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HIKMA SUMMIT
OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
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The Second Edition of the Hikma Summit of International Relations aims to look "beyond crises", investigating those long-term processes that are not determined but only accelerated by ongoing crises.
The term "crisis", from the Greek krisis choice, from krino distinguish, has today taken on a negative, almost catastrophic connotation, but its etymology suggests looking at crises as moments of reflection, of evaluation.
The choices that crises confront us with may prove to be prerequisites for positive change.
Our objective is to create an opportunity to look optimistically at change and innovation, involving young people in major policy discussions: sustainability, inequalities and technology.
SUSTAINABILITY
Inequalities are structural: they shape any intelligible phenomenon and matter within the most diverse societies. If we look beyond their cultural heritage, are we able to see how the Anthropocene is amplifying old and new inequalities?
Climate change is deeply linked to the modern human way of life: the capitalist system has been driving it for decades but it leads to many other symptoms of human inability to integrate and interact on Earth in a way that respects future generations and the most vulnerable people who are suffering catastrophic environmental instability.
In this sense, other questions will need our answer: is a revolution in this area possible within the capitalist social and economic framework? Let us value consciousness, knowledge and commitment to a real deep analysis of the causes and consequences of our actions in order to reverse those to which we are accustomed. Here is our challenge: to shape the future by changing crises into possibilities by moving from blame to opportunity.
Climate change: what challenge for politics?
Friday 14th 7pm
Robert Keohane
The problem of climate change continually calls for a coordinated policy response among countries. But are we sure what is the best way to handle it at the supranational level? Should this current problem be addressed centrally, or do nations get better results when they decide for themselves?
Robert Keohane, one of the leading academics working in the field of IR, will explore with us the management of climate change within the larger international arena, trying to explain this necessary correlation under the lens of international relations.
Climate change and migrations: from local issues to global challenges
Friday 14th 10 am
Carlotta Sami and Grammenos Mastrojeni
Migration and climate change are two of the main challenge of the XXI century, but what is the existing relationship between the two issues? All the world is involved, directly or indirectly: drought, floods, hurricanes, exploitation of natural resources. But how are the people answering to this challenge? Fragile states are even more fragile and a percentage of world people still have no voice in claiming social justice and find out difficulties in applying to their right to escape a situation which they did not choose. The webinar aim to investigate these major nowadays' issues. Professor Mastrojeni will analyse the conflicts related to the issues and will have a focus on the complexity in the Mediterranean Sea. UNHCR's spokeperson Sami will delve the issue of climate change as structural cause of migration in its national and international dimension.
Climate policies and structural inequalities
Saturday 15th 7 pm
Robert Pollin
Inequalities are structural: they shape any intelligible phenomenon and matter within the most diverse societies. If we look beyond their cultural heritage, are we able to see how the Anthropocene is amplifying old and new inequalities?
Climate change is profoundly linked to the human modern way of life: the capitalist system has guided it since decades but it leads to many other symptoms of human incapability to integrate and interact on the Earth respectfully for future generations and the most vulnerable people which are suffering catastrophic encìvironmental instability.
In this respect, other questions will need our response: is it possible for a revolution in this domain within the capitalist social and economic frame? How should we act in terms of political communities and economic actors? How can we save time in order to allow to needing, displaced, poor global citizens not to pay the consequences of the responsibility of rich ones?
INEQUALITIES
There was once the American Dream, founded by tenacious people ready to climb the ladder of class; but is it possible to climb it today, or better still does this ladder really exist? It depends on who you ask. Globalisation has extinguished poverty to a large extent, but the price has been the immobility of those who are the poorest and the richest in the world.
The former can’t climb, the latter can’t fall.
During HSIR we will delve into nowadays inequalities by analyzing the economic and sociologic causes and by exploring the political consequences arising from that, regarding work, migration and gender gap. From this Summit you will be able to grasp the framework from which much of what we experience nowadays originates, through the tools provided by the contributions of our outstanding speakers and the possibility of engaging in debates with fellow students.
Global Inequalities in an ever-changing world
Saturday 15th 5 pm
Joseph Stiglitz
We live in a time of increasing inequalities. Indeed, the pandemic has exacerbated economic disparities across the globe, dramatically affecting many people’s lives. Global disparities have been growing for long in the last decades, and many started to look at them as a normal feature of our reality.
But it hasn’t been always like that. Why has this happened?
Professor Stiglitz will help us to answer this question by looking at the roots of the problem. With him, we aim to get a better understanding of the structural pattern of global inequality. We will try to understand what’s gone wrong in these last years and what can be done to improve the system in the future.
