Europe after 'the West'?

What happens to Europe’s identity when the very idea of ‘the West’ begins to fracture? This event examines Europe’s evolving place within an international system marked by a diffusion of power, contested norms, and growing patterns of multi‑alignment.

As traditional understandings of the West – as a community grounded in liberal values and shared strategic purpose – come under pressure from both external challenges and internal divisions, Europe faces fundamental questions about its autonomy, agency, and normative foundations.

Through a conversation with leading scholars, the event explores whether the West can outlast the current disruption of the international order; whether the very notion of the West is undergoing a transformation that requires new analytical frameworks; and whether Europe can, or should, articulate a post‑Western identity – and what the core elements of such an identity might be.

Meet our speakers

Dimitar Bechev is the Director of the Dahrendorf Programme at the European Studies Centre, which explores Europe’s role in a changing world. He teaches at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA), University of Oxford. Dr. Bechev is also a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, where he focuses on EU enlargement, the Western Balkans, Russia, and the Black Sea.

Karen E Smith is Professor of International Relations Theory in the Department of International Relations at LSE. Her main research interests lie in the fields of foreign policy analysis and the study of international organisations. Professor Smith has recently published on feminist foreign policy, the role of women in diplomacy and foreign policy-making, the European Union’s diplomacy at the United Nations, and the role of groups in UN multilateralism.

Chair

Teona Giuashvili is the DINAM Fellow in the Department of International Relations at LSE, pursuing research on EU foreign policy towards Eastern Europe and on the political and security implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine for the EU, NATO and the Black Sea region.

More about this event

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