International Research Seminars
Since 1992, the NATO Defense College has led, in cooperation with security-oriented partner organisations in NATO PfP states, annual Partnership for Peace International Research Seminars. These events bring academic and research expertise together with civilian and military officials from NATO and Partner states, to exchange ideas and proposals on international and regional security issues of importance to the Alliance and its Partners.
The Seminars are annually rotated, and have been held in a wide range of PfP states. The 18th and most recent PfP IRS was held in Vienna in February 2010, in partnership with the Austrian Ministry for European and International Affairs and the Federal Ministry for Defence and Sports of the Republic of Austria. The IRS took place as part of Austria’s celebrations in marking its 15th Anniversary of PfP membership, and with the cooperation of the Chairmanship-in-Office of the OSCE.
The wider thematic aim of the seminar was to contribute to the ongoing discussions about the European security architecture. Some two hundred participants gathered over two days to discuss the indivisibility of security in the wider European region. The nature of the pan-European security architecture was discussed, including a wide range of views, from “Vancouver to Vladivostok” and from “Vladivostok to Vancouver”. Key themes, such as arms control and the human dimension of security and energy security were then discussed at length, and a range of proposals were also made.
For more information about the content of the Seminar, see the related NDC Forum Paper “The Indivisibility of Security: Russia and Euro-Atlantic Security”, edited by Dr Andrew Monaghan and available here for free download.
Beginning in 1998, the NDC began to conduct International Research Seminars as part of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue Programme. To date, the NDC has co-sponsored 12 MD International Research Seminars, which take place annually in Rome. For more information about the MD – ICI Programme, see the related NDC Research Paper n. 55 “What future for NATO's Istanbul Cooperation Initiative?”, by Dr Pierre Razoux and available here for free download.
