05/06/2026, 02:40
Dear colleagues, dear friends,
More than 2,500 people from Europe and beyond — including scientists, academics, and members of civil society — have signed the Science4Peace open letter supporting Spain’s refusal to participate in the war against Iran and calling on European governments to uphold international law and work towards de-escalation.
As the international situation continues to deteriorate — with ongoing wars, increasing militarization, and growing geopolitical instability — we would like to invite you to a Science4Peace Seminar addressing the broader global developments behind the current crises.
At this seminar — held shortly after the memorial day marking the liberation from fascism and the end of World War II in Europe — we will conclude the signature campaign for the open letter and formally send it to European governments.
The world in flux. The impact for Europe
by
Prof T. Sauer (Antwerp University)
13 May 2026, 2 pm (CEST)
ZOOM only
ZOOM: https://tinyurl.com/S4PseminarMay2026 (please register to participate)
Webpage: https://tinyurl.com/S4P-May-2026
Abstract
The presentation will start from two elements that make the European decision-makers and people afraid: the war in Ukraine and the abandonment of Europe by the US. This leads to a militarization of our European societies.Next, I will try to explain what is happening. We should go beyond the personalities of Trump and Putin. The balance of power in the world is changing. First, from bipolarity towards unipolarity after the Cold War leading to hubris in US foreign policy, more in particular decades long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and NATO expansion including Ukraine. The latter provoked Russia into war. Second, the rise of China and the relative decline of the US, which partly explains the election of Donald Trump and Trump’s unilateralist foreign policy, including the abandonment of allies like NATO. Lastly, I will come up with a proposal for Europe: further integration (including defense); strategic autonomy; the end of NATO. But at the same time not abandoning the liberal world order in the sense of keep cooperating with other regional powers (like Russia, China, maybe the US) in the form of international organizations and international treaties. Regionally, we should integrate Russia in a new security order based on collective security (eg a strengthened OSCE). Globally, we should strengthen the UN, including by reforming the UN Security Council.
About the speaker:
Tom Sauer is Professor in International Politics at the Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium. He has published ten books and dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles, mostly on nuclear arms control, as well as more than 250 op-eds. He is on the Board of Pax Christi Flanders. He is member of the Scientific Committee of the International Institute of Peace (Vienna, Austria). Sauer has been a Research Fellow at Harvard University, at SAIS (Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, US) and is currently Research Fellow at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo (Japan). He also received the Rotary Alumni Global Service Award.
You are very welcome to join this seminar. Please register using the following link: https://tinyurl.com/S4PseminarMay2026
Best regards,
Hannes Jung
Science4Peace Forum
