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The State Department informed the most recent class of the Thomas R. Pickering and Rangel International Affairs Fellows that they will not have an opportunity to become career candidates in the U.S. Foreign Service at this time. Instead, they were offered temporary positions in consular affairs. SFS is concerned and disappointed by this news. The suspension of A-100 classes for graduating fellows is a breach of trust for the fellows and has serious implications for SFS students and the U.S. Foreign Service as an institution. On behalf of the SFS, Dean Joel Hellman expressed concerns in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on June 21, 2017, expressing support for the Pickering and Rangel programs as essential components of a diverse, talented Foreign Service. The suspension of the capstone component of those programs “jeopardizes not only this cohort of remarkable fellows, but threatens to impact future generations, who will never be certain again if the commitments they worked so hard to achieve in their graduate education will be met with the promised career paths that motivated their course of study,” Hellman wrote.
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On June 5, the Marshall Center’s 70th Anniversary Symposium commemorated the Harvard commencement speech in 1947 that launched the Marshall Plan, or European Recovery Program, an ambitious aid program to reconstruct the economy of Western Europe after World War II. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave the keynote address, drawing on the lessons from the Marshall Plan, an extraordinary move in U.S. foreign aid and diplomacy at a time when Americans were less interested in foreign commitments. Albright warned that the greatest danger facing America today is the possibility “we will allow the momentum towards democracy to stall, take for granted the institutions and principles upon which our own freedom is based, and forget what the history of the past century reminds us – that problems abroad, if left unattended, will come home to America.” She added, “dollars spent on diplomacy, development, and democracy” are just as important as dollars spent on defense. [Read the full text]
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ISD Director of Programs and Research Kelly M. McFarland discusses the lasting legacy of the Marshall Plan.
-- June 5, 2017, The Washington Post
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When thinking about the abstract foreign policy framework known as the “liberal international order,” it helps to personalize it by remembering the career of one of its strongest exponents, former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Brzezinski, who died Friday, devoted most of his career to explaining and enhancing this idea of a robust, supple, U.S.-led architecture for global security and prosperity.
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May 3, 2017
Graduate students from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) capstone course on Southeast Asia presented policy recommendations at the US State Department on May 3, 2017, with their instructor, Foreign Service Officer Katharine Nanavatty.
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In late April, ISD Senior Fellow Cas Yost briefed the Aspen Group on global security challenges. A copy of his talk is available here.
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April 12, 2017
From bustling megacities to remote Pacific islands, climate change has profound implications for how people live and work -- and whether conflicts over water, land, and other resources become local or global security challenges. A new report by the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy's New Global Commons working group explores the nexus between climate change and human migration.
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Institute for the Study of Diplomacy hosted Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, for a conversation on Africa’s position on the world stage. Thomas-Greenfield highlighted the problems and opportunities facing the continent in the near future as part of the Distinguished Practitioner Speaker Series. She shared her perspective from a 35-year career in the Foreign Service including the Ambassadorship in Liberia and a life that has been intertwined with Africa since her first visit in 1978.
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March 9, 2017
The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy is honored to welcome Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, as Resident Senior State Department Fellow, effective March 13, 2017. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield comes to ISD with a distinguished Foreign Service career. In addition to heading the Bureau of African Affairs since 2013, she has served as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
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February 16, 2017
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, a global diplomat and a recognized leader in efforts to protect the most vulnerable and hold accountable the most powerful – and a driving force behind the establishment of the International Criminal Court – received the 2017 Raymond “Jit” Trainor Award for Excellence in the Conduct of Diplomacy at a February 16, 2017 event hosted by Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and co-sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace.
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In his first two weeks in office, President Donald Trump has signed multiple executive orders, three of which address a range of immigration issues: refugees and visa holders, border security and law enforcement, and sanctuary cities.
A range of federal and state government officials, academics, and other experts have questioned the constitutionality of the executive orders, and the travel ban in particular has caused confusion at U.S. airports and protests across the country. SFS faculty and alumni weigh in on the issues presented by the these executive orders.
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January 24, 2017
In late December 2016, President Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats, a retaliatory move for Russian-sanctioned hacking during the US elections, as well as harassment of US diplomats in Moscow over the summer.
