MONDAY, 19 JANUARY 2026, 18:00 – 19:30 CET – ZOOM EVENT
The U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro have reopened questions many assumed were settled since the end of the Cold War. For decades, South American governments believed that direct U.S. intervention in the region was politically unthinkable. European allies, meanwhile, relied on the United States as the principal guarantor of a rules-based international order. Today, those assumptions no longer hold. We are now compelled to rethink core concepts such as sovereignty, alliance politics, order, and hegemony.
This online event examines the fundamental change underway in U.S. foreign policy and its regional and global consequences, as revealed by the intervention in Venezuela. Experts from diverse areas will discuss what kind of change this represents, and what consequences it brings — for the United States and for the international order. How might Latin American governments respond to the realization that intervention is once again possible, and what strategic options exist for states seeking autonomy and security? What does this moment mean for Europe, whose political order and strategic identity have long depended on multilateralism and close partnership with Washington? And finally, what should we expect for cases such as Greenland, where small and strategically exposed territories sit at the intersection of U.S. strategic ambition and shifting global power politics?
Speakers
- Elizabeth N. Saunders, Professor of Political Science; Director, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University
- Leslie Wehner, Full Professor and Chair of International Relations, University of Bath
- Tom Long, Professor in International Relations, University of Warwick
- Rasmus Brun Pedersen, Associate Professor, Aarhus University
- Sonia Lucarelli, Full Professor, University of Bologna
Moderator
- Revecca Pedi, Associate Professor, University of Macedonia, EISA Governing Board Member
