NEWS & EVENTS
/ SORBONNE CONFERENCE 2007
Better understand the great world challenges through the teachnigs on International Affairs
Nowadays, we can only notice the poverty of academic teachings in the field of international relations, in Europe as well as in the United States. Despite the success encountered by this theme towards students, the teachings delivered do not allow them to have a real vision and a good comprehension of the great major challenges that govern today’s world. This inability to apprehend the international governance system is stressed in majority by the weak knowledge of the key role played by international organizations compared to national sovereignties. This is particularly the case of the World Bank, World Monetary Fund or the World Trade Organization.
The particularity of international relations and organizations is to have set for activity anything that is related to Human being in its present, future and past: international security, trade, finance, health, history, human rights, environment, as well as many other fields. International organizations also constitute the voice of others:
- A forum for the main non governmental organizations, and therefore civil society
- A Partner for multinational societies for the diffusion of good governance practices
- and a political and diplomatic alternative for emerging countries or weakly industrialized.
Objectives
The conference aims at placing international affairs not as an academic cycle anymore, but as a discipline playing a role of catalyst on issues as various as economic development, ecology, human rights, demography, financial criminology, world patrimony preservation, etc…
Learning international relations means undertaking a transversal study of all the teachings offered within our universities. International organizations must not only be seen as the theoretical process of political regimes and of development processes, but most of all for citizens, as a wonderful tool to comprehend others and the effective functioning of the world.
Thus, developing international relations teachings, means providing students the keys to print themselves in a new opinion trend: more critical and with better foundation. This is also the possibility to expand research topics within universities by going over the borders set by researchers reluctant to the changes of international relations paradigms.
Program of the Conference held in La Sorbonne on international relations teachings
Opening address
Claude LAVERDURE, Ambassador of Canada in France
Thomas G. WEISS, President of the Academic Council on the United Nations System
Message of Zinédine ZIDANE, UNDP Good Will Ambassador, Soccer player
Plenary Session
Florence BENOIT-ROHMER, President Robert Schuman University (Strasbourg)
Sjur BERGAN, Director of the Committee on higher education and research, European Council
Omar MASSALHA, Director of external relations and new partnerships, UNESCO
Hanifa MEZOUI, Chief United Nations NGO Section at the Economic and Social Council
Antonio MONTEIRO, Ambassador of Portugal in France
Lucile SZAFRAN, student at l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
Closing address
Pierre-Jean GIRE, Chairman, Institute for Advanced Studies on the United Nations
Moderator
Philippe BILGER, Magistrate, Prosecuting attorney to the Court in Paris
