From 22 to 26 April 2024, four groups of Natolin students of the Madeleine Albright Promotion departed for their second semester study trips to explore the overarching theme of security. The destinations and topics explored during the upcoming trips were:
Brussels and Mons: "Europe in Multifaceted Geopolitical Context"
The students had the chance to critically review and exchange their views with experts, policymakers, and officials on a multifaceted topic that includes the EU institutions’ role in the European energy security and prospects for just transition to energy autonomy, as well as the trends of an enlarging EU as a geopolitical actor.
Nordic-Baltic Study Trip: "Russia's War of Aggression in Ukraine and the State of Defence, Deterrence and (In)Security in the Nordic-Baltic Area"
The trip addressed broadly-conceived problems of regional and wider European security and defence within a long-term geopolitical frame and a central emphasis on defence and strategic aspects. The principal problems were those of ‘hard’, ‘soft’ and ‘hybrid’ security threats (including conventional and nuclear forces, hybrid and classical military deterrence, societal resilience and cyber- and information security), the rapid change of the Nordic-Baltic security environment, as well as deep-rooted questions of national and local identity faced with a resurgent imperial mission of Putin’s Russia.
To enable the ‘on-the-spot’ study of these problems, the voyage included visits to academic, cultural, and professional institutions in the Baltic (Estonia) and Nordic (Finland) countries.
Western Balkans: "Seeking Momentum Amidst New Security Challenges"
The study trip examined the role and influence of selected international non-governmental and state actors as well as international institutions that are present in the region, and discussed the EU's geopolitical turn to enlargement in the Western Balkans and the processes that hinder it.
The study trips are an integral part of the academic programme of the Department of European Interdisciplinary Studies. To learn more about the different destinations and topics of the previous study trips organized for Natolin students, click here.
Regular updates on the study trips were published on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram pages – identifiable through the tag #natolinontour.