SETA DC

The world came to a screeching halt after George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis, was murdered by a police officer. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, Derek Chauvin put his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck, causing him to die by asphyxiation. This horrific incident caused unprecedented protests not only across the US but around the world on nearly every continent in support of George Floyd and condemning police brutality. The Chinese foreign ministry called racism in the US “a chronic disease of American society” in an apparent jab at the US government, which had condemned the crackdown on protests in Hong Kong. Protests spread to Europe, resulting in clashes in some instances. In the Middle East, the images of support for the protests from war-torn Syria were widely shared in social media. As the US is dealing with how to confront racism at home, the Floyd protests will likely have implications for America’s global image and credibility.  

Since the announcement of Trump peace plan in January as the “solution” to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the expectation for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank has become an increasing likelihood. The recently established unity government in Israel is preparing to present a plan to extend Israeli sovereignty to West Bank at the beginning of July. It remains unclear how far Israel is willing to go and what reaction it will trigger from Palestinians. Would it lead to an escalation or even a renewed conflict? Will such a move lead to a strong or a more muted response from the regional powers? How will the Arab states and countries like Turkey might react?  The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host an expert panel discussion to discuss the implications of Israel’s potential annexation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank with Geoffrey Aronson, Khaled Elgindy, and Lara Friedman. This session is moderated by Kadir Ustun.

The SETA Foundation at Washington, DC is pleased to host an expert panel discussion on the ongoing conflict in Libya with Muhittin Ataman, Director of Foreign Policy Program at the SETA Foundation and Silvia Colombo, Head of Italy's Foreign Policy Program at Istituto Affari Internazionali. The discussion is moderated by Kadir Ustun, Executive Director at the SETA Foundation at Washington DC.

As the United States moves ever closer to the November elections, the competition begins to heat up. For the Democrats, former Vice President Joe Biden is set to be the presumptive nominee to take on the Republican’s President Trump at the ballot box. As in 2016, the candidates are clearly differentiated from one another, not only in terms of policy, but also in form. President Trump is clearly continuing his America First policies, withdrawing from international organizations such as the WHO and turning further into isolationism. Biden, on the other hand, prefers to follow the path of President Barack Obama in engaging with the rest of the world. One thing that both candidates appear to agree on is further antagonism with China, as they accuse one another of perceived weakness in relation to the Asian giant. The coronavirus has thrown the global economic and political situation into chaos and how the next president might define US foreign policy in the years ahead remains an open question.

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a distinguished panel to discuss the foreign policy implications of US Elections in November with The Honorable Robert Wexler, President of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and Mark Perry, independent author, historian and journalist. This session is moderated by Kilic B. Kanat, Research Director at SETA DC.

We live in a period of great uncertainty about the fate of America’s global leadership. Many believe that Donald Trump’s presidency marks the end of liberal international order-the very system of global institutions, rules, and values that shaped the American international system since the end of World War II. Trump’s repeated rejection of liberal order, criticisms of long-term allies of the US, and affinity for authoritarian leaders certainly undermines the American international system, but the truth is that liberal international order has been quietly eroding for at least 15 years.

In Exit from Hegemony, Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon develop a new, integrated approach to understanding the rise and decline of hegemonic orders. Their approach identifies three distinct ways in which the liberal international order is undergoing fundamental transformation. First, Russia and China have targeted the order, positioning themselves as revisionist powers by establishing alternative regional institutions and pushing counter-norms. Second, weaker states are hollowing out the order by seeking patronage and security partnership from nations outside of the order, such as Saudi Arabia and China. Even though they do not always seek to disrupt American hegemony, these new patron-client relationships lack the same liberal political and economic conditions as those involving the United States and its democratic allies. Third, a new series of transnational networks emphasizing illiberalism, nationalism, and right-wing values increasing challenges the anti-authoritarian, progressive transnational networks of the 1990s. These three pathways erode the primacy of the liberal international order from above, laterally, and from below. The Trump administration, with its “America First” doctrine, accelerates all three processes, critically lessening America’s position as a world power.

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a book discussion on Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order with its authors, Alexander Cooley of Columbia University and Daniel Nexon of Georgetown University. This session is moderated by Kilic B. Kanat, Research Director at SETA DC. 

As the world has turned its focus to the global pandemic, the conflict between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and General Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has continued unabated. Despite multiple calls for ceasefires, Haftar’s forces have continued to advance against Tripoli, bombing hospitals, shelling areas, killing civilians. Turkey’s support for the internationally recognized government in Tripoli has allowed GNA to make significant advances in recent months against LNA, which is supported by regional actors such as Russia, Egypt, and the UAE. As the regional geopolitics bears heavily on the situation in Libya, the ongoing conflict has implications for the Eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East.

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host an expert panel discussion on the Libyan conflict with Karim Mezran of Atlantic Council and Talha Kose of Ibn Haldun University. This session is moderated by Kadir Ustun, Executive Director at SETA DC.

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted vulnerable populations around the world. With a fundamentally ill-equipped healthcare system, continuous bombing of hospitals and the use of humanitarian aid as a weapon of war by the Assad regime, the Syrian population is suffering greatly. While the health risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic remain real, the civil war dynamics and the international players’ positions have not changed significantly in the wake of the outbreak. The humanitarian situation in Syria remains a main concern for the regional countries while the strategic dynamics have implications for the U.S.

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a webinar event to discuss the pandemic’s humanitarian and strategic implications for the U.S. policy in Syria with Colonel (Retired) Richard Outzen of the State Department, Will Todman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Jomana Qaddour of Atlantic Council. This session is moderated by Kadir Ustun, Executive Director at SETA DC.

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to redefine the US-China relationship in the months and years ahead. President Trump as well as the Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden have both leveled heavy criticism against China, charging that the country exacerbated the problem by misleading the world about the origins and the nature of the threat. The US wariness over the increasing economic and military power of China has been further complicated by the Trump administration’s on-and-off trade war in recent years. Now, the relationship will take on a global public health dimension due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has exacted enormous costs on the world.

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a webinar event to discuss these questions and the future of US-China relations with James J. Carafano of The Heritage Foundation and Matthew Kroenig of Georgetown University. This session is moderated by Kilic B. Kanat, Research Director at SETA DC.

From various military missions around the world to membership in multilateral organizations such as the NATO alliance, the US remains deeply involved in international security despite the Trump administration’s preference for bilateral relationships. Questions and the debate over America’s role in international security have become even more relevant in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The global pandemic has exacerbated the existing uncertain security environment with unprecedented financial and economic consequences for the world. Given the coming budgetary pressures, the US may reevaluate the necessity of many of its security commitments. These new realities will almost certainly trigger a review of the US international security policies, which might result in a renewed isolationism, a reinvigorated internationalism, a greater focus on great power competition or a combination of these.

SETA DC is pleased host an online webinar event to discuss how the US might deal with international security in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with Mary Beth Long, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and Luke Coffey, Director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. This session is moderated by Kadir Ustun, Executive Director at SETA DC.

The US leadership, or lack thereof, on a host of global issues has been debated for some time now. The global financial crisis of 2008, international sanctions, Arab Spring, climate change, China’s increasing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific among other issues all have raised questions about various aspects of US leadership. Whether and to what extent the US should lead has become a recurring theme. Both Presidents Obama and Trump have grappled with this question while offering different visions, namely internationalist and nationalist. In the wake of a historic crisis with the emergence of COVID-19, the US leadership is yet again a major topic of discussion. As countries have dealt with this unprecedented challenge, they have tended to focus within national borders. President Trump even said this was proof that his America First approach has been vindicated. What does the US approach to the crisis tell us about the future of its relations with Europe or China? What is the possibility of creating a global response at this point in time? How will the US leadership be shaped going forward?

SETA DC is pleased to host an online webinar event to discuss the question of US leadership in yet another moment of unprecedented crisis with Philip H. Gordon, Mary and David Boies Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at Council on Foreign Relations and Shadi Hamid, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at The Brookings Institution. This session is moderated by Kilic B. Kanat, Research Director at SETA DC.