Leangkollen Security Conference 2019 | The Future of Transatlantic Relations: Security, Policy, and Technology
- Date
- -
- Location
- The Norwegian Nobel Institute / The Leangkollen Conference Center
The 2019 edition of the Conference took place between February 4th and 5th. This year the conference focused on the challenges facing the multilateral order and transatlantic relations, and how the current revolution in civil-military technologies is changing the power dynamics on the international stage.
You can watch the full conference by visiting our Youtube-channel:
Leangkollen Security Conference 2019
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This year’s conference title “The Future of Transatlantic Relations: Security, Policy and Technology” sought to address key trends pertaining to the challenges facing the multilateral order and transatlantic relations, and the impacts of technological developments on our political and military spheres. We were honoured to have Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Rose Gottemoeller, open the Conference together with the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ine Eriksen Søreide. Together they focused our attention towards the importance of defending the security architecture in Europe and maintaining strong transatlantic ties. Following their presentations, Mr. August Cole, research fellow at the Atlantic Council, talked about the geopolitics of technology and the human and ethical consequences of the ongoing changes caused by technology. His presentation was also a foreshadowing to the topics covered on the second day of the conference.
The remainder of day one discussed American leadership and European cohesion, the role and viewpoints of Russia and China, and the future of democracy with the digital age and digital authoritarianism as a backdrop. The second day of the conference turned its attention to the military aspects of new technology, and how major advances in technologies such as AI, cyber, drones and robots are expanding the possibilities of warfare and actualize the debate concerning the interplay between technology and humans. Furthermore, the implications of new technology and threat scenarios on NATO’s article five was discussed, in addition to how differences in technological advancements between states and stakeholders may play into the overall global distribution of power.
Other speakers which attended the conference were Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs, Fyodor Lukyanov, Columnist at The Diplomat and Member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, Mercy A. Kuo, and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, James Kirchick.
See the full conference program here.