The Impact Group EU-ASEAN Perspectives brings together young people from the EU and ASEAN to discuss current issues and develop proposals for the future of interregional relations. What emerged as a thought experiment for better use of online opportunities, became a complete success.
With its EU-ASEAN-Perspectives-Dialogue (EUAP), CISS created a network of students and young professionals interested in debating empirical and normative questions of EU-ASEAN relations. Thereby, the Impact Group aims to close the gap between academic and policy discourse. To this end, the participants – a team of master’s students, young researchers, and young professionals from eight different countries in Europe and Southeast Asia – exchanged their perspectives on interregional issues via online formats. This complex project was carried out through communication technologies such as Skype, Facebook, and GoogleDocs with a relatively small financial budget. Therefore, it also served as a pilot project to rethink and implement new and more flexible ways of knowledge transfer and dialogue formats. What seems barely groundbreaking in current times in which remote work and online communication have become the new normal, was back in 2014 innovative and progressive ways to organize dialogue and workshops.

The results of the online exchange were consolidated in a policy paper on the subject of “Does the EU miss out on the Asian Century?”. In 2014, the results were presented in the German Bundestag as well as in a final panel discussion at the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt in Berlin.

Another highlight in 2014 was CISS’s participation in the “Review 2014” initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office with the aim to initiate a debate on German foreign policy and its future with citizens. Two CISS team members, Kilian Spandler and Hanna Pfeifer reached the final round of an essay competition with their essay “Building complexity instead of reducing it – Against a policy of new German responsibility”. They were then invited to Berlin for a meeting with Foreign Minister Steinmeier in October to discuss their views. Shortly afterward we dealt with the topic in a more specific way in Munich during a panel discussion on German responsibility in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We still have great memories from a lively exchange between the more than 200 visitors and the high-level panelists from the German Federal Foreign Office, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Munich, and Upper Bavaria, the German-Palestinian Society of Germany, and the Bundeswehr University Munich.

If our imaginary time travel inspired you to become a part of CISS’s EU-ASEAN network: the Impact Group is currently conceptualizing its fourth episode. Stay tuned for more information!

The uniqueness of the programme thereby lies in two aspects: first, LACalytics is organized by and targeted at students and young professionals and provides them with a platform to share their opinion and to express their views on EU-LAC relations. The programme publishes articles that cover topics of relevance in Europe as well as in LAC, thus fulfilling the second aim: bi-regionality. This aim is as well fulfilled on a very personal level as the articles have been co-authored by one author from Europe and one from either Latin America or the Caribbean. The authors thereby worked with case studies to underline that Europe and the LAC-region – regardless all the differences not only between but as well within the regions – in fact share similar challenges, and to outline how both regions can learn from each other.

The articles cover a broad range of topics ranging from politics and economics, to environment, culture, and science. During the conference, the participants debated what they consider being the most pressing issues in Europe and LAC. The first pressing issue was identified as being human rights, social inclusion, and threats to democracy. Topics such as bilingual education for minority linguistic groups, Gender Ideology and LGTB+ rights, social critique in popular culture, and the role of regional organizations concerning authoritarian tendencies within their member states are analysed. The authors conclude that both, Europe and the LAC-region, need to strengthen the protection of minority rights and foster communication and mutual understanding. This includes a stronger role of regional organisations in protecting democracy.

Research on gender-inclusive climate finance builds the bridge to another key topic of relevance in both regions: climate change and sustainability. Additionally, socio- environmental impacts of gold exploitation, flood management systems, and approaches of development banks on how to combat deforestation are the research focus of the articles. Taking gender equality into account and thus strengthening the role of women was identified as one of the key success factors, as well as respecting indigenous techniques and bi-regional knowledge exchanges. Moreover, an article looking at the sustainability of lithium batteries highlights that we must not forget about the ripple effects that their usage will have on other parts of the world because global challenges require global solutions.

The shift in global power dynamics was considered being the third pressing issue, with a special focus on how the increasing presence of China in the LAC-region influences future EU-LAC relations. Diversification, appropriate regulatory framework and expanding technological cooperation hold economic and political opportunities for macroeconomic stability and strong political ties with communication and knowledge exchange being key issues. During the conference, the participants engaged in vivid debates with their peers. The findings were presented during a public event attended by representatives of the German Federal Foreign Office, the EU-LAC Foundation, the Diplomatic Corps, several companies, and the civil society.

This article was published in December’s (2018) issue of the Diplomatic Magazine.

To find out more about the participants of the LACalytics 2018 programme, feel free to download our participants booklet here.