After the Ukraine War and the War in Gaza, it is clear that the European Union as a Peace Project has once and for all failed. Also as a political and economic union, the EU is collapsing. What happened? At the same time, ASEAN is thriving and successfully integrating into the multipolar world of the BRICS and beyond. To understand the dramatic shifts we’ve got today two scholars from these Eurasian regions to help us make sense of it all.
Dr. Ulrike Guérot is one of Germany’s most prominent “non-conformist” public intellectuals and University Professors, researching European politics. She is one of Germany’s loudest voices against the endless escalation with Russia and for pan-european reconciliation. She wrote many books and articles in favour of the European Union but by now has taken a very cirtical stance on the institution.
To my other side, we’ve got John Pang, who is a Senior Research Fellow, at the Perak Academy, a Think Tank in Malaysia. He has served in policy and thought leadership in government, business and academia with a focus on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He was also the founding CEO of the ASEAN research institute and of the council of Southeast Asian business leaders. He is interested in the reframing of the discourse of international relations, especially as it applies to China and Southeast Asia, towards the emergence of a multipolar world order.