The Third Boot Camp of Arms Control Negotiation Academy has finished
This module was the final part of the 12-month ACONA program for 16 ambitious young leaders from all over the world, specializing in international relations, diplomacy, nuclear technology, strategic stability, foreign policy, negotiations and research.
Speeches by the organizers became the first events of the boot camp. On behalf of the HSE University Lev Sokolshchik (Research Fellow at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies - CCEIS) as a member of the ACONA Organizing Committee welcomed the fellows in an opening address. Within the framework of the camp program, a number of discussions took place as well as lectures and meetings with leading experts in the field of world politics, international affairs and Russian-American relations were held. Also the boot camp was attended by current and former high-ranking officials. The focus of the module was on multilateral approaches to arms control.
One of the key speakers of the section “Strategic Stability In A Multipolar World: What Does it Mean?” was Dmitry Suslov (Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies - CCEIS). He presented a detailed overview of the current situation in the field of strategic stability as well as offered original theoretical developments to the strengthening and developing arms control in the context of polycentric world order and transformation of the system of international relations.
An important part of the camp was the presentation of scientific projects prepared by the ACONA fellows during the program. Presentations were made by Brynja Oskarsdottir (Does One Size Fit All? How a P5 Negotiation Campaign Can Reduce Nuclear Risk), Jessica Bufford (The Road to Zero: Language of Nuclear Diplomacy), Maria Chepurina (Getting to the Table: From Bilateral to Multilateral Nuclear Arms Control), Alexander Graef (On Small States & Smart Tools: Empowering Cooperative Verification through Modern Technologies).
One of the most significant moment of the camp was the awarding certificates of the successful completion of the ACONA program, which was provided by Pavel Palazhchenko, head of the Department of International Relations and Press Relations of The Gorbachev Foundation. It is noteworthy that he, as the chief translator from English, was a participant of all the US-Soviet summits on the issue of nuclear weapons, including the meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan in Reykjavik in 1986.
The key speakers of the camp were also:
Alexey Arbatov, head of the Center for International Security, Institute of World Economy and International Relations of MGIMO University; Andrey Baklitskiy, senior Research Fellow, Center for Euro-Atlantic Security, Institute of International Studies of MGIMO University; Christopher Daase, member of ACONA Executive Board, professor of International Organizations, Goethe University Frankfurt, Deputy Director, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt; Christian Ostermann, member of ACONA Executive Board, Director of the History and Politics Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Andrew Futter, professor of International Politics at University of Leicester, member of Cyber-Nuclear Security Threats Task Force of the Nuclear Threat Initiative; Katarzyna Zysk, professor of International Relations & Contemporary History at Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, Nonresident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council; Alex Bollfrass, senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, associate of the Negotiation Task Force of Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; Moriba Jah, associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at University of Texas, former Spacecraft Navigator at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Besides, the scientific discussions were attended by Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, former U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security; Steven Pifer, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; Marc Weller, former United Nations Senior Mediation Expert; Thomas Countryman, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Thomas Graham Jr., former U.S. Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament; Laura Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan, deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs; Alexander Kmentt, ambassador and Director of Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Former Permanent Representative of Austria to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union
First boot camp of ACONA took place from 17 to 21 August 2020 in an online format.
Second boot camp of ACONA took place from 11 to 15 January 2021 in a online format.
Currently, the project coordinators are actively working on the selection of applications and the formation of a new ACONA cohort.
The HSE's ACONA coordinators are Dmitry Suslov and Lev Sokolshchik.