Watson Events

Romano Prodi -- The Libyan Case: Politics, Economics and Human Rights

"The Libyan Case: Politics, Economics and Human Rights," with Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and Professor-at-Large at Brown University.

While the recent intervention against Gaddafi’s regime was meant to stop human rights violations against the civilian population, the way the international community intervened and the lack of willingness to participate in the post-war reconstruction of the country are posing the potential seeds of post-war instability, civil war and national partition. The war has also shown other two typical trends of the present and, likely, future years. On the one hand, Europe had failed again to develop a common position, with France and the UK who rushed in the intervention while Germany decided not to join the military operation. On the other, by ‘leading from behind’ the US has made clear that the Mediterranean and Europe in general are gradually becoming secondary in its ‘grand strategy’, in comparison to South-East Asia, where American attention is rapidly increasing.

Location: Smith-Buonanno 106.