Across the Eurasian landmass, authoritarian regimes are using deeply subversive means to destabilise the liberal democratic global order. A revisionist Russia is actively engaged in using below-threshold means to destabilise NATO partners across Europe. In the Baltic states and across eastern Europe, Russia continues utilising cyber-attacks and information warfare, whilst recently utilising sophisticated disinformation campaigns against the UK during the ongoing global pandemic.

Further to the east, an emboldened China is seeking to export its deeply authoritarian governance structure across the developing world and within international organisations, whilst militarising the South and East China Seas, dominating the world’s most crucial shipping lanes. In addition, Beijing continues to clamp down on human rights across Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong – breaking the Sino-British Joint Declaration in the process.

What challenges will liberal states now have to address from those authoritarian states seeking to challenge the liberal rules-based order, of which the UK remains an ardent defender as it begins to chart a fresh foreign policy agenda in the wake of leaving the European Union?

The Henry Jackson Society is pleased to invite you to this timely and informative debate, where we will be joined by three internationally renowned speakers to discuss the threats posed to liberal democracies by authoritarian states seeking to circumnavigate the rules-based system. As the UK begins to chart its Global Britain foreign policy agenda, how might the UK best deal with these threats to its national security?

Bob Seely is the Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight. He sits on the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Mr Seely writes academically and journalistically on foreign affairs as well as more generally on non-conventional and new forms of conflict. Prior to his election in June 2017, Mr Seely served on the Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and ISIS campaigns as a member of the Armed Forces. From 1990 to 1994, Mr Seely lived in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states.

Theresa Fallon is the founder and director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies (CREAS) in Brussels. She is concurrently a member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, a Non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Adjunct Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. Theresa’s current research is on Europe-Asia relations, maritime security, global governance, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and great power competition.

Dr. Alexander Lanoszka is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Waterloo. His research agenda encompasses international security, alliance politics, and theories of war, with special focus on Central and North-Eastern Europe. He sits on the editorial board of the journal Contemporary Security Policy and is an Honorary Fellow at City, University of London, where he previously taught prior to coming to Waterloo. He held fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College upon finishing his PhD at Princeton University.

Robert Clark completed a BA in International Relations and Arabic (First Class Honours) at Nottingham Trent University, and an MA in International Conflict Studies (Distinction) at King’s College London. Robert’s main research interests include emerging technologies within defence, alliance building and the trans-Atlantic partnership, and authoritarian threats to the global order. Robert’s most recent publications include for the NATO Defence College and Civitas. He has regularly submitted evidence for both the Defence and Foreign Affairs Select Committees, and is a regular contributor for the UK Defence Journal, in addtion to writing for The Telegraph, CapX, and The Wavell Room. Robert served for nine years in the British Army, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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