Summer 2010 - St Antony's College - University of Oxford

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A a P I c g i St Antony’s Looks at the World Saturday May 8th 2010 saw the College’s second and now annual St Antony’s Looks at The World event. A lecture theatre packed with St Antony’s Fellows, students and honoured guests were deeply engaged in a day of insight and discussion with Timothy Garton Ash, Tariq Ramadan, Thomas Friedman, Sir Adam Roberts, Jenny Corbett and Vernon Bogdanor – each one an Antonian. It may appear that we were lucky that the event took place in the shadow of a hung parliament in the UK and an acute political and economic crisis in the European Union, but perhaps that simply reflects just how intensely relevant discourse is in our College – it was, as the Warden announced, “St Antony’s showing off ”. The first session was led by Governing Body Fellows Professor Tariq Ramadan and Professor Jenny Corbett, with Sir Adam Roberts (President of the British Academy) on “Britain and The World of 2010”. Jenny Corbett offered a perspective on East Asia with Tariq Ramadan concentrating on Muslims in the World and Sir Adam Roberts covering the International System. Professors Jenny Corbett, Tariq Ramadan and Sir Adam Roberts In a day that elsewhere concentrated on Europe, America and then the UK it was a session with real international depth – the speakers could barely get to tea and coffee afterwards, as they were inundated with continuing questions from a fascinated audience. Timothy Garton Ash spoke, in the second session, on “Europe: from VE Day to irrelevance?” He started in an optimistic tone reflecting that where 60m people had died from state-sponsored violence in the first half of the twentieth century, fewer than 1m had suffered that fate in the second half. Full liberation only came, he reminded us all, for those in the East 45 years after the end of WWII. This gradual increase of liberation and union in Europe led him through his talk to the troubled economic circumstances in which the EU now finds itself. When pressed by the audience to give a prediction, he expressed his fear that the Greek crisis was likely to create a major divide in the euro with a northern European euro perhaps emerging to satisfy France and Germany. Professor Vernon Bogdanor Tom Friedman, Pulitzer Prize Winning author and St Antony’s Honorary Fellow, spoke after lunch on “Obama’s World”. For the first half he answered questions from two students, Henning Tamm and Sophia Mann of STAIR (St Antony’s International Review) covering a wide range of themes, including US policies concerning China, the Middle East, and climate change. A s b h 6 w 1 a p o M r Thomas Friedman Professor Timothy Garton Ash
Paul Bergne Memorial Lecture As a Senior Associate Member of St Antony’s from 1995 and, from 2003, founding director of The Oxford Society for the Caspian and Central Asia (TOSCCA), Paul Bergne made an immense contribution to Central Asian studies in Britain. Over his last few years Paul worked tirelessly to organise a range of seminars, lecture series and colloquia relating to the history and culture of Central Asia. In collaboration with the FCO he also arranged three major conferences - “workshops”, as he modestly called them - devoted to the contemporary political landscapes of Turkmenistan, Kazahkstan and Kyrgyzstan; the first of these remains the only such academic gathering of its kind to have taken place anywhere in Europe. Friends, students and professional analysts of Central Asia are widely indebted to Paul’s energies, his talents and his enthusiasms. A family friend of the Bergnes for many years, Rory Stewart, OBE, MP spoke on “War, states and intervention”. Mr Stewart is a politician, diplomat, broadcaster, academic and writer who came to prominence after publishing his celebrated book, The Places in Between, which chronicled his extraordinary 6,000 mile walk from Turkey to Bangladesh which included a memorable six week trek through post-Taliban Afghanistan – it was named one of the top- 10 books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. In 2003, he was appointed as the Coalition Provisional Authority deputy governor of two provinces in Southern Iraq, a period described in his second book, The Prince of the Marshes. Mr Stewart spoke with great passion of his experiences and his thoughts on the recent and current situation in Afghanistan thrilled a full capacity audience. Rory Stewart, OBE, MP St Antony’s Looks at the World continued .... It was an engrossing session but our esteemed alumnus had some sobering analysis for the assembled. On the Middle East he conjectured that a nuclear Iran would create a “permanent Cuban Missile Crisis with no hotline” and on climate change he was equally doleful in his predictions of inertia in the international community. Vernon Bogdanor, Oxford University’s Professor of Government, was due to speak last. Those of us engrossed in the General Election and its aftermath had witnessed his perpetual presence on BBC TV the previous few days and indeed that morning. He had counselled that he might not be able to make it and as we neared the end of Tom Friedman’s talk, there was little expectation that the country’s busiest political commentator would complete the day. Ever the professional, he did however arrive looking refreshed and full of energy. He gave us the assembled a set of fascinating statistics and some much needed analysis on the General Election. He was equivocal about the prospects of a workable government emerging from the result and with great clarity he helped us all understand why. Ranj Majumdar Thomas Friedman with Sophia Mann and Henning Tamm of STAIR
Page 1 and 2: St Antony’s Summer 2010 NEWSLETTE
Page 3: Ralf Dahrendorf Memorial Lecture On
Page 7 and 8: South East European Studies at Oxfo
Page 9 and 10: St Antony’s International Review
Page 11 and 12: St Antony’s Career Path Conferenc
Page 13 and 14: News of Old Antonians News of Old A
Page 15 and 16: Antonian Liaison Officers If you wo

Summer 2010 - St Antony's College - University of Oxford

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