Gender and IR: Conversations about the Past, Present and Future
Sunday 16th 5 pm
J. Ann Tickner
The webinar aims at gaining a deeper knowledge of the fundamental patterns of the lack of equalitarian and progressive explanations in the traditional academic theoric debate within the discipline of IR.
The expertise of J. Ann Tickner will also lead us to the understanding of what's next for International Relations and how gender, human, empathic, economic equalities within gender may contribute to the fulfilment of global objects by deploying institutional and social both solidarity and inclusion.
Starting from how the IR needed a gender approach in order to complete and realistically define the complex world we live in, we will stress together some of key phenomena of International Politics which are subjected to the lack of an open perspective and how this insufficiency is linked with the traditional narration of the IR.
Power to the People: solutions to economic conflicts
Friday 14th 5 pm
Harriet Lamb
How the race for resources, the struggle for better living possibilities and labour exploitation are linked to inequalities generated by economic advancements?
We will debate such complex and fundamental issues which involve our everyday life as citizens, consumers and individuals aiming at identifying the connection between social changes and the process of equality concretisation.
In this light, the most vulnerable people affected by global market failures will be the starting point of our reflection as some civil society outmost examples teach global leaders how to restore hope onto a fair and equal global trade.
Food market and inequalities: a global perspective
TECHNOLOGY
What is the relation between global food markets and inequalities? World development is ineluctably linked to social justice and markets security: as a result global food production and distribution cannot escape from being analysed through the lens of structural dimension of international trade controversies
Understanding how global food markets may affect rural communities resilience is the first fundamental step towards a more ethical, sustainable, and inclusive approach to buying and consuming food. In this conference we will look at how the relation between food security and rural poverty has been studied up to now, as well as deepening how we are called to take action as individuals, consumers, and future policymakers.
Saturday 15th 11 am
Maximo Torero
If great announcements in history are shaped by technological innovation, at what stage are we now?
International Politics faces day to day challenges in the sector of technological issue: from securing from cyber warfare to allowing full access to digitalisation from artificial intelligence to surveillance, from information truth to freedom of speech and social media.
Which is the impact of new technological innovations on international relations and conflicts development? HSIR is the occasion to gain the perspective of global policy makers and experts around the main technological and digital advancements that are restructuring governance efforts for security and cooperation. Our aim is to comprehend how to act in the future for security and justice in these particular sectors.
Urban security and information control: an ethical issue
Saturday 15th 7.30 pm
David Murakami Wood
How do cities, political matters, and security systems develop together? David Murakami Wood, an expert in Surveillance Capitalism and its ethics implications from Queen's University in Ontario, will guide us into the world of surveillance in cities.
We will look into how the governments of each country decide on implementing cameras, checks, and other security systems in cities, and what are the purposes they have in mind. Moreover, we will look into the consequences of such arrangements for the freedom of citizens, expLoring how the digital age renders it much easier to collect information through secondary methods, and how people may sometimes not be aware that their privacy is being violated. The conference, focusing on the ethical standards and outcomes, will also include a number of case studies arising from the expertise of Dr. Murakami Wood, as well as anasyling the geopolitical context in which surveillance in cities takes place.
The surveillance capitalism
Sunday 16th 6.30 pm
Shoshana Zuboff
Tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook persuaded us to give up our privacy for the sake of convenience and our personal information gathered by these companies are used to predict our behaviour, to influence and modify it.
This is the “surveillance capitalism”. How this has disastrous consequences for democracy and freedom?
How will this fusion of capitalism and the digital shape our values and define our future? Professor Zuboff will help us to answer these questions.
Cybersecurity challenges: governments into the international system
The Panel conference between the experts Fabio Rugge and Giovanni Ziccardi will focus on two issues in cybersecurity: the global, international relations, and the state, individual level. We will explore this very contemporary thematics and try to understand how different actors approach the use of technology for securiy purposes. In particular, Dr. Rugge will explain how inter-state alliances, be that NATO, the EU, or the Arab Union, as well as single "big powers" make use of technology in strategic decisions regarding military and diplomacy. Dr. Ziccardi, instead, will delve into cybersecurity at a national level: we will look at how governments adapt technology to their own needs and political goals, and what the consequences are on the citizens. Information, warfare, diplomacy, politics, and citizens' rights are the core concepts of the conference, aiming at giving a comprehensive view of the topic of cybersecurity, that we often hear but maybe do not know in depth.
Saturday 15th 9.30 am
Fabio Rugge e Giovanni Ziccardi
Sustainability
Inequalities
Technology
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