The GCSP’s oldest course, the Leadership in International Security Course (formerly the International Training Course in Security Policy), will celebrate its 35th anniversary with an online event bringing together a community of alumni and former faculty.

Since the course began in 1986, 841 representatives from governments, academia, the private sector and civil society from 90 states across the globe have graduated from the course.

The roots of this course lay in the 1985 Geneva Summit between the US President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, which exposed the pressing need to strengthen Swiss national expertise in the field of international security, which led to its creation in 1986.

Our world has seen much change and continuity since the course began. The fall of the Berlin wall and end of the Soviet Union, the 9/11 attacks and so-called ‘global war on terrorism’ that followed, and the on-going COVID-19 crisis, are just a few of the transformative events that have taken place throughout this time. But it’s not just events that have led to change. Our understanding of security has broadened considerably. Issues such as climate and health are now an integral part of national security agendas. The types of actors involved in peace and security have increased as a result. Technology has had an incredible impact both in the types of threats we confront as well as our ability to respond. Yet other dimensions have not changed. Geopolitics and power politics remain a permanent fixture, along with the need to navigate the complexity between national, regional and international levels of governance in responding most effectively to the peace and security issues we confront today.

In our 35th anniversary panel, the former ITC-LISC course directors will share their insights on the continuity and change in our international security landscape since 1986, as well as their reflections for what to expect in moving forward.

This webinar will be followed by an interactive alumni networking event, providing a virtual space for the graduates of all 35 editions of the ITC/LISC to meet each other, reflect on their memories of the course and catch up on where they are now!

Agenda:
13:00-13:10         Welcome Address by Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Director, GCSP

13:10-14:30         The (N)Everchanging International Security Landscape 1986-2021: Insights and Prospects. 

Speakers include the former ITC Course Directors:

• Ambassador (ret.) Fred Tanner, former GCSP Director and Senior Advisor to the OSCE Secretary General and Conflict Prevention Center;
• Dr Pal Dunay, Professor of NATO and European Security Issues, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
• Professor Julian Lindley-French, Chairman of The Alphen Group and author of Future War and the Defence of Europe (Oxford: April 2021);  
• Dr Graeme P. Herd, Professor of Transnational Security Studies, Research and Policy Analysis Chair, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.
• Chair: Dr Siobhán Martin, Director, Leadership in International Security Course (LISC) and Co-Director, MAS in International Security (MAS).

14:30-14:45         Break

14:45-14:50         Opening of the Alumni Networking Event by Ms Christina Orisich, Deputy Director, GCSP
14:50-15:45         Class reunions in break-out rooms