Lecture Abstract:

The Greek crisis first hit the headlines in 2009. Five years on, the Greek crisis is back in the news. On July 1, Greece became the first developed country to default on a loan from the IMF. What led to the crisis this time around and how will it evolve? How could it impact on the Eurozone, Europe, and Asia? What are the lessons for Asia?

About the Speakers:

Amb Barry Desker is a Distinguished Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.

He formerly headed RSIS and the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies from October 2000 to November 2014.

He continues to hold the inaugural Bakrie Professorship in Southeast Asia Policy, which was established in November 2010.

He is a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, Singapore, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship.

He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Trade Development Board from 1994 to 2000 and was Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1992 and the Long Service Award in 1995.

Amb Desker is currently also the Non-Resident Ambassador of Singapore to the Holy See and Spain, and Chairman of Singapore Technologies Marine.

A President’s Scholar, he was educated at the University of Singapore, University of London and Cornell University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Warwick University in 2012 and by the University of Exeter in 2013.

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller is born in 1944. Cand. Polit. (Master of Science, Economics) University of Copenhagen 1968. He joined the Danish diplomatic service February 1st 1968 and worked with European integration 26 years (1971 to 1997); from 1989 to 1997 as State-Secretary. From 1997 to 2005 Ambassador to Singapore and Brunei Darussalam and from 2002 also Australia and New Zealand, residing in Singapore.

When he retired from the Danish Diplomatic Service in 2005, Mr. Moeller joined the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore as Visiting Senior Research Fellow and the Diplomatic Academy as Senior Fellow. He is Adjunct Professor, Copenhagen Business School and Singapore Management University (SMU), Chairman of the Advisory Board, Asia Research Center, Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and member of Forum International Competitiveness, CBS, Council of The World Future Society, Board of Governors ASEF (Asia Europe Foundation), Advisory Board of Asia Europe Journal, International Advisory Council, Center for Comparative Integration Studies, Aalborg University, ASEM Vision Group working from 1998 to 1999.

Dr Pradumna B. Rana is an Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is also the Coordinator of the Master of Science in International Political Economy programme and the Coordinator of the Economic Multilateralism and Regionalism Studies at RSIS’ Centre for Multilateralism Studies. Prior to this, he worked for 25 years at the Asian Development Bank. His last appointment at the ADB was Senior Director of the Office of Regional Economic Integration which spearheads ADB’s support for Asian economic integration. He obtained his PhD from Vanderbilt University where he was a Fulbright Scholar and a Masters in Economics from Michigan State University and Tribhuvan University. He has authored/edited 15 books, and published over 50 articles in peer-reviewed international academic journals.

Pascal Vennesson is Professor of Political Science at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. His research and teaching lie at the intersection of the fields of international relations and strategic studies. Before joining RSIS, he held the Chair “Security in Europe”, at the European University Institute, Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies. He also taught “Strategy and Policy” for ten years at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)-Bologna Center and at the College of Europe. He is the author, co-author and editor of five books and his refereed articles have been notably published in Armed Forces and Society, International Relations, Journal of Strategic Studies, Review of International Studies, Revue Française de Science Politique (French Political Science Review) and Security Studies (forthcoming). He is a member of the editorial boards of Revue Française de Science Politique (French Political Science Review), Security Studies and Armed Forces and Society. Professor Vennesson was a fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Arms Control, at Ohio State University’s Mershon Center and a Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Center for Scientific Research) fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government. He received his MA from the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and his Ph.D. from Sciences-Po Paris.