CIRSD Conference on the Great War

The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) organized a two-day international conference in Belgrade on 30-31 May 2014 entitled “The European Tragedy of 1914 and the Multipolar World of 2014: Lessons Learned.”

An average of 350 people attended each session, held at the Metropol Palace Hotel in Belgrade. Several thousand more followed the conference via webcast which was provided on the CIRSD website. Featured panelists included world-class historians and eminent political figures.

On Friday, 30 May 2014, the conference focused on the historical run-up to the start of the First World War, and featured two panel discussions, during which internationally renowned historians, such as Christopher Clark, Dominic Lieven, Harmut Pogge von Strandmann, John Keiger, Günther Kronenbitter, Luciano Monzali and Ekaterina Romanova sought to provide some clarity to the question of whether the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 was a failure of diplomacy, or a failure of foresight on the part of political and military elites. Serbian professors who took part in this debate were Leon Kojen, Vojislav Pavlović, Slobodan Marković and Dušan Bataković. Stratfor’s George Friedman gave a keynote address at the start of the second day of the conference, on Saturday, 31 May 2014, providing an important intellectual signpost for the remainder of the proceedings.

The focus of the second day of the CIRSD conference was on drawing out the lessons learned from a century ago, and exploring how these could be applied to three critical theatres in contemporary international relations: Ukraine, Middle East, and East Asia.

The second day thus featured three sessions—on Ukraine, the Middle East, and East Asia. Participating panelists were prominent political figures, experienced senior policymakers, and intellectuals such as OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, former Japanese deputy vice-foreign minister Tsuneo Nishida, former Israeli vice prime minister Haim Ramon, Pulitzer Prize winning Wall Street Journal foreign affairs columnist Bret Stephens, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia

University, Russian politician and public intellectual Natalia Narochnitskaya, international relations professor Nina Khrushcheva, and Patrick Ho, the head of Hong Kong’s premier think-tank the China Energy Fund Committee. Members of the CIRSD Board of Advisors also played prominent roles in these discussions. Local experts who participated in second day of the conference were Darko Tanasković and Mrs. Ljiljana Smajlović.

After the conference, Cambridge’s Christopher Clark stated that „CIRSD has done a fantastic job in bringing together high profile political figures and interesting thinkers and academic people to reflect on geopolitical problems in a historical setting“, noting that the resulting conference „produced a rich debate that has brought to light many parallels between the world of 1914 and the world of today“. 

Former Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz gave a post-conference statement in which he said how great of an idea it had been to gather together so many important people to discuss the lessons of the outbreak of the First World War. „The setting up of CIRSD is brilliant and timely initiative“, he added.

Former Spanish foreign minister and EU Special Representative to the Middle East Peace Process Miguel Moratinos in a post-conference statement assessed the conference as a “tremendous success”.

Complete summary of the conference can be viewed here. Each participant’s remarks were captured on video, which can be viewed here. Photos from the conference can also be viewed here.

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