76 Past Events

State Department

U.S. Department of State

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

Perspectives from the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff with Principal Deputy Director Matan Chorev

Tue., Feb. 28, 2023 | 3:00pm - 4:15pm

Taubman Building - Allison Dining Room, 5th Floor

Please join the Asia-Pacific Initiative and Future of Diplomacy Project for a special conversation with Matan Chorev, Principal Deputy Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department on "Navigating the Post Post-Cold War Era." This event will be moderated by Chris Li (Director of Research, Asia-Pacific Initiative) and Mayu Arimoto (MPP'23 and Belfer Young Leader Student Fellow).

Advance registration is required, and attendance is limited to current Harvard affiliates (students, staff, faculty, fellows). This event will be off the record.

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

A Conversation with Ivan Duque, Former President of Colombia

Thu., Nov. 17, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Belfer Building - Starr Auditorium, Floor 2.5

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project for a conversation with Ivan Duque who served as President of Colombia from 2018 to 2022. President Duque will discuss three major trends affecting Latin American countries: defending and promoting democratic values; addressing the climate crisis and protecting biodiversity; and developing compassionate and sensible migration policies. This event will be moderated by Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Senior Fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project.

In-Person Registration (HARVARD ID ONLY)     Zoom Registration (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)

Please note that in-person attendance is limited to Harvard affiliates only and space is limited.

Image of tank in Kiev in front of a building marked with Ukraine's national coat of arms.

Getty Images

Special Series - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

How to Hold Russia Accountable for the Invasion of Ukraine?

Wed., Nov. 16, 2022 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Harvard Law School - Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Harvard International Arbitration Law Students Association at Harvard Law School for a conversation on Russian war crimes in Ukraine with international law experts Professor Harold Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, and Patrick W. Pearsall, Director of the International Claims and Reparations Project at Columbia Law School and partner at Allen & Overy in Washington D.C. Koh and Pearsall will consider possible legal avenues for prosecuting those accused of Ukraine war crimes. The discussion will be moderated by Professor Gabriella Blum, Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Harvard Law School. 

The event is partnered with the Harvard International Law Journal, the Ukraine Caucus at HKS/HLS, and Allen & Overy.

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Sgt Donald C Todd RLC Photographer/ UK MOD

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

Europe’s Security Landscape: The View from the United Kingdom with Dame Karen Pierce, UK Ambassador to the U.S., and General Sir Nicholas Carter, former UK Chief of the Defence Staff

Tue., Nov. 1, 2022 | 10:00am - 11:15am

Littauer Building - Malkin Penthouse, 4th Floor

Please join the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship for a seminar on the current European security landscape with Dame Karen Pierce, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the U.S., and General Sir Nicholas Carter, former Chief of the Defence Staff to the United Kingdom. Ambassador Pierce and General Carter will explore how Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has reshaped transatlantic security and future European and international defense agreements as well as the subsequent implications for the UK-U.S. "special relationship." This conversation will be moderated by Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project.

Note: this is a hybrid event. In-person attendance is limited to Harvard ID holders. Members of the public are welcome to join online.

Special Series - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

The United States Indo-Pacific Strategy: A Conversation with Assistant Secretary of State Daniel J. Kritenbrink

Wed., Oct. 19, 2022 | 4:00pm - 5:15pm

Littauer Building - Malkin Penthouse, 4th Floor

Please join the Asia-Pacific Initiative and Future of Diplomacy Project for a conversation with Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The Assistant Secretary will deliver remarks on the Biden Administration's Indo-Pacific Strategy, followed by a conversation moderated by Chris Li (Director of the Asia-Pacific Initiative) and Erika Manouselis (Manager of the Future of Diplomacy Project).

Advance registration is required, and attendance is limited to current Harvard affiliates (students, staff, faculty, fellows).

Assistant Secretary Daniel J. Kritenbrink

U.S. Department of State

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

Career Roundtable with Assistant Secretary of State Daniel J. Kritenbrink

Wed., Oct. 19, 2022 | 10:30am - 11:45am

Taubman Building - Allison Dining Room, 5th Floor

The Asia-Pacific Initiative and Future of Diplomacy Project will host a student roundtable with Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, focused on careers in diplomacy and foreign affairs. The Assistant Secretary will reflect on his 28 years of public service at the State Department, the White House, and U.S. embassies around the world, and answer student questions. Chris Li, Director of the Asia-Pacific Initiative, will moderate the session.

Advance registration is required, and attendance is limited to current Harvard affiliates (students, staff, faculty, fellows). This event will be off-the-record.

Ambassador Chan Heng Chee

Office of Ambassador Chan Heng Chee

Seminar - Open to the Public

The Ukraine War and U.S.-China Competition: A Southeast Asian Perspective

Thu., Oct. 13, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Belfer Building - Bell Hall, 5th Floor

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Asia-Pacific Initiative for a discussion with Chan Heng Chee, Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and former Ambassador of Singapore to the United States, on current political and economic developments in Asia and a unique southeast Asian view on Russia's war in Ukraine. Increasing U.S.-China competition presents significant and myriad challenges to the region. What role is diplomacy playing in helping these countries navigate changing dynamics in Asia and beyond? Ambassador Chan will also address the rise of ASEAN and efforts towards strengthening trade and regional economic integration. This conversation will be moderated by Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project.

The event will take place in person for Harvard ID holders and online via Zoom.

Image of the National Congress of Brazil in 1964 and a Protest in 2022

David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

Seminar - Open to the Public

Brazilian Democracy Under Attack: 1964 and 2022

Wed., Oct. 12, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Online

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies for a discussion on the state of Brazilian democracy with James Green, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Professor of Modern Latin American History and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies; Director of the Brazil Initiative, Brown University; Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta, Full Professor of Brazilian History, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG); Ana Flávia Magalhães Pinto, Adjunct Professor, University of Brasilia (UnB); moderated by: Sidney Chalhoub, David and Peggy Rockefeller Professor of History and of African and African American Studies; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.

In 1964, a military coup d’Etat, supported by sectors of civil society, inaugurated two decades of dictatorship in Brazil. In 2022, a right-wing government works to undermine democratic institutions and find justification for another period of authoritarianism. There is much in common in the political rhetoric used to attack democracy in both periods: antidemocratic forces speak of political corruption, an alleged communist threat, the need to defend religious and moral values, etc. But the two historical moments are also in sharp contrast to each other. The purpose of this panel is to explore similarities and differences between 1964 and 2022 while history unfolds and we witness whether Brazilian democracy will be able to avert –this time—a new moment of peril.

Study Group - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

The Challenges of Negotiating for Humanity in the XXI Century Study Group

Tue., Oct. 11, 2022 - Tue., Nov. 29, 2022

Littauer Building - Fainsod Room, 324

Over the course of four sessions, a study group led by Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow Elayne Whyte, Ambassador of Costa Rica to the United Nations (2014-2020) and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (2000-2002), will examine one of the most compelling challenges of diplomacy in the XXI century: how to negotiate effective and innovative agreements addressing the global problems facing humanity today that are of transnational nature and affect humanity as a whole, both current and future generations.

The readings and discussions of this study group will seek to identify the theoretical, ethical and political underpinnings of the concept “negotiating for humanity.” It will also review experiences of negotiating around global challenges that go beyond competing national interests, transcend boundaries, affect current and future generations alike and pertain to global commons. Furthermore, these challenges constitute problems that cannot be addressed by governments alone or by one single state or institution.

Whilst the practice of diplomatic negotiations was established to secure the interests of the nation-state, the interconnected and interdependent society of the XXI century demands policy responses that transcend the interests and capabilities of individual or groups of states to protect the global commons, generate global public goods and address humanity’s challenges.

Contemporary negotiations need to address global health, inequality, and the protection of our global natural commons (oceans, ozone layer, the planet’s biodiversity, among others) for current and future generations. There are also pressing demands to tackle the existential threats that climate change or weapons of mass destruction pose to human civilization. Increased cooperation is also required to face global health risks, ocean pollution, human rights challenges posed by emerging technologies or other problems of systemic nature, such as the shortcomings of the multilateral system

Reflecting this paradigm shift in 2015 the United Nations agreed upon an “agenda for people, planet and prosperity”: the Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 2021, the Secretary General presented a new deal to deliver global public goods and address humanity’s major risks, as part of the proposals to advance a common global agenda for the future. This represents a new comprehensive, systemic approach to the international agenda, in the context of the deep systemic impact brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine.

Being able to identify approaches that can be used in negotiations for humanity, the study group seeks to contribute to emerging issues of global debate, such as human migration, inequality, ocean pollution, outer space navigation and cleanup of orbit debris, the human rights protection challenges stemming from emerging technologies or the creation of an effective regime to deal with pandemics.

Ambassador Nestor Forster Jr.

Embassy of Brazil in Washington, D.C.

Seminar - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

Strengthening the U.S.-Brazil Relationship: A Conversation with Nestor Forster Jr., Ambassador of Brazil to the U.S.

Mon., Mar. 29, 2021 | 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Online

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project for a conversation with Nestor Forster Jr., Ambassador of Brazil to the U.S., about the bilateral relationship between the two largest economies and democracies in the Western Hemisphere: Brazil and the United States. Ambassador Forster will discuss the political and economic ties between the two countries in various areas, such as defense cooperation, trade policy, sustainable economic growth, environment, and science and technology. Faculty Chair, Nicholas Burns, will introduce the event. Senior Fellow and former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon Jr., and Project Coordinator, Erika Manouselis will co-moderate this discussion.

PLEASE NOTE: This seminar will be conducted via Zoom. Please register in advance for this meeting:

https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMsdu6pqTgsGdHwA5myoDMJBfgaXfoIhfKR

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.