Transatlantic Politics and Policy after the Election Year Series

hosted by Professor Renaud Dehousse


Transatlantic Politics and Policy after the Election Year - A series of talks @SAIS Europe

Politics and policy in the transatlantic space are deeply intertwined. Crucial elections held in 2024 in Europe and the United States are destined to shape politics and policy on the two shores of the Atlantic for years to come. This cycle of events held at SAIS Europe in the academic year 2024-25 will explore the major political and policy implications of this electoral phase, and in particular its repercussions on Europe and on the transatlantic relationship.

War in the Middle East and the Transatlantic Relationship

The Gaza war and the Israel-Iran conflict are destined to shape the Middle East for years to come. The US has tried to extricate itself from the region but repeatedly gets sucked back into it. The EU instead has lost influence and voice in the Middle East, despite the fact that its spiraling conflict dynamics will increasingly spill into Europe. Neither the US nor the EU can therefore afford to turn their backs to the region. This final meeting will unpack conflict dynamics in the Middle East, US foreign policy in the region, and the repercussions on Europe.

JOSEP BORRELL

Josep Borrell is a Spanish politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2019 to 2024. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served as President of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007 and as Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation from 2018 to 2019.

RAFFAELLA A. DEL SARTO

Raffaella A. Del Sarto holds the Joint Mediterranean Chair at the Department for Political and Social Sciences and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. Before joining the EUI, she was Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), SAIS Europe. She was previously a part-time professor at the EUI, where she held an ERC-funded project, and a fellow at the Middle East Centre of St Antony's College, Oxford University. She received her PhD (summa cum laude) in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her MA in Political Science from the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany. Her research interests include the international relations of the Middle East and North Africa; the region's relations to Europe; the domestic-foreign policy nexus; regional order(s), borders, and interdependence in the Middle East; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and Israel's foreign and domestic policies. Her latest book, Borderlands: Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East was published with Oxford University Press in 2022. Her previous book, Israel under Siege: The Politics of Insecurity and the Rise of the Israeli Neo-Revisionist Right, was published with Georgetown University Press in 2017. Her contributions have appeared in International Affairs, Journal of Common Market Studies, Geopolitics, The Middle East Journal, Democratization, Mediterranean Politics and other journals and volumes.

NATHALIE TOCCI

Nathalie Tocci is Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Adjunct Professor at the School of Transnational Governance (European University Institute), Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, independent and non-executive board member of the energy company Eni and Europe's Futures fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM). She has been Special Advisor to EU High Representatives Federica Mogherini and Josep Borrell. In that capacity, she wrote the European Global Strategy and worked on its implementation. Tocci has been Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and, prior to joining Eni, was an independent board member of Edison. She has held research positions at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, the Transatlantic Academy, Washington, the European University Institute, Florence, and has taught at the College of Europe, Bruges. Her research interests include European integration and European foreign policy, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, transatlantic relations, multilateralism, conflict resolution, energy, climate and defence. Tocci is a columnist for Politico and La Stampa.

WIDAD TAMIMI

Widad Tamimi (Milan, 1981), daughter of a Palestinian refugee who fled the Israeli occupation in 1967 and a woman of Jewish descent, whose family escaped to New York during World War II, grew up in Italy. She currently lives in Ljubljana with her husband and two children, and works in refugee reception centers as part of the "Restoring Family Link" program of the Slovenian Red Cross. In 2012, she published her first novel, Il caffè delle donne for Mondadori. She has also written Le rose del vento (2016) for the same publishing house. She writes short stories for Delo," the leading Slovenian daily newspaper.