Diplomacy and International Politics

During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s September visit to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, he met with a select group of scholars and journalists that included several Iranian/nuclear experts from the Belfer Center. Graham Allison, Gary Samore, Olli Heinonen, David Sanger, and David Ignatius offered their takeaways following Rouhani's visit.

Rami G. Khouri, a veteran Middle East journalist and scholar, captured the intense drama of the nearly three-year-old Arab Spring with one statistic: while many recall the self-immolation by Tunisian activist Mohamed Bouazizi on Dec. 17, 2010, as the spark for the uprisings, Khouri noted that no fewer than 65 Arabs set themselves ablaze in the months following Bouazizi’s act to draw attention to grievances across the region.

As part of its mission to encourage deeper engagement with the people and cultures of the Middle East, the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative (MEI) is offering a rich series of seminars that examine the complex transitions taking place, particularly in relation to politics and economics and the humanitarian crisis in Syria and surrounding countries.

A year after the sparks of revolution began in the Arab World, the Middle East Initiative (MEI) focused its spring events on the implications of the region’s tumultuous transition.

Leaders in government, diplomacy, and the non-profit world have been selected by the Belfer Center’s Future of Diplomacy Project for the prestigious 2012 Fisher Family Fellowships.

The Spring 2011 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights the Belfer Center’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the United States and Russia to prevent nuclear catastrophe – an effort that began in the 1950s. This issue also features three new books by Center faculty that sharpen global debate on critical issues: God’s Century, by Monica Duffy Toft, The New Harvest by Calestous Juma, and The Future of Power, by Joseph S. Nye.

As the international need grows for nations to overcome challenges from climate change to terrorism to ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Harvard Kennedy School is responding with a new Future of Diplomacy Project directed by Nicholas Burns.