The annual Juneau World Affairs Forum returns this week with the theme of “Europe: Allies and Alliances in a Turbulent World.”

The forum will take place in the Egan Lecture Hall at the University of Alaska Southeast. All events are free and open to the public.

The forum opens at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 22, with its first speaker, Kurt Huebner, who will give a talk entitled “Changes in the World Order – From ‘Embedded Liberalism’ to ‘Hyper Globalization’ to ‘Economic Nationalism’.”

Huebner is chair for European Integration and Global Political Economy at the Institute for European Studies, part of the University of British Columbia.

Continuing at 1 p.m. Friday, March 23, Wade Jacoby will deliver a lecture entitled “Contemporary U.S.-German Relationships.” Jacoby is a Senior Fellow of the Transatlantic Academy and Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University.

James Nafziger will follow with a talk entitled “Making America Normal Again – With a Little Help From Europe.” Nafziger is a Thomas B. Stoel Professor of Law, and Director of International Law Programs at Willamette University.

After Nafziger is Mai’a Cross, who will talk about “Europe, Russia, and the Transatlantic Divide: Security Relations in Turbulent Times.” Cross is an Edward W. Brooke Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University. She is currently a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Concluding the day is Terrence Hopmann, whose talk is entitled “What Happened to Cooperative Security? The Rise and Fall of the Post-Cold War Security Regime.” Hopmann is from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

The final day of the forum starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 24, with a speech from Merje Kuus entitled “Where is Europe’s Power? Transnational Standards and Diplomatic Expertise in Brussels.” Kuus is from the University of British Columbia, Department of Geography, and is a political geographer who studies diplomatic practice in multinational settings.

Svetoslav Derderyan will deliver a lecture entitled “A Democratic Paralysis? How the US Withdrawal and the EU’s Malfunctioning Bureaucracy Helped Russia Undermine Pro-Democracy Civil Society in Eastern Europe.” Derderyan is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Jürgen Salay will follow with a talk about “Climate Policy in the European Union.” Salay is from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, and is an expert on European climate policy.

The forum will close with a panel discussion featuring many of the earlier speakers.

Each year, the forum brings together experts on international relations to discuss the U.S. rise to undisputed world leader following World War II, and the institutions developed to protect western democracies; the challenges facing Europe today, their perception of America’s shift in foreign policy; and international institutions’ reaction to these changes – particularly in the areas of defense, trade and social policy.

The JWAC forum is sponsored by UAS, AEL&P, Coeur Alaska Kensington Mine, Haight &Associates, Sealaska, The Prospector Hotel, and Wostmann &Associates. The next forum will take place during UAS’ annual fall lecture series in October. JWAC and UAS take no stand on any public issue, nor recommend any policy, party, viewpoint, or candidate.