IIEA Talks

Social protection is a set of policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability over a lifetime and has consistently proved to be an indispensable policy tool for realising multiple human rights. It ensures that people can navigate everyday life challenges with equanimity and economic security and equips societies to deal with crises. In his keynote address to the IIEA, ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo outlines how social protection is a precondition for achieving inclusive and sustainable development and is an engine of development itself. He will discuss how the ILO’s strategy for building social protection systems, guided by international labour standards, can ensure that all countries build and maintain systems such as access to essential health care and to basic income security. He explores how pursuing the objective of universal social protection is both an ethical and rational choice and one that paves the way for social justice for all. Despite laudable progress made in expanding social protection in recent years, today, some 4 billion people are totally unprotected due to significant underinvestment. While closing this 'financing gap' is a challenge, it is not unsurmountable. About the Speaker: Gilbert F. Houngbo was elected by the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as its 11th Director-General, the first African to hold the position. Prior to this, Mr Houngbo was the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He previously served as Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships at the ILO. A former Prime Minister of Togo, he also held several posts at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and as Director of Finance at the International Bank of Mali. Mr Houngbo is also Chair of UN-Water and Chair of the Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute.

Othon Anastasakis, Director of South East European Studies at Oxford; Fiona Mullen, founder of Sapienta Economics; and Kenneth Thompson, former Irish ambassador to Turkey, in conversation with Dan O’Brien, IIEA Chief Economist

A strong role for private financing through deep and liquid capital markets will be essential for meeting the EU’s economic and social policy objectives. In his address to the IIEA, John Berrigan, Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission, outlines the importance of moving ahead on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) and assesses the state of play of the implementation of the CMU Action Plan. Mr Berrigan also discusses associated opportunities and challenges during the remainder of the von der Leyen Commission’s term. About the Speaker: John Berrigan is the Director-General in DG FISMA (Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union) of the European Commission. DG FISMA is responsible for EU-level policy making and legislative initiatives with respect to the financial sector, including Banking Union, Capital Markets Union, sustainable finance, digital finance, anti-money laundering, and sanctions. In this context, John represents the European Commission on the Economic and Financial Committee and the Financial Services Committee, which each report to EU Finance Ministers. John also represents the Commission on the Financial Stability Board, which reports to G20 Finance Ministers. He attends the European Systemic Risk Board and is a permanent observer on the Single Resolution Board.

Politics in the US has become ever more polarised and opinion polls show that American societal values are undergoing a period of accelerating change. Leading pollster, political consultant and commentator, Frank Luntz, discusses these changes and what is driving them. He also assesses the prospects of the political centre-ground in the US being rebuilt. Finally, he considers the possible candidates in next year’s presidential election and offers predictions on the likely victor. About the Speaker: Frank Luntz is among the highest profile political pollsters and commentators in the United States. His "Instant Response" focus group technique has been profiled on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America (on Election Day), and on PBS's award-winning Frontline. He has been a guest on most of the United States’ leading talk shows and he has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Times of London, and The Washington Post. Frank has also worked for more than 50 Fortune 500 companies and CEOs and is a past winner of The Washington Post's coveted "Crystal Ball" award for being the most accurate pundit.

Timothy Garton Ash’s Homelands: A Personal History of Europe (The Bodley Head - Penguin Books) charts events in recent European history from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the Brexit referendum of 2016, with personal insights and anecdotes from the memories of the author. Homelands explores “Europe” beyond the borders of the EU, navigating the continent’s accomplishments and crises over the past 80 years. As a European expert, and a Briton who feels that Europe is home, Timothy Garton Ash speaks to the IIEA about the personal, as well as the political, effects of Brexit as well as the wider state of play in European politics. Timothy Garton Ash is Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of ten books of political writing, most recently Homelands: A Personal History of Europe. Mr Garton Ash also writes a column on international affairs in the Guardian, and is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, amongst other journals. Awards he has received for his writing include the Somerset Maugham Award, Prix Européen de l'Essai and George Orwell Prize.

As the world grapples with the impact of overlapping crises, in September 2023, at the United Nations, political leaders will gather to take stock of their collective progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. While great progress has been made on a number of fronts, this has stalled in recent years, with new challenges reversing gains made towards achieving Agenda 2030. The pronounced increase in food prices, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastation caused by climate change and the spread of conflict are wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of the world’s poorest people. There has been a huge impact on levels of hunger and malnutrition, on levels of sexual violence, on access to education, and on women and girls in particular. In his address, Minister of State for International Development and the Diaspora, Seán Fleming, T.D. sets out Ireland’s response to these interlinked challenges. The Irish Government is implementing an ambitious and targeted response in 2023, underpinned by its largest ever allocation for Official Development Assistance. This response remains guided by the principles and priorities of A Better World – Ireland’s Policy for International Development- across its diplomacy, humanitarian response and development interventions – while recognising that for people in Africa and around the world, bearing the weight of these burdens is proving unsustainable.

In the lead up to and since the invasion of Ukraine over a year ago, the critical energy infrastructure of Ukraine and its allies has been targeted through both cyber and kinetic means. Emerging and disruptive technology, such as drones and hypersonic missiles, have been used on the battlefield, and cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns against partner states are on the rise. In her remarks, Dr Lohmann discusses the emerging methods and media being used against Ukraine and its European allies, and what remains to be done to keep critical infrastructure and publics safe in this hybrid warfare environment. About the Speaker: Dr. Sarah Lohmann is an Acting Assistant Professor in the Henry M. Jackson School for International Studies. Her two new books: What Ukraine Taught NATO about Hybrid Warfare (Nov. 2022) and Countering Terrorism on Tomorrow’s Battlefield (Dec. 2022) were published by the US Army War College Press during her visiting professorship there at the end of 2022. Her current teaching and research focus on cyber and energy security and NATO policy. Previously, she served as the Senior Cyber Fellow with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where she managed projects which aimed to increase agreement between Germany and the United States on improving cybersecurity and creating cybernorms. She has also served as a press spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State, a Fulbright scholar and journalist.

In this interview, IIEA Researcher, Leanne Digney, speaks to UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, about the mandate of her office and the current challenges being faced by human rights defenders worldwide. This interview is part of the Global Europe UN podcast series which is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Joseph Quinlan, Managing Director and Head of Market Strategy for the Chief Investment Office at Bank of America & Michael O’Sullivan, Managing Partner at Harvest Innovation Advisory and a Senior Adviser at LandFall Strategy and WestExec Advisers, in conversation with Dan O’Brien, IIEA Chief Economist

From a shared Celtic past, to their politically and economically developed present, there is much that links Scotland and Ireland. The cultural and historical ties between Scotland and Northern Ireland are particularly close. In the past 10 years, and recently accelerated by Brexit, discussion and debate around the UK’s constitutional future have intensified. In particular, questions arise as to the impact that Scottish constitutional change would have on its relationship with Ireland, and what the implications of any such change would be for Northern Ireland. In this panel discussion, leading politicians and academics from Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland discuss the Scotland-Ireland relationship, and the likely implications of Scottish constitutional change for Northern Ireland. About the Speakers: Mhairi Black is the SNP Member of Parliament for Paisley and Renfrewshire South. Since December 2022 she has also been the SNP Deputy Leader in the House of Commons. Ms Black was first elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2015 General Election while she was still completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow. At 20 years old, she was the youngest MP to be elected since the 1832 Reform Act and she remained the “Baby of the House” until 2019. Ms Black was reelected as a Member of Parliament in both the 2017 and 2019 General Elections. Mike Nesbitt is the UUP Member of the Legislative Assembly for Strangford. He was first elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011, following a successful career in broadcasting for the BBC and UTV. Mr Nesbitt was elected as leader of the UUP in 2012. His time as leader coincided with several significant events in Northern Irish politics, including the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the 2016 centenaries of the Battle of the Somme and the Easter Rising, and the collapse of Stormont over the RHI scandal. Mr Nesbitt’s leadership of the UUP was notable for his engagement with political nationalism and with Irish culture and heritage in Northern Ireland. Nicola McEwen is the Professor of Public Policy in the University of Glasgow. Between 2001 and 2022, she taught politics at the University of Edinburgh, where she became Professor of Territorial Politics in 2014. She was also a founding co-director at the Centre for Constitutional Change, a leading Centre for the study of research the United Kingdom’s changing constitutional relationships. From 2019-2022, she led a major research project at the Centre, titled “A Family of Nations? Brexit, Devolution and the Union”. Professor McEwen has published widely on territorial politics, Scottish politics, devolution, identity politics, and nationalism. Graham Walker is an Emeritus Professor at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests include the political history and contemporary politics of Scotland and Northern Ireland, particularly the politics of Unionism, religious identity in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the history and contemporary role of the Labour movement in the United Kingdom. He has published extensively on Scottish and Northern Irish politics, and most recently co-authored “Ties that Bind? Scotland, NI and the Union”, which examines the interaction and interdependence of politics in the devolved jurisdictions of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Dr Paul Gillespie directs the “Constitutional Futures after Brexit” Project in UCD's Centre for Peace and Conflict Research (formerly the Institute for British-Irish Studies). Dr Gillespie is also a columnist, and a former foreign-policy editor, with The Irish Times. He has published widely on British-Irish relations, European integration issues, Irish foreign policy, and Europe-Asia relations, and he is co-editor of “Britain and Europe: The Endgame: An Irish Perspective”. Dr Gillespie is also a longstanding member of the IIEA’s UK Group.