The Future of Diplomacy Project

We set out a decade ago to put the study of diplomacy on the map at Harvard University. In creating the Kennedy School’s Future of Diplomacy Project, our goals were to encourage the development of courses on diplomacy and negotiations, to bring to the school some of the world’s most effective diplomats, and to encourage our students to become diplomats themselves.

Ten years later, we are proud of what we have accomplished. The Future of Diplomacy Project has become one of the most dynamic initiatives at the Kennedy School with a high degree of student participation and faculty support. We have brought over 350 global leaders to our campus to teach, debate, write, and engage with our community. We have sponsored hundreds of speakers, panels, conferences, and debates about diplomacy’s place in an increasingly complex global landscape.

For this anniversary publication, we have asked many of our former fellows to reflect on the geostrategic challenges ahead for diplomacy and statecraft and to offer their advice to the younger generation of rising leaders on the opportunities and challenges for diplomacy in the decade ahead.

READ Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center: https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/decade-diplomacy-future-diplomacy-project-10

Calling all Harvard Kennedy School alumni who were part of the Future of Diplomacy Project Advisory Board or the Diplomacy Professional Interest Caucus during their time at HKS. For our 10-year anniversary publication, we are looking for alumni voices to reflect on their experience with FDP and their current careers. Please contact Executive Director, Cathryn Cluver Ashbrook, if you would like to be featured in the publication with a quote ([email protected]).

"Representing different generations and coming from different parts of the world, [Secretary Madeleine Albright, Dina Powell McCormick & Ezinne Uzo-Okoro] shared memories of the tug of war between the desire to assimilate and heritage," writes Harvard University's Gazette about our recent event "Out of Many, One" moderated by Faculty Chair Nicholas Burns.

The three women shared their refugee and immigrant stories and spoke about how their experiences led them to public service. READ MORE:

A conversation on immigration with Madeleine Albright Madeleine Albright, Dina Powell McCormick, and Ezinne Uzo-Okoro on role of foreign-born Americans.

Join us Monday as we discuss the future of the New START agreement and U.S. Russian Relations -- registration is required, so do sign up now (4pm EST/1pm PST/10pm CET).

https://www.belfercenter.org/event/new-start-future-arms-control-diplomacy-and-us-russian-relations

Join us next week as we partner with Harvard W3D: Women in Defense, Diplomacy, and Development at Harvard Kennedy School for an all-female panel on the future of urban diplomacy, featuring Commissioner Penny Abeywardena (NCY), Ambassador Nina Hachigian (Los Angeles) and State Secretary Almut Moeller (Hamburg). RSVP via the Zoom registration for this conversation on Tuesday, April 27 at 1:30pm EST/10:30am PST/19h30 CEST.

Urban Diplomacy: Transnational Policy at the City Level Analysts predicted COVID-19 would spell the end of urban living. The opposite was the case: Urban leaders rose to the challenge to find innovative ways of coping with the pandemic, using changed traffic patterns to design more climate sustainable urban life and networking with one another to source....

Equality, Sovereignty, Freedom of Movement: New Research on Prospects for a Confederation Join Dr. Yael Berda, Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at Hebrew University and joint Visiting Scholar with MEI and the Future of Diplomacy Project, as she and her guests explore questions of equality of rights, sovereignty, freedom of movement, and security in Israel and Palestine.

The Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center congratulates three of its non-resident Fellows who have been named to key roles on President Joe Biden’s national security and foreign policy team: Jake Sullivan, incoming National Security Advisor; Victoria Nuland, incoming Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs at the U.S. Department of State; and Amanda Sloat, incoming Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council.

READ: https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/harvard-kennedy-schools-future-diplomacy-project-fellows-appointed-key-foreign-policy

In a new article for Política Exterior, our Executive Director Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook looks at how the shifting quick sands of globalization impact the way ministries of foreign affairs are organized - and how Europe is ideally placed to tackle these challenges in close coordination with its transatlantic partner, the United States (in Spanish)

Una diplomacia para el futuro | Política Exterior Nunca antes la política exterior había estado tan implicada en la agenda comercial, industrial, regulatoria y de apoyo a la democracia. Nunca antes se habían necesitado tanto capacidades analíticas y diagnósticas en los diplomáticos.

An article on the main findings of our new report as part of the American Diplomacy Project Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center is here -

Veteran diplomats call for overhaul of U.S. foreign service corps Report by Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project says revamped U.S. diplomatic service should be less politicized, more professional.

After two years of work, the American Diplomacy Project a part of our program at Harvard Kennedy School has released its findings on how to rebuild and revive the American Foreign Service. Download the full report here: (https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/us-diplomatic-service-21st-century)

A U.S. Diplomatic Service for the 21st Century The Geopolitics of Information To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure...

On October 8, 2020 the Future of Diplomacy Project hosted Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament of India and former President of the
Indian National Congress Party, who spoke at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center about about Indian domestic politics and the U.S.-India partnership. This seminar was moderated by Faculty Chair, Nicholas Burns.

WATCH:

India’s Transforming Horizon: A Conversation with Rahul Gandhi

“[President Trump] thinks the US can act alone in the world. He thinks America is stronger acting on his own and not being dragged by allies who don’t pay enough to help us defend them. He’s absolutely wrong about that,” said Faculty Chair, Nicholas Burns, in a recent podcast with The Lowy Institute.

“In recent public opinion polls in the US, support for NATO and our Pacific alliances is running in the 60 and 70% points. I think a lot of voters believe that [President Trump] has weakened the US by tearing down and diminishing our alliances.”

LISTEN:

The Director’s Chair: Ambassador Nicholas Burns on diplomacy, presidents and American power In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Professor at Harvard University, Executive Director of the Aspen Strategy Group, and one of the leading American diplomats of his generation.