Events

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project for a conversation with Desirée Cormier Smith, the State Department’s first ever Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice.  While the communities that the Special Representative's mandate serves are specific - marginalized racial, ethnic, and Indigenous peoples, including people of African descent - the Special Representative believes, as Maya Angelou put it, none of us is free until all of us are free.  In honor of International Women's Day and U.S. Women's History Month, the Special Representative brings forth an important conversation about intersectionality - where one person's multiple or intersecting identities might subject them to varying forms of racism, discrimination, violence, or xenophobia - to remind us that our collective liberation rests on the shoulders of one another; to acknowledge that it takes a community of us who #EmbraceEquity, a village of us to secure freedom for all. Erika Manouselis, Manager of the Future of Diplomacy Project, will moderate.

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.

Please join the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project and Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship for a seminar on Türkiye’s current global role with H.E. Hasan Murat Mercan, Ambassador of Türkiye to the U.S., and Sir Peter Westmacott, former Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Türkiye, the U.S., and France. Ambassadors Mercan and Westmacott will discuss a range of regional issues, including the war in Ukraine and NATO as well as Turkish-American relations. This conversation will be moderated by Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project.

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project and Harvard Kennedy School’s Ukraine Caucus for a conversation with Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, who will be joining virtually. The discussion will be moderated by Belfer Center Co-Director Eric Rosenbach and Ambassador Paula Dobriansky (PhD '91), a Senior Fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project.

In person attendance is limited to Harvard ID holders only. Space is limited. RSVP here.

Virtual attendance is open to the public. Register here.

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project for a screening of The American Diplomat, a documentary exploring the lives and legacies of three African-American ambassadors — Edward R. Dudley, Terence Todman and Carl Rowan — who pushed past historical and institutional racial barriers at the U.S. Department of State during the civil rights movement. Through rare archival footage, in-depth oral histories, and interviews with family members, colleagues and diplomats, the film paints a portrait of three men who created a lasting impact on the content and character of the Foreign Service and changed American diplomacy forever.

The screening will be followed by a virtual Q&A panel discussion with Leola Calzolai-Stewart, director of The American Diplomat and filmmaker, Dr. Michael Krenn, Professor at Appalachian State University and author of Black Diplomacy: African Americans and the State Department, 1945-1969 and The Color of Empire: Race and American Foreign Relations, and James Dandridge II, President of the Diplomatic and Consular Officers Foundation, former Foreign Service Officer and friend of Ambassador of Terence Todman. Erika Manouselis, Manager of the Future of Diplomacy Project, and Korde Inniss, MPA 2023 and Belfer Young Leader Fellow, will serve as moderators.

Note: For virtual participants, the online event will begin at 6pm with the panel discussion. For in person attendees, the screening will begin at 5pm.

Please join the Belfer Center's Future of Diplomacy Project and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies' Brazil Studies Program for a discussion on the trajectory of bilateral relations between the United States and Brazil, two of the world's biggest democracies, in the face of recent consequential midterm and presidential elections with Ricardo Zúniga, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere at the U.S. Department of State; Hussein Kalout, Research Scholar at Harvard University and former Special Secretary for Strategic Affairs of Brazil; and Nick Zimmerman, Senior Advisor at WestExec Advisors and former Director for Brazil and Southern Cone Affairs at the White House National Security Council. This panel will explore how both countries can best work together in areas such as climate change and global democratic backsliding, particularly in light of significant and ongoing challenges to the integrity of each country's democratic institutions and the rise of great power competition in the current geo-political environment. Erika Manouselis, Manager of the Future of Diplomacy Project, will serve as moderator.

In person attendance is limited to Harvard ID holders; Zoom attendance is open to the public.

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.

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.

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.

Please join the Harvard Kennedy School’s Future of Diplomacy Project and India Caucus for a discussion on the strategic partnership between the United States and India, one of the world’s most consequential relationships. In their first in person meeting, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined shared values including a commitment to democracy and upholding the rules-based international system as well as a commitment to working with ASEAN and Quad members to promote shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Deepanshu Aggarwal, Co-Chair of the India Caucus and MPP ’23, will moderate the conversation.