Conference on NATO’s Resilience Challenges and Role in the Changing Geopolitical Landscape
On 5 February, the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University (VU) is hosting an international conference where Lithuanian and Ukrainian researchers as well as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) representatives will discuss the role of the Alliance in the changing international geopolitical landscape.
The year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Lithuania’s accession to NATO – the country joined the Alliance on 29 March 2004. During the last 20 years, the nature and scale of threats to international peace and security have been changing; the organisation has been developing and transforming, while Lithuania has evolved too. In the ever-changing global geopolitical landscape, NATO’s strengths are set to be inevitably and repeatedly tested. This international conference is intended to discuss NATO’s role and response to these challenges.
‘NATO is not a guarantee of absolute security as such; it is not a given but rather a commitment to security, a shared responsibility of the Alliance and each of its members. It now also entails the responsibility to help Ukraine, both individually and jointly, for as long as it is necessary,’ says Assoc. Prof. Dr Indrė Isokaitė-Valužė from the VU Faculty of Law. According to her, NATO has often been at the forefront of international law development. The organisation has, in a sense, dictated innovations, including response to large-scale terrorist attacks, the international community’s responsibility to prevent or halt genocide and other international crimes, as well as to seek accountability for such atrocities. The complex global geopolitical context and the maze of international law have required a lot of courage. ‘It will be no less necessary in the years to come, as international peace and security remains paralysed in the hands of the United Nations Security Council amid escalating tensions and uncertainty around the globe. Beyond the shared expectations related to the guarantees enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, there are plenty of ways to contribute to the common goal. It will take unity, mutual trust, and readiness to evolve, respond to threats in a timely and appropriate manner, or, better still, prevent them.’
The conference will be opened by Arvydas Anušauskas, Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Haroldas Šinkūnas, Dean of the VU Faculty of Law. In the first part of the event, Dr Kęstutis Paulauskas, Senior Strategy Officer at NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, will share his insights on NATO and its future; Dr Vaidotas Urbelis, Defence Policy Director at the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, will present the Alliance’s challenges and priorities approaching the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington; Assoc. Prof. Dr Indrė Isokaitė-Valužė from the VU Faculty of Law will discuss NATO’s cooperation with the United Nations and the lessons learned; and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Deividas Šlekys from the VU Institute of International Relations and Political Science will shed light on the fusion of collective and total defence during Lithuania’s 20 years in NATO.
The second part of the conference will focus on NATO enlargement and cooperation with the European Union, its response to hybrid threats, energy security issues, and the social integration of soldiers in the armed forces. Presentations will be made by researchers from the VU Faculty of Law, the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (the Institute of Law and the Institute of Sociology), the Faculty of Law of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the Faculty of International Relations of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Szczecin.
The international conference, held in Lithuanian and English, will take place at the VU Library Scholarly Communication and Information Centre (Saulėtekio al. 5). The registration form can be found here.