This Budapest Lecture serves as the opening event of the MCC Budapest Summit on Reclaiming the West: Peace, Prosperity, Sovereignty. We will welcome Professor Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Approaching the subject from a realist perspective, he will examine the future of the Western order—arguing that it can be sustained not through ideological expansion, but through the strengthening of the nation-state, legitimate governance, and strategic restraint.

Among other questions, the discussion will explore how policies aimed at the global enforcement of norms and values have weakened internal cohesion and undermined the foreign policy credibility of Western states. Professor Lieven will also assess the consequences of a Western foreign policy that detaches itself from historical experience, disregards cultural differences, and fails to acknowledge the limits of power.

The panel will identify the conceptual and practical adjustments necessary to ensure that the West’s political strength and international authority remain sustainable in the long term. 

Venue: H - 1113 Budapest, Tas vezér utca 3-7. (MCC Scruton)

Date: March 9, Monday 5.00 PM – 6.00 PM

Moderator: Misa Djurkovic, Head of the MCC-MKI Center for Geopolitics

Language: English