Fifteenth International Sakharov Conference

Introduction

Whatever the final outcome, the Russian war of destruction against Ukraine is a watershed moment in history. Although the full-scale invasion of February 2022 was preceded by a political developments in Russia and the result of expansionist Russian foreign policy, the war exacerbated the political crisis and quickly turned a European war into a global political crisis of a complexity and scope not seen since the Second World War.

Only thirty years ago it seemed that parliamentary democracy had become the prevalent political system and that dictatorship and authoritarianism were in retreat. In Europe, the security system based on the 1975 Helsinki Accords on Security and Cooperation in Europe, had become an unchallenged dogma. Political and territorial disputes in Europe would only be solved at the negotiating table, and not on the battlefield. A last reminder that this was an absolute necessity had been the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, that led to a large number of deaths and the mass murder in Srebrenica. However, the Helsinki Accords were severely challenged by Russian aggression, first in Georgia in 2008, then in Ukraine in 2014. The full scale invasion of February 2022 killed the Helsinki Accords and this year, at the fiftieth anniversary, there will be nothing left to celebrate.

However, the consequences of the war are not only limited to Europe. They challenge the dreams of the founders of the European Union, but also affect the North-Atlantic relations between Europe and the United States, United States foreign policy in general, political and military developments in the Pacific and also the trust in the efficacy of the United Nations. The world that was built after the global catastrophe of the Second World War is in shambles.

In politics, crude and often authoritarian forms of governance have become mainstream. When in the late 1990s and the beginning of this century the Italian media tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi seemed to be an exception, his style has now been copied and even surpassed by many. The combination of hubris syndrome, extreme narcissism and psychopathology is now a regular feature in national and international politics, deepening the global political crisis

The Fifteenth International Sakharov Conference in Vilnius will focus not only on the war in Ukraine, but also and in particular in what way the war has altered the global political stage and what escape routes are viable to avoid a global meltdown.

The conference takes place in the Palace of the Grand Dukes in Vilnius and will consist of a public part and a session between closed doors under Chatham House Rule for invitees only.

The public part consists of four panels with three or four speakers each, and are moderated by expert moderators Janet Anderson and Janet Gunn. Most of the panel members are senior experts and politicians with a long track record in science and politics dating back to the Cold War period. Following brief presentations and moderated interaction between panel members, the panel is challenged by a group of young experts from Georgia, Lithuania and Ukraine, after which the floor is opened for discussion with the audience.

 Between the second, third and fourth panels we will have one pre-recorded presentation introducing the subject.