The conference will consist of a keynote address and five panel discussions. Each panel discussion will feature presentations by four speakers, followed by discussion. To ensure interactive debate and allow sufficient time for interaction among participants, the speakers are requested to restrict their initial remarks to 10 minutes. On the agenda, the title of each session is accompanied by a tentative list of questions for discussion.
Thursday, October 10
Cabot 702, The Fletcher School
15.30 - 16.30: Keynote Address
Henry Farrell – Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
Abraham Newman – Professor of Government, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University |
16.30 - 18.00: Session 1. Weaponized Interdependence and International Relations Theory
International relations paradigms have debated the meaning of economic interdependence for many decades. Does weaponized interdependence open up a new argument, or is it old wine in a new bottle? Weaponized interdependence relies heavily on network theory. How much analytical leverage does network theory give us in world politics?
Moderator: Daniel Drezner – Professor of International Politics, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Jonathan Caverley – Associate Professor of Strategy, Strategic and Operational Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, Naval War College
Jonathan Kirshner – Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Boston College
Barry Posen – Ford International Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stacie Goddard – Professor of Political Science, Director of the Madeleine K. Albright Institute, Wellesley College |
| 19.00 - 20.00: Dinner |
Friday, October 11
Cabot 702, The Fletcher School
8.30 - 10.00: Session 2. Cyberspace
Weaponized interdependence to date primarily affects the Internet through the panopticon effect. Could the chokepoint effect also apply to cyberspace? States are now experimenting with segmenting the Internet. Will this trend vitiate weaponized interdependence or simply redistribute network centrality to multiple actors?
Moderator: Nadiya Kostyuk – Ph.D. Candidate, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Susan Landau – Bridge Professor in Cyber Security and Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Pasha Sharikov – Research Fellow, Institute for USA and Canada Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Martha Finnemore – Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
Natasha Tusikov – Assistant Professor, Department of Social Science, York University |
10.00 - 10.30: Coffee Break
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10.30 - 12.00: Session 3. Finance
The United States has increasingly exploited its centrality to pursue financial statecraft. Is there a breaking point for other actors that would cause a shift away from the U.S. dollar, or are the network externalities simply too powerful? How much can non-state alternatives such as cryptocurrencies blunt the effects of weaponized interdependence?
Moderator: Mohannad Al-Suwaidan – Ph.D. Candidate, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Thomas Oatley – Corasaniti-Zondorak Chair of International Politics, Tulane University
Rachel Ziemba – Founder, Ziemba Insights
Mark Blyth – William R. Rhodes ’57 Professor of International Economics, The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University
Elizabeth Rosenberg – Senior Fellow, Director, Energy, Economics, and Security Program, Center for a New American Security |
| 12.00 - 13.00: Lunch |
13.00 - 14.30: Session 4. Energy and Transit
Does the phenomenon of weaponized interdependence extend to physical networks such as roads and pipelines? Does the Belt and Road Initiative represent an attempt by China to develop a real-world structure of weaponized interdependence?
Moderator: Kaija Schilde – Associate Professor, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University
Bruce Jentleson – William Preston Few Professor of Public Policy, Professor of Political Science, Duke University
Kelly Sims Gallagher – Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Mikhail Krutikhin – Co-Founder, RusEnergy
Thomas Cavanna – Visiting Assistant Professor, The Fletcher School, Tufts University |
| 14.30 - 15.00: Coffee Break |
15.00 - 16.30: Session 5. Resistance and Reaction to Weaponized Interdependence
One way to undercut weaponized interdependence is through decoupling. In which spheres of activity is decoupling plausible, and in which fields would it be more difficult? If these networks persist, what are the “weapons of the weak” that actors can deploy to resist these structures?
Moderator: Arik Burakovsky – Assistant Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Tom Wright – Director, Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution
Charli Carpenter – Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Anastasia Likhacheva – Director, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Relations, Higher School of Economics
Amrita Narlikar – President, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies; Professor of International Relations, University of Hamburg |
16.30 - 17.00: Conclusion
Daniel Drezner – Professor of International Politics, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Henry Farrell – Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
Abraham Newman – Professor of Government, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University |
