Diplomacy and International Politics

The following is an event write-up about the recent Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship (PETR) seminar on “France’s Global Role in a Changing World Order” co-moderated by Natalie Colbert, Executive Director of the Belfer Center, and Svenja Kirsch, Fellow with PETR, on April 19, 2023.

The following is an event write-up about the recent Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) seminar on “The Future of Ukraine: Reconstruction, Energy Security, and Innovation” moderated by Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, Senior Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project. 

NATO aspires to take the lead in understanding and adapting to the impact of climate change on security. The new Strategic Concept declares that climate change is a defining challenge of our time, with a profound impact on Allied security. Now, the Alliance and the Allies must “walk the talk” by preparing to face the emerging climate change-driven challenges and adapting their armed forces to the new climate conditions created by global warming. This paper will begin by answering the most pressing questions about NATO and climate change: Is climate change a security threat? Does climate security fit into NATO’s mission? And is NATO the best forum to address climate change? It will then review NATO’s current actions on the climate, and finally make some proposals for the Alliance to implement a climatized perspective on security to climate-proof its assets and capacities and effectively accomplish its mission and tasks.

On March 31,  the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship and the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies hosted a discussion with Wolfgang Ischinger, former Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Joseph S. Nye Jr., Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, and Daniela Schwarzer, Executive Director for Europe and Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as the brutality of its action has caused an unexpected reversal of Germany’s long time security policy and led to strong reactions in the rest of Europe, NATO, and the posture of the Biden administration. The seminar examined the dimensions and consequences of these developments for the future of the EU and the West. Karl Kaiser, Senior Fellow at the Project on Europe, moderated.

Cop26 — the 26th Conference of the Parties — is a UN meeting that will bring together representatives of more than 190 countries with only one aim: tackling climate change.

From Afghanistan to the AUKUS alliance, the brief honeymoon between the European Union and U.S. President Joe Biden’s America looks to be over. But it’s important to remember, after the overinflated optimism that followed the end of the Trump years, that transatlantic relations have always had their frictions and frustrations, their ups and their downs — and we’re ready for a rebound once again.

In the wake of the United States’ shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan, European leaders have done little to conceal their frustration with the U.S. president’s foreign policy.

Please join the Future of Diplomacy Project's Fisher Family Fellow, Ambassador Peter Wittig, for a virtual study group that explores how and to what extent the first 100 days of the Biden presidency has reset the transatlantic partnership.

What will Angela Merkel and Joe Biden discuss during the Chancellor's visit to the USA? Listen in for more. [translated from German; interview in German]

Chancellor Merkel visits the White House in what is likely to be her last such meeting after 16 years in power. U.S.-German relations have improved since the Trump era, but there are differences.