The Gathering Storm - or Darkness Before
Dawn
Global Challenges to
Peace in the 21st Century
and Strategies to
Address them
Speakers
Alison Blake
Head of Conflict Group, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Kai Brand Jacobsen
Co-Founder and Executive Director of PATRIR
Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa seem to have come out of the blue. But for some observers they are the latest manifestation of deep drivers of conflict that have been building for years and will grow increasingly powerful in the coming decade.
As we move into an era that promises increasing instability, two advisors to the APPG on Conflict Issues - one at the heart of government policy on conflict, the other an international expert in conflict management - come together to share their thoughts on how are we placed to deal with the growing turmoil that many predict.
Alison Blake is Head of the Conflict Group in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After an initial career as an archaeologist, Alison has worked on conflict issues for most of her more than twenty years in the civil service. Following a period in the Ministry of Defence, and a posting to NATO during the IFOR/SFOR and Kosovo campaigns, she has worked on Balkans issues in the Foreign Office, covered US policy, Russia, OSCE and conflict resolution during a posting to Washington in 2001-5. Alison headed the Cabinet Office’s Foreign Policy team for two years before taking up her current post in the FCO in September 2007.
Alison Blake
Head of Conflict Group, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Kai Brand Jacobsen
Co-Founder and Executive Director of PATRIR
Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa seem to have come out of the blue. But for some observers they are the latest manifestation of deep drivers of conflict that have been building for years and will grow increasingly powerful in the coming decade.
As we move into an era that promises increasing instability, two advisors to the APPG on Conflict Issues - one at the heart of government policy on conflict, the other an international expert in conflict management - come together to share their thoughts on how are we placed to deal with the growing turmoil that many predict.
Alison Blake is Head of the Conflict Group in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After an initial career as an archaeologist, Alison has worked on conflict issues for most of her more than twenty years in the civil service. Following a period in the Ministry of Defence, and a posting to NATO during the IFOR/SFOR and Kosovo campaigns, she has worked on Balkans issues in the Foreign Office, covered US policy, Russia, OSCE and conflict resolution during a posting to Washington in 2001-5. Alison headed the Cabinet Office’s Foreign Policy team for two years before taking up her current post in the FCO in September 2007.
Kai Brand-Jacobsen is
an expert in conflict prevention, mediation, peace processes and systemic peacebuilding.
He is a co-founder and Executive Director of the Peace Action, Training and
Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR) and is an advisor to several governments
and international and national agencies, including the Commonwealth
Secretariat, the OSCE and
several UN country missions. He has worked in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, southern
Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Aceh-Indonesia, Russia, Moldova, South Eastern
Europe, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Mexico, Colombia, Somalia, Liberia, Sudan,
North America and the Middle East at the invitation of governments,
inter-governmental organisations, UN agencies, and local organisations and
communities. Kai has also written
and published widely and is an Editor of the OUP Peace Encyclopaedia.
Chair: tbc
Tuesday 15 March: 6.30-7.30pm
For venue details please contact us through this site.
Tuesday 15 March: 6.30-7.30pm
For venue details please contact us through this site.
