Diplomacy and International Politics

American democracy is facing pressure from all sides: For months, there have been partly violent protests against systemic racism and police violence of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The COVID pandemic has already claimed over 200,000 lives and has extreme economic consequences. Coupled with a polarized media landscape and the growing influence of social media, the pandemic has further exposed deep social divisions along ideological, economic and ethnic fault lines. In addition, the Trump administration is stepping up its escalatory description of the integrity of the American electoral system - what some consider to be a rigid electoral and party system in need of reform. How will the social conflicts affect the understanding of (American) democracy? How is the political establishment contributing to alienation from the Constitution?

Nicholas Burns discusses U.S. Secretary of State's address to the 2020 Republican National Convention.

There are a number of important issues on the transatlantic agenda. And, yet the relevance of the partnership between the United States and Germany has been called into question in recent years. From defense spending and the proposed U.S. military drawdown, to transatlantic trade and investment, to relations with other countries such as China and Russia, the German-American relationship has been charged. With the German presidency of the European Council, what can we expect for the transatlantic relationship in the months and years to come?On Tuesday, August 11, the ACG hosted a webinar with Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Senior Member of House Committee on Armed Services, and Bundestag Member Dr. Tobias Lindner (Die Grüne), Spokesman for Security Policy, Chairman of the Defense Committee; and moderated by Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and Executive Director of The Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship at the Harvard Kennedy School and Co-Director of the ACG’s Eric M. Warburg Chapter in Boston.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joins longtime colleague and friend Ambassador Nicholas Burns for a conversation about her life, the dangers facing modern democracies, and America’s role in what she calls “a brand new world.” Reflecting on her childhood in London during the Blitz, her journey to America as a refugee, and her long career as a diplomat, Secretary Albright is facing the current crises and ongoing work with outspoken determination. “It took me a long time to find my voice,” she says,”I’m not going to shut up now.” A self-described worried optimist and grateful American, Albright offers an urgent message for the unprecedented times we are living in.

A discussion with Dr. Michael Carpenter, Managing Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, Nicholas Burns, Faculty Chair of the Project on Europe, and  Torrey Taussig, Research Director in the Project on Europe, on how the U.S. can work with European partners to develop a new approach toward Russia.

Former U.S. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns to CNN host Don Lemon: "The real question here -- and I think it's going to set up the hearings tomorrow in the House when Ambassador Kurt Volker goes up. How is it possible that a private citizen, Rudy Giuliani, essentially hijacked United States policy towards Ukraine?"

Gerard Baker, editor at large at The Wall Street Journal, Ambassador (Ret.) Nicholas Burns, Harvard professor of diplomacy and international relations, and Karen Donfried, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, discussed current developments in the Brexit process with Elaine Papoulias, executive director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at the John F. Kennedy Library on September 10th, 2019.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a discussion on the impact of the European Parliament election on issues like migration, trade, and transatlantic relations.

Ambassador Nicholas Burns comments on Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán's recent visit to the White House and the battle of ideas between far-right, antidemocratic populists challenging Europe's democratic leaders. 

On April 12th, 2019, Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook discussed Brexit and the future of the European Union with with Anand Menon, Director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative and Grégoire Gathem, Senior Legal Counsel at Fusion for Energy at the International Women's Forum in Barcelona, Spain. They discussed the origin and root causes of Brexit, the vision for Europe going forward, the challenges faced by Europe both internally with regards to the wave of populism, and externally from the tariffs that the United States has recently imposed on Europe, and the lack of support the U.S. President has shown for NATO.