Diplomacy and International Politics

Foreign Affairs has recently published a number of articles on how the United States should engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, extremist forces within the regime, how the West can help ordinary Afghans, and the fate of the country’s women. To complement these essays, Foreign Affairs asked a broad pool of experts for their take. As with previous surveys, Foreign Affairs approached dozens of authorities with expertise relevant to the question at hand, along with leading generalists in the field. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed with a proposition and to rate their confidence level in their opinion. Two Belfer Center experts participated, International Security Executive Editor Jacqueline L. Hazelton and Future of Diplomacy Project Senior Fellow Paula Dobriansky.

Social media is changing not only the atmosphere in which international negotiations take place; it is also changing the very substance of the deals. Because of the pace and proliferation of social media, negotiators must read “weak signals” early on—and anticipate a quickly organized, highly motivated opposition. However, diplomatic negotiators still lack the tools to engage in this sort of anticipatory strategy design. 

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 U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered his take on global leaders and hotspots, from Iran and Saudi Arabia to North Korea and Syria. He was joined by Professor Nicholas Burns, Professor James Sebenius and Professor Robert Mnookin.

NPR's David Greene talks to Amanda Sloat of the Brookings Institution, and David Rennie of The Economist magazine, about the global standing of the U.S. The G-7 meetings in France wrap up Monday.

After the G7 Summit, President Trump is now saying he would be open to a meeting with Iran if the circumstances were correct and they were "good players." He also claimed China wants a trade deal very badly and talks were "elevated" last night. Plus the president became salesman-in-chief when asked about next year's G7 summit - which he wants to host at his resort in Doral, Florida. NBC's Kelly O’Donnell, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, former Commerce Secretary and former U.S. ambassador to China Gary Locke, and former U.S. ambassador to NATO Nick Burns join Andrea Mitchell to discuss.

President Trump is continuing to raise the issue of readmitting Russia to the G7, and is still blaming President Obama for throwing Moscow out of the group. Former U.S. ambassador to NATO and Washington Post foreign columnist David Ignatius join Andrea Mitchell to discuss.