Ralf Dahrendorf Roundtable: "Liberal Realpolitik?" - Main contents
On Friday, 9th September 2016, ELF hosted a Ralf Dahrendorf Roundtable in cooperation with the Teldersstichting entitled “Liberal Realpolitik?” in Leiden, the Netherlands. This event served to galvanise discussion surrounding a recent essay written by VVD Member of Parliament Han ten Broeke which seeks to bring together the liberal and realist approaches to international relations.
The event opened with a welcome speech by Dr. Jurgen Martens, the Vice President of ELF, and counted among its keynote speakers First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. Mr. Timmermans spoke of the necessity to pair liberalism and realism, and that the clever pairing of the two will achieve the best results in foreign policy. He pointed out that realism cannot in its essence be separated from idealism, for as an ideology it has as a starting point the belief that it provides the best solutions to the problems of international relations, and that its application will lead to a better world.
This was followed by a panel discussion in which Former Dutch Minister of Defence Joris Voorhoeve, Professor Paul Scheffer and Wall Street Journal Columnist John Vinocur discussed the proposed approach to international relations. Member of Parliament Han ten Broeke delivered the closing speech, in which he emphasised the need for realpolitik in international relations, for it is an approach that does not manoeuvre in a foggy future.