Columbia Institute of Global Politics

IGP Cofounder and Faculty Advisory Board Chair, Secretary Hillary Clinton, makes a case for the Board of Peace and the Trump administration’s plan for Gaza in Financial Times:

“The choice for governments is not whether this process is ideal. It is whether they are prepared to help shape an imperfect framework from within or stand aside while more destructive actors shape what comes next.”

Columbia IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow, Nickolay Mladenov, is the director-general of the Board of Peace.

https://www.ft.com/content/2472e584-758b-4a3f-83d1-9fba042a9312?accessToken=zwAAAZ7byQWfkc8kcuWEdYtKP9OD0Z-6BCqTEg.MEYCIQD-IgNGgta6VJIMW043g1Ps6yZ8HDvstdm5cTlT2dueXgIhANqSPYOjY9iE3MoqpMcm6px9EctQrn1U4mRgT9GY9aON&segmentId=e95a9ae7-622c-6235-5f87-51e412b47e97&shareType=enterprise&shareId=5d682321-a09c-4f59-bb68-359bb272c118

The world may not like Trump’s Gaza plan — but there is no alternative If even I, an implacable opponent of the president, can accept this as the best option, then surely others can too?

Thank you to Ai-jen Poo, who is wrapping up her term as a Columbia IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow.

Over the past year, Ai-jen has collaborated with faculty from across Columbia University to advance IGP policy work, engaged with Columbia | SIPA & Columbia students, and participated in events including a major convening on how to support working families for a strong economy & democracy.

Ai-jen’s engagement with IGP started before she was a fellow (she spoke at the launch of the IGP Women’s Initiative in 2024!) and will continue after this term with upcoming projects and policy research on care infrastructure.

Thank you to Karine Jean-Pierre, who is wrapping up her term as a Columbia IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow.

Over the past year, Karine has collaborated with faculty from across Columbia University to advance IGP policy work, engaged with Columbia | SIPA & Columbia students, and participated in events including:

🌐 A hands-on media preparation workshop with Columbia IGP student scholars
🌐 A roundtable discussion on the ins and outs of public diplomacy
🌐A guest lecture for a Columbia Journalism School seminar with students who have ambitions to cover domestic or international politics
🌐 A career chat where she offered career advice and insights to Columbia University students

Thank you to Mary Kay Henry, who is wrapping up her term as a Columbia IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow.

Over the past year, Mary Kay has collaborated with faculty from across Columbia University to advance IGP policy work, engaged with Columbia | SIPA & Columbia students, and participated in events including:

🌐 A convening on how to support working families for a strong economy & democracy
🌐 An IGP and Equitable Growth event on the role of economic policy in generating populist support
🌐 A webinar examining the fight for $15 minimum wage
🌐 A roundtable discussion on how to identify the warning signs of authoritarianism and how to resist its rise with Inaugural IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow Stacey Abrams and IGP American Democracy Initiative Director Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
🌐 A career chat where she offered career advice and insights to Columbia University students

Mary Kay’s engagement with IGP will continue after her Fellowship - stay tuned for a paper we are releasing on the fight for $15 minimum wage.

This year, connected 145 students with opportunities to learn beyond the classroom through the IGP Student Scholar and IGP Student Circle programs.

Examples of what some of this year’s cohort of Student Scholars and Student Circle members experienced:

🌐 Access to a variety of roundtables, convenings, and major events with practitioners and world leaders
🌐 Interactive workshops designed to provide practical skills for their careers
🌐 Opportunities to work on IGP research and policy work
🌐 Media training with IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow and former senior advisor & Press Secretary to President Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre
🌐 A simulation of the UN Secretary General election with President of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremić
🌐 Career Chats with IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellows, including Mary Kay Henry, and Alice Albright
🌐 And much more!

Kratima Divakar MPA ’27 won the UNSG Election Simulation at Columbia IGP as María Fernanda Espinosa – with 13 votes in favor, 2 abstentions, and 0 against.

The simulation, led by , recreated the process of selecting the next Secretary General of the United Nations. To prepare, Kratima studied Espinosa’s speeches, philosophy, and political instincts. She explains what she gained from the process:

🌐 “What I didn’t expect was how much the process itself would teach me. Navigating fifteen member states, each with their own red lines, their own demands, and their own vision of what the UN should be, and trying to build a coalition without losing yourself in it, is genuinely hard. Every conversation was a balance: be clear about your vision, but never make anyone feel unheard. Hold your principles, but find the shared ground.

When the final vote came in, it wasn’t just a win on paper. It felt like proof that principled, patient diplomacy still works. Even in simulation. Even in a room full of vetoes.” 🌐

Congratulations to Kratima and all of the .SIPA / students who participated in the simulation.

It’s been quite the year for the Columbia Institute of Global Politics!

🌐 135 events
🌐 39 expert roundtables & workshops
🌐 16 Carnegie Distinguished Fellows in residence
🌐 145 Student Scholars and Student Circle members from across Columbia University
🌐 12 Rapid Response webinars and conversations on the world’s most pressing issues

Read more about our 2025-2026 Academic Year: https://igp.sipa.columbia.edu/years-review/year-in-review-2025-26

Sarah O’Connell MIA ’26 just graduated from Columbia | SIPA and wrapped up her year as an IGP Student Scholar. We asked her about her scholar experience during the 2025-26 school year:

🌐 What’s a memorable moment from the past year as an IGP student scholar?
I have two. The first was the media training workshop I attended with Karine Jean-Pierre. It was such an incredibly personalized and beneficial experience for me, and the fact that Karine was so generous with her time and feedback meant a lot. At the end of the workshop she reminded us to not lose sight of our original aspirations. Those words really stuck with me as I navigated my next steps and helped me hold on to my clarity of mission.

Next is all the IGP office hours. I am especially grateful to Avril Haines and Mary Kay Henry for their time and advice. Through Mary Kay I was also able to participate in the Workers and Democracy Group discussions, a series of meetings where we went over texts and heard from labor rights activists on how to build coalitions. I hope to keep participating in these conversations and take back what I’ve learned to my own community.

🌐 How do you think being a part of IGP will help you in your future career?
What has been most invaluable about this experience is getting to learn from people who are working on the same policy issues I am. Coming to SIPA with several years of work experience, I knew what I wanted to do next, but I didn’t know how to get there or where to start. IGP helped serve as that bridge and made my goals achievable. I formed connections and mentorships that I will hold onto as I begin the next chapter of my career.

🌐 What lessons/skills did you learn through the IGP student scholars program?
Being a part of IGP gave me the chance to conduct research, to receive actionable guidance and career advice from experts, and to learn from other student scholars, all of whom are going on to do amazing things. IGP also allowed us to build our skills and to test them through simulations and negotiating exercises led by people who have lived these experiences.

🌐 What’s next for Sarah? After graduation, she will be working as a seasonal fellow at GovAI in DC, researching emerging security threats from AI and cyber.

Last month, Carnegie Distinguished Fellow Secretary and Affiliated Faculty Member Ambassador Victoria Nuland teamed up to debate against the University of Chicago’s John Mearsheimer and Harvard Kennedy School’s Stephen Walt in the on foreign wars. Together, they argued against the motion “Be it resolved, don’t go hunting monsters.”