While the world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before, competition again appears to be a primary driver of international relations. This casts the concept of interdependence in a new, more nuanced light than the positive angle from which it predominantly has been viewed during the liberal international order. The risk is that the new data-driven economy generates ever more asymmetric networks of dependence, in which the control of data and its exchange becomes more centralized. In this new geoeconomic order, connectivity and interdependence will thus not produce the ‘flat’ world of diffuse power relations and cooperation, but enduring power imbalances, digital divides and conflict. How can such a scenario be prevented? This panel will discuss what new international institutions are needed to better manage this new competitive interdependence.
Puhujat
Alicia García Herrero is the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis. She also serves as Senior Fellow at the Brussels-based European think-tank BRUEGEL and a non-resident Senior Follow at the East Asian Institute (EAI) of the National University Singapore (NUS). García Herrero is also Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Finally, she is a Member of the Council of Advisors on Economic Affairs to the Spanish Government and an advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) among other advisory and teaching positions. In previous years, García Herrero held the following positions: Chief Economist for Emerging Markets at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Member of the Asian Research Program at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), Head of the International Economy Division of the Bank of Spain, Member of the Counsel to the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, Head of Emerging Economies at the Research Department at Banco Santander, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. As regards her academic career, she has served as visiting Professor at John Hopkins University (SAIS program), China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Carlos III University. García Herrero holds a PhD in Economics from George Washington University and has published extensively in refereed journals and books (see her publications in ResearchGate, Google Scholar, SSRN or REPEC). She is also very active in international media (BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC and CNN) as well as social media (LinkedIn and Twitter). As a recognition, she was included in the TOP Voices in Econom.
Claudia Schmucker is head of DGAP’s Geo-Economics Program. Prior to that, she had headed DGAP’s Globalization and World Economy Program since 2002. She has published extensively on European and transatlantic trade policy, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Doha Round as well as on the role of informal global forums such as the G7 and G20. Schmucker studied at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität in Bonn, at Elmira College in New York State, and at Yale University. She holds an MA in North American studies and a PhD in economics from the Freie Universität Berlin.
Lauri Tähtinen is Co-founder of GEOTREAMS, an ESG and political risk analysis firm. He is Non-Resident Fellow at FIIA’s Center for US Politics and Power and Senior Associate of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Based in Washington, D.C., he is a contributing columnist to the business daily Kauppalehti and his analysis has also been published in venues such as Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. Dr. Tähtinen writes and speaks regularly on topics such as trade, sustainability, governance, democracy, and global history. He has taught at Harvard, Brown, Cambridge, and the University of Helsinki and was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI). He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Cambridge, a Masters from Harvard University and a B.Sc. from the London School of Economics.
Mikael Wigell is Research Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and Adjunct Professor in International Political Economy at the University of Tampere. He earned his PhD at the London School of Economics, and he has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University. He has also been a Member of the Development Policy Committee of the Finnish Government and President of the Finnish International Studies Association. He currently leads the International Business Risk and Resilience Monitor for Strengthening National Economic Preparedness-project funded by the European Commission, as well as the Nordic Security of Supply in an Age of Disruption-project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. His latest book is as editor of the volume Geo-economics and Power Politics in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2018; 2020).