November 2022: Bridging the Atlantic
Bridging the Atlantic IV - 15th November 2022
The Clinton Institute, in conjunction with Global Irish Studies and the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University, Queens University Belfast, and the Embassy of Ireland USA, organized the Bridging the Atlantic: Ireland and the US symposium.
This was the fourth annual symposium and the first to take place in Ireland, hosted by the Institute at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin
Bridging the Atlantic takes soundings of the Ireland-US relationship in the context of broader transatlantic relations. It aims to deepen connections and understanding between academics, analysts and policymakers on either side of the Atlantic, even as it engages them in debate on the frictions within as well as the future of transatlantic relations.
The Future of Irish America
Prof. Cóilín Parsons (Georgetown University), Prof. Belinda McKeon (Author, Maynooth University), Prof Miriam Nyhan Grey (New York University), Prof. Liam Kennedy (UCD Clinton Institute)
This year’s programme highlights included:
A panel on The Future of Irish America, which focused on the nature and staying power of this imagined community. Speakers commented on Irish culture and diaspora engagement as forms of soft power and on the shifting demographics of Irish America. They also complicated common notions of what constitutes Irish America, engaging diversity in relation to African Americans of Irish heritage, and also stretching and straining definitions to include affinity or affiliate forms of Irishness.
A panel on Transatlantic Relations in a Time of War in which participants remarked on what they saw as being the most significant challenges for Transatlantic Relations in security terms at the present moment. They were also asked to comment on what they would advise the Irish Government to seek to protect or to develop in order to strengthen Ireland’s security in this ongoing “time of war”.
The third session, titled The EU Role in Preserving Peace and Democracy, took the form of a conversation between Alexander Stubb (former Prime Minister of Finland) and David O’Sullivan (former Ambassador of the European Union to the US). It took in matters of collective security currently under discussion in Europe in response to the war in Ukraine, including discussion of the important issue of neutrality.
A panel on the Role of Global Institutions in Peace, Equality and Security brought together three distinguished ambassadors - Melanne Verveer (Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security), Geraldine Byrne Nason (Ambassador of Ireland to USA) and Susan Elliott (CEO, National Committee on American Foreign Policy). The work of women peacebuilders was a core component of the discussion. The ambassadors also discussed issues that Ireland led on at the UN, including their role at the Security Council.
Role of Global Institutes in Peace, Equality and Security
Ambassador Melanne Verveer (Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security) in conversation with Áine Lawlor (RTÉ)
The final session, on The US and the Good Friday Agreement, took the form of a conversation between Congressmen Rep Brian Fitzpatrick (R- Pennsylvania) and Rep Bill Keating (D-Massachusetts). They underlined the continuing importance of the United States’ support of the Good Friday Agreement at a time of uncertainty in British and Northern Ireland politics. A commentary on this panel was the centrepiece of a report on the event in the Irish Times.
Ted Smyth, Chair of the Institute’s Advisory Board provided closing remarks and participants decamped to a reception in Iveagh House, home of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. There we were greeted by Minster of European Affairs Thomas Byrne who spoke to the importance of Ireland’s commitments to transatlantic relations.