The hacking side of the story has been well documented. Less noted, perhaps, was the fact that Russia had stepped up surveillance and harassment of US diplomats, in response to US-imposed economic sanctions condemning Russia’s February 2014 military intervention in Ukraine. The homes of several US diplomats in Russia were invaded and vandalized in 2016. On June 6, a Russian FSB agent physically assaulted and injured an American diplomat attempting to enter the US Embassy in Moscow.
Could the United States have responded to the harassment by suing Russia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ)? Here’s how the harassment story lays out, in legal terms:
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December 6, 2016
Students at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) became diplomats for a day in November, testing their skills in conflict resolution and decision making at a recent international negotiation and crisis simulation exercise.
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November 21, 2016
With participants from Afghanistan to Ukraine, ISD’s annual Georgetown Leadership Seminar (GLS) welcomed 33 rising leaders from 27 countries for in-depth briefings and discussions on October 24-28, 2016.
Now in its 34th year, the Georgetown Leadership Seminar reflects the commitment of the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy to the idea that successful leaders in a globalized world must understand foreign affairs – and benefit from the connections they forge with a broad international network of colleagues. ISD Director of Studies Jim Seevers directs the Georgetown Leadership Program.
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Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) presented Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, with the 2016 Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting at a dinner event in Copley Formal Lounge October 20. The event, highlighted by Goldberg’s remarks on the United States and the world the next president will inherit, also included an introduction by Atlantic President Bob Cohn and a conversation between Goldberg and Jim Hoagland, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and foreign correspondent for The Washington Post.
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On Monday, September 19, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and Freedom House hosted a colloquium on Diplomacy and Human Rights featuring Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States. Almagro is one of the 2016 recipients of Freedom House’s Mark Palmer Prize.
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EAP alums Marc Grossman '73 and Barbara Bodine '70 built their careers in the U.S. Foreign Service by serving their country during some of the most tumultuous times in global history.
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The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University has selected Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent for The Atlantic, as the recipient of the 2016 Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting. Mr. Goldberg will receive the award and present remarks at a gala dinner at Georgetown on October 20th. Further details about the Weintal Prize celebration will be available in late summer.
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WASHINGTON (April 26, 2016)—Georgetown University today announced that the U.S. Department of State has designated the university as its first Diplomacy Lab partner in the national capital region. A 2013 State Department Office of Global Partnerships initiative, this public-private research program provides students – both undergraduate and graduate – at over 25 participating universities the opportunity to research and propose innovative yet well-grounded solutions to real-world policy challenges on behalf of State Department offices and U.S. embassies.
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April 28, 2016
Students in the ISD Capstone class on "Marketing America's National Security Policy" spent the spring 2016 semester learning to draft and deliver concise narratives to explain national security policy objectives to multiple stakeholders, including the American public, U.S. Congress, and the international community. Capstone classes are a requirement of the new ISD Certificate in Diplomatic Studies, offered to all graduate students within the School of Foreign Service.
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April 22, 2016
ISD and the Diplomacy Center Foundation cohosted a special screening of a new PBS documentary, “America’s Diplomats,” on April 21. Following the film, a panel of US Foreign Service officers offered students an inside view of the challenges and many rewards of pursuing a career in the US Foreign Service.
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April 21, 2016
What's it like behind the scenes to end a 50-year stalemate? In an ISD Distinguished Practitioner talk in April, ISD Rusk Fellow/White House Senior Advisor Bernadette Meehan and National Security Council Director for the Caribbean & Central America Siobhan Sheils spoke with Georgetown students about their experiences working on the U.S. government team negotiating the details of President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba in March 2016.
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How do presidents shake long-running diplomatic policies that stay in place despite the lack of positive outcomes? The Obama administration's opening of US-Cuba relations, like the Nixon administration's US-China rapprochement, took a bold move in the face of domestic backlash and a resistant bureaucracy, among other hurdles.
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April 14, 2016
On April 14, the African Studies program and ISD welcomed Zambia’s ambassador to the United States, H.E. Palan Mulonda, for an informