Diplomacy and International Politics

We have the most solipsistic president in American history offering up the most solipsistic foreign policy ever at a time when the me-me-me generation are busy taking selfies and other pols the planet over are trying to play that self-centeredness to their advantage. Have we reached Peak Solipsism? And what does that mean for the international system. We discuss in honor of and in the context of this week’s meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York City with David Rothkopf in New York, Ambassador Nicholas Burns in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rosa Brooks in Washington, DC and Kori Schake in London, England.

An interview with MEI Faculty Affiliate Asim Khwaja on his work at the Center for International Development's Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) program with the Saudi Ministry of Labor on labor market policy as well as EPoD's Smart Policy Design and Implementation methodology and implications for the future of informed, iterative policymaking.

An interview with Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Associate of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on the Iran-Saudi rift.

An audio recording of a public talk by Victor J. Willi, Senior Researcher and former Associate Director and Global Leadership Fellow, World Economic Forum.

An audio recording from Nabil Fahmy, former Foreign Minister of Egypt and Dean, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP), Professor of Practice in International Diplomacy, American University Cairo.

On April 15, 2015 at MEI, Minister Nabil Fahmy presented his assessent of the challenges facing the Middle East today and laid out his vision for the region to confront those challenges and seize opportunities, with special focus on Egypt's role in the Arab world and Middle East at large, in a public address moderated by Kennedy School professor Nicholas Burns.

An audio recording of a talk with Ishac Diwan, Lecturer in Public Policy (HKS), at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School on October 23, 2013.

An audio recording of a talk by Heba Handoussa, founder of Egypt Network for Integrated Development (ENID), on October 30, 2013 at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

An audio recording of a talk by Dan Ben-David, Executive Director of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel on October 15, 2013 at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

An audio recording of a talk by Professor Ragui Assaad, Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, on September 18, 2013 at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

On Wednesday, September 11, Professor Djavad Salehi-Isfahani (the Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative) led the introductory seminar to the fall 2013 seminar series. This seminar aimed to illuminate the politics and economics of these choices, as well as the experience of actual transitions in Egypt and Tunisia.