Connecting Civil Societies
16-18 June 2004, Barcelona, Spain

Connecting Civil Societies
16-18 June 2004, Barcelona, Spain

We are hosting a workshop at this conference:

Workshop on International Relations, Regionalisation Processes and Security Issues
Hosted by the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS)
17 June 2004

Concept

Under current circumstances, Asia and Europe have agreed on an increasing number of issues concerning regional stability and global security.

Nevertheless, because of different historical, cultural background, and varied political, economical, and social trajectories, the agenda and mechanisms of Asia and Europe in the fied of international relations, regionalisation processes and security issues, are, to a large extent, distinct from one another.

While the EU is currently confronted with the challenge of integrating the foreign and security policies of its new member states into its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Asian regional integration in the field of regional and international politics and security remains weak. EU-Asia co-operation in the field of international relations and international security hasn't reached its potential yet.

Despite the differences with respect to the status and goals of civil society Europe and Asia, the role of Civil Society formulating and implementing foreign and security policies remains limited both in an enlarged Europe and Asia. 
 
Therefore, objective recognition of these challenges and differences is useful for better mutual understanding and closer dialogue and cooperation between the two regions.

In order to assure more productive coordination and cooperation, and a more constructive role in international matters, there is great scope for civil society organisations in Asia and Europe to enhance their communication and mutual understanding on these issues, and seek areas of possible co-operation.

The workshop will seek to identify areas where co-operation between European and Asian non-governmental actors and organisations can be relevant to influence the foreign and security policy-making process in both an enlarged Europe and Asia.  
 
It will also be assessed how ASEM and CSCAP, a track-II security forum for the Asia-Pacific region, can serve as platforms to promote and enhance Europe-Asia inter-regional co-operation between non-governmental actors and organisations in the field of international politics and relations.


Due to the limited time available during the workshop, participants are of course not expected to elaborate in great depth on the issues mentioned above. However, discussions should be focussed on establishing common ground, taking stock of past successes and failures and seeking approaches and solutions to tackle these issues through greater co-operation and more partnerships between Asian and European civil society organisations. The discussion should indeed be solution oriented, and lead to the formulation of concrete and feasible recommendations, which should also contribute to the enhancement of Asia-Europe co-operation in this area.

Download the List Of Participants (pdf)

More information can be found on the ASEF Website