Europe's geopolitical power in the face of America's authoritarian turn
- Milada Anna Vachudova
- Date
- Wednesday 21 May 2025
- Time
- Location
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- 3.48
The challenges facing European states in the quest for security have come into sharp relief in 2025 as the United States has become an unreliable partner. The new US administration is attacking democratic allies and currying favor with authoritarian regimes. By withdrawing military and intelligence aid from Ukraine, it is strengthening the hand of a weakened Russia instead of helping Ukraine achieve a just peace. Can Europe dramatically ramp up its aid to Ukraine and also its own defense capabilities — even with the UK outside of the EU and authoritarian-minded regimes inside of it? Drawing on work coauthored with Nadiia Koval, I argue in this talk that defending liberal democratic values is an essential foundation of the EU's current and potential geopolitical power — and should drive the expansion of its defense capabilities as well as its soft power to fill the void left by an autocratizing United States.
About the speaker
Milada Anna Vachudova is a Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her current projects include protest in defense of liberal democracy across Europe, the revival of EU enlargement, and Ukraine’s path to EU membership amidst the transformation of European politics and institutions owing to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Her recent articles explore the trajectories of European states due to strengthening ethnopopulism and democratic backsliding – and how these changes are impacting party systems and civic participation. She is part of the core team of the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) on the positions of political parties across Europe. Professor Vachudova holds a B.A. from Stanford University. As a British Marshall Scholar, she completed an M.Phil. and a D.Phil. at St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.
She has held fellowships and grants from the European University Institute (EUI), the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, the Center of International Studies at Princeton University, the US State Department, and other institutions.