EUAP Annual Conference 2013: Security Communities and Security Risk Management in Europe & East Asia.

Date: 28-29 November 2013
Place: The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus HKU.

Rationale:
The notion of ‘security communities’, first coined by Karl Deutsch, continues to be a major framework of reference for the making sense of the complex channels of cooperation on security risks in Europe and the transatlantic area. In Europe, however, the processes of closer integration on security affairs – both within Europe and with the US – have stalled and major rifts have opened up among EU member states over how to respond to the new security challenges of the 21st century.

Similarly, in East Asia, increasing trade and economic interdependence have not led to the formation of closer security ties or the formation of salient regional arrangements for managing security risks. East Asian security remains dominated by interlinking strategic arrangements with the US one the one hand and widespread misgivings about the growing influence of China on the other.

In face of these developments, what do the European and East Asian experiences tell us about the management of the ever more pressing traditional and non- traditional security risks? How can the diverging trends in European and Asian management of security risks be accounted for and what kind of consequences does this have for Europe-China cooperation in strategic affairs and conflict resolution around the world? Which dynamics, institutions, and principles underpin sustainable security arrangements and how can these be generated?