In this Executive Education Course "How to Navigate Geopolitical Risks", participants will explore the implications and consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine on Europe’s security architecture. Based on a classical realist international relations perspective on ‘security dilemmas’ and on recent multidisciplinary research on identity and status, we will investigate the reasons for the collapse of the post-Cold War world order and analyze the conflict in Ukraine as the symptom of a bigger crisis in European security. Using Brzezinski’s approach, the module focuses on today’s ‘global turmoil’ characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, risk, and ontological insecurity and offers a heuristic framework to map the impact of this multidimentional disaster. Considering the ‘geopolitical’ EU as a case study, the module will assess how the Russia-Ukraine war has reshaped trends, shifted strategic orientations, forged new alliances and further weakened multilateralism.

The course will also look beyond the horizon and set the elements of a post-Ukraine war ‘Code of Conduct’ for the 21st century. Using a scenario-based methodology, participants will discuss whether a ‘quick peace’ is possible after a ‘long war’ and what would be the preconditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine.