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.

During the Fall 2016 semester, visiting scholar Professor Robert Springborg invited a distinguished group of scholars to address the implications of slowing global integration for the Middle East, a region both harmed and helped by rapid globalization in the late 20th century. Over the course of nine seminars, the group explored issues including postcolonial countercurrents in the Middle East and North Africa, the Iranian nuclear agreement, Egypt's military economy, resource wealth, liberal arts education, economic strain and its impact on Islamism, and the future of the United States' Middle East alliances.

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.

In this installment of “Conversations in Diplomacy," the Future of Diplomacy Project's Executive Director, Cathryn Clüver, speaks with Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin,India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

An audio recording of a book talk by Melani Cammett, Professor of Government, Harvard University and Ishac Diwan, Distinguished Chair of Arab World Studies, Paris Sciences et Lettres.

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

Audio recordings from MEI's Fall 2015 Study Group Rewriting the Arab Social Contract: Toward Inclusive Development and Politics in the Arab World, with former Tunisian Minister of Economic Infrastructure and Sustainable Development Hedi Larbi.

Audio recordings from MEI's Spring 2015 Study Group Rethinking the Arab State: the Collapse of Legitimacy in Arab Politics, with Professor Michael C. Hudson.

During the Spring 2015 semester, Prof. Hudson hosted a distinguished group of scholars to re-examine the foundational concepts of legitimacy, the state, civil society, religion, and regional stability in the wake of the Arab Uprisings.

An audio recording from Yezid Sayigh, Senior Associate and Professor, Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut.

On March 31, 2015 at MEI, Dr. Yezid Sayigh examined the political legacy of Saddam Hussein's regime in ISIS' leadership structure and methods of control in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

An audio recording from Philippe Fargues, Director of the Migration Policy Centre, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies European University Institute (EUI).

On April 1, 2015 at MEI and the Center for European Studies Eastern Mediterranean and Europe Study Group, Dr. Philippe Fargues assessed the humanitarian crisis of often deadly boat crossings in the Mediterranean Sea by migrants coming from North Africa and the Levant to Europe.