Governance

Sandri Gozi, Italian Undersecretary of State for European Affairs, joined the Future of Diplomacy Project on November 1 for a discussion titled “Italy, the EU and the US: A Conversation on Transatlantic Challenges.”

Dr. Ian Bremmer, expert in political risk and founder of the Eurasia Group, gave a seminar sponsored by the the Future of Diplomacy Project on Thursday, November 9 at the Harvard Kennedy School, titled “Managing Risk in an Unstable World."

The Right Honourable Douglas Alexander offered his views on European security in a discussion moderated by FDP Executive Director Cathryn Cluver.

Jens Stoltenberg,NATO Secretary General, discussed the future of the NATO alliance during this speech, given at the Harvard Kennedy School on September 23, 2016. He described the alliance as a responsive organization, capable of adapting to changes in the international security landscape but committed to the continuity of its founding values. In particular, he emphasized the necessity of maintaining a policy of absolute solidarity among member states, especially  in light of the exacerbating civil war in Syria and Russia’s aggressive stance toward countries to the East of NATO member state borders.

An audio recording of a public address from His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Gebril, former Prime Minister of Libya.

On September 22, 2015, HE Dr. Mahmoud Gebril spoke on the current trends shaping the Arab countries with a special focus on Libya and North Africa, and highlighting the most likely scenarios for the future.

A video recording of a public address from His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Gebril, former Prime Minister of Libya.

On September 22, 2015, HE Dr. Mahmoud Gebril spoke on the current trends shaping the Arab countries with a special focus on Libya and North Africa, and highlighting the most likely scenarios for the future.

In his Nov. 25 Boston Globe column, “Arab Awakening, Act 2”, Nicholas Burns warns that, nearly one year since the start of reform and revolution across the Arab world, the region may turn more turbulent and violent in the months ahead.

"And what credit does Nicolas Sarkozy, or Barack Obama, for that matter, gain from the sudden and felicitous demise of Muammar Gaddafi. Very little. Both are up for reelection in 2012, and the odds are not good, both in terms of Sarkozy's perceived un-presidential and rough manners, and in terms of Obama's miseries over the economy."

"A central tenet of both neo-conservatism and liberal internationalism/interventionism is the idea that democracy is both the ideal form of government but also one that is relatively easy to export to other societies. Never mind that democratization tends to shift the distribution of power within different societies, thereby provoking potentially violent struggles for power between different ethnic or social groups within society. Pay no attention to the fact that it took several centuries for stable democracies to emerge in the Western world, and that process was frequently bloody and difficult."

"With France as the unstated leader, the Mediterranean Union is also animated by a hope to stabilize the region, improve it economically and thus slow the flow of illegal Arab immigration, and provide an alternative to extremism and terrorism. A modern and open Libya, brought to the world by France, would be a major step toward a new European center of gravity, mainly France."