The 2nd week of this Study Period addressing NATO in Transformation ran from Monday 12th to Friday 16th October. In addition to members of the Senior Course, the Study Period was attended by participants in the NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC), Integrated Partner Orientation Course (IPOC) and Modular Short Course (MSC). The academic programme comprised lectures dealing with NATO’s Current Operations, NATO’s partnership initiatives and the Future of NATO as it looks to develop its new Strategic Concept.
Continuing our examination of the strategic challenges posed by current NATO operations, the week began with the visit of Rear Admiral Jacques DE SOLMS, Acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at Allied Joint Force Command Naples. Admiral De Solms, who is an ancien of NDC Senior Course 99 (in 2001-02), spoke about the challenges of the current and recent operations for which JFC Naples is responsible, in Kosovo, in the Mediterranean, off the Horn of Africa, as well as the NATO training mission in Iraq.
On Tuesday 13th October, a series of lectures on NATO partnership initiatives was launched by Prof. Carlo MASALA, of the International Relations University of the German Armed Forces, speaking on Partnership for Peace. Prof. Viktor KREMENYUK, from the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, then discussed in more detail NATO relations with Russia, and the day’s programme concluded with a presentation on NATO-Ukraine relations from Mr Leonid POLYAKOV, a former Vice Minister of Defence of Ukraine. All three speakers examined the development of these partnerships, the current state of the relationships, and the prospects for future developments.
The same approach was taken on Wednesday 15th October by Dr Alberto BIN, Head of the Regional Affairs Section at NATO HQ, and Prof. Bichara KHADER, Director of the Arab Study and Research Center of the University of Louvain, who gave presentations, from their different academic and professional backgrounds, covering the Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.
In between these two sessions, Course Members had the opportunity to take a break from the academic programme, and take advantage of the cultural and religious heritage of the city of Rome, with the chance to attend an audience with his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, followed by a guided tour of the collections of the Vatican Museums.
The Study Period concluded with a panel of lectures on the topic “The Future Development of NATO: Towards a New Strategic Concept”. The speakers were Mr Michael RÜHLE, Head of Speechwriting and Senior Policy Advisor in the Policy Planning Unit of the NATO Secretary General’s Private Office, and Prof. Andrew MICHTA, Buckman Distinguished Professor of International Studies at Rhodes College ( Memphis, Tennessee). These lectures brought together many of the topics and themes covered over the two weeks of the Study Period, providing a most fitting way to round off the academic programme.
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