork for a future relationship. Although the agreement concentrates on legislative, economic, and trading issues, it could be the nucleus of further attempts to deepen and foster this important cooperation. Still, one must observe a lack of measurable progress in implementation.

What are the prospects for long-term cooperation that the EU can offer Russia? Are there any serious and intransigent divergences concerning interests and spheres in foreign trade? What are the main issues in financial and debt policies between the EU and Russia? How do negotiations on Russia’s access to the WTO affect relations with the EU? What is indeed the place of Russia in a future Europe?

Speakers:
Vladimir Ryzhkov, State Duma of the Russian Federation, Moscow
Carl Hartzell, Council of the European Union, Brussels
Vladimir Baranovsky, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Moscow
Robert Nurick, Carnegie Moscow Center
Chair:
Catherine McArdle Kelleher

Second Session: New Leaders, New Styles?

Since 1998, each of the three countries has experienced major changes in the landscape of political leadership. Looking at the record of these new leaders, one is tempted (despite the difference in periods in power) to concede a new style in leadership. Pragmatism seems to be the principle organizing tool.
One also sees a dynamic of short-term conduct of policy bowing to the rationale of legislative periods and the mechanics of the domestic political process.
Trying to handle policy issues, governments are on the one hand trapped in problems they inherited from their predecessors in power. On the other hand they are forced to act in a globalized environment that is characterized by complex interdependence and permanent flow of information. Well designed policies and an acceleration of decision making are clearly required; yet ad-hocisms are the answer of the day.

In light of these constraints in policy making, what are the operational consequences in the three countries? Are there opportunities for qualitatively “new” styles in leadership? And, more important on the global level, are there windows of opportunity for international policy convergence and cooperation in areas of common interests?

Speakers:
Simon Kordonsky, Russian Presidential Administration, Moscow
Thomas Bagger, German Foreign Office, Berlin
Robert Legvold, Columbia University New York
Vjacheslav Nikonov, Politika Foundation, Moscow
Chair:
Klaus Segbers, Institute for East European Research, Free University of Berlin

 

Monday, 25 June 2001

Third Session: International Economic Perspectives

Market globalization is currently driving the international business and the financial world; and there is hardly a nation capable of drawing away from the effects. On the contrary, most countries have to simultaneously adapt their economic and monetary policies while trying to avoid capital flight or a dearth of foreign investment.

To be sure, the three countries are not affected by this process in the same way. All three, however, are pressed to regulate the global financial market. New actors such as multinational corporations and international rating agencies play their own roles, creating incentives for states to intervene and engage themselves on the transnational level. However, the dynamics of globalized markets go beyond conventional international legislation, and states find themselves without the necessary means to cope with supranational financial flows with serious national effects.

What policy innovations at the national and transnational levels – if any – address questions of governance in this increasingly important field?

Speakers:
Wolfram Schrettl, German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin
Jens Fischer, Fischer + Limberger GmbH, Berlin
Chair:
Celeste Wallander, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington D.C.

 

Tuesday, 26 June 2001

Additional Programme

“Jour Fixe Eastern Europe”
(a cooperation of the Aspen Institute Berlin and the Institute for East European Studies of the Free University Berlin)

“The New American Policy Towards Eastern Europe”

Statements:
Robert Legvold, Columbia University, New York
Celleste Wallander, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington D.C.
Nadia Arbatova, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Moscow
Chairs:
Klaus Segbers, Institute for East European Research, Free University of Berlin
Steven Sokol, Aspen Institute Berlin

See also GARD I Executive Summary

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