Not just a flash in the pan, but a medium to long term boon: the post-pandemic recovery could be described in terms of strategic factors such as economic, social, environmental and institutional sustainability. In other words, the basic points of the European Commission’s 2030 agenda, which the Italian government has taken as the basis for its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
As the deadline approaches for the UK government to decide on whether they will ask for an extension to Brexit negotiations, the discussion of the future of EU relations couldn’t be more crucial. In this episode, Marta Dassù, Senior Advisor for European Affairs at the Aspen Institute Italia and the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, moderates a conversation between Anthony Gardner, former US Ambassador to the EU and Ambassador João Vale de Almeida, EU Ambassador to the UK and former EU Ambassador to the UN.
Kick-starting discussions at this Talk-debate event was the observation that art and democracy are closely-intertwined expressions of humanity. Art has accompanied man since prehistoric times. The successions of cultures over the centuries have produced an artistic heritage that was an embodiment of their community and their founding values. It was suggested that the period in which the secular modernity of humanity made its greatest strides was undoubtedly the Renaissance, not only in the arts and aesthetics, but also in the technical and political realms.
It was noted during this talk-debate session that there are signs of economic recovery in Italy, though the indicators are half those showing for Europe and even lower in proportion than those for Spain, a country which usually registers similar performance to Italy. The level of foreign investment remains very low, with the relationship between Italy and the United States, for instance, being very skewed.
Discussions at this talk-debate session, held to mark of the launch of the e-book L’Italia e il Rinascimento manifatturiero (“Italy and the Manufacturing Renaissance”), sought to analyze what new synergies between research, education, and business are necessary in order to fully seize the opportunities offered by the said renaissance.
The key premise of proceedings at this talk-debate was that achieving a stronger and profoundly reformed European Union is an ambitious but not unattainable goal, and that Italy and the United Kingdom could play a leading role in this regard. Indeed, the negotiations currently underway with the United Kingdom were seen as affording a great opportunity for reforming and strengthening the EU.
The starting premise of discussions at this talk-debate session was that developments in the space sector are reshaping geopolitical ties and generating new economic opportunities – two closely interwoven aspects.
This talk-debate session, sponsored by the Valore D association, Aspen Institute Italia and Women for Expo, explored the approaches and trends that characterize female entrepreneurship, the distinguishing features of this segment of the business community, as well as existing weaknesses that could undermine its development and growth. The event was organized as part of Aspen Italia’s Women in Business project, which aims to create a transnational network of debate and reflection in support of female leadership.
In 1764, the now famous treatise “On Crimes and Punishments” was published anonymously, meeting with a success that today would be described as global, creating quite a stir in Italy, and exerting an influence both on the Founding Fathers in the United States and on the Napoleonic Constitution in France. Two years later, having already become an established work, it was released again – though this time it was attributed to the pen of Cesare Beccaria.
This talk-debate session focused on the Republican victory in the recent US midterm elections, heralded as unquestionably significant in terms of both numbers and scale. President Obama is potentially up against both the House of Representatives and the Senate – a circumstance that is certainly nothing new in the American political system. Indeed, in the last sixty years, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson were the only presidents not forced to contend with a “divided government”, making the latter an established institutional tradition of politics across the pond.
At this talk-debate event held in Rome, it was noted that although twenty years have passed since the publication of the book “Nazioni senza ricchezza, ricchezze senza Nazione” written by Giulio Tremonti, Sabino Cassese, Tiziano Treu and Francesco Galgano, the work remains extraordinarily relevant today, as by the time of its release a rift had already emerged between nations and reality, with the latter – and the problems and opportunities it presented – eluding the material constraints under which the former were forced to operate.
The starting premise for this talk-debate was that the outcome of the recent US presidential elections confirms that social and demographic factors are instrumental in shaping the political atmosphere of the country. In particular, the Democrats were able to tap into support from segments of the electorate that are more dynamic in both an ethno-cultural and generational sense, owing to their deftness in exploiting new communications technologies.
Radek Sikorsky at Aspen Institute Italia. The Foreign Minister of Poland held an off the record seminar at our Institute. The debate focused on the principle themes of European foreign policy and Poland’s priorities for the EU presidency. Sikorsky is the author of a book on Afghanistan which was recently published also in Italy.
This talk-debate was organized by Aspen Institute Italia to mark the recent publication in Italy (by EGEA) of Kishore Mahbubani’s book entitled The New Asian Hemisphere. During the event, it was observed that with Asia growing at a phenomenal pace, the continent is set to be the key economic player of the next century, yet at the same time it has still to find a stable footing within the international economic and political order.
This talk-debate session focused on early signs of a global economic recovery. Whilst the light at the end of the tunnel may not yet be clearly visible, some important signals are already starting to emerge. The first of these is that the governments of EU countries have acted in a timely and effectively coordinated manner. Indeed, their actions have confirmed the primacy of the political sphere and an intergovernmental approach over action through EU institutions (and the European Commission in particular).
This informal dinner event, organized by Aspen Institute Italia, focused on global governance issues and involved the participation – as guest speakers – of Joseph Stiglitz, economist and professor at Columbia University and Nobel Laureate, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, President of the OFCE in Paris, Meghnad Desai, Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics, and Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
The financial markets are in great difficulty and the world economy is going through troubled times. The current crisis has brought about profound social and cultural change. Never in the past have people and nations with histories and cultures so diverse expressed the same desire for certainty and called for a shared system of rules.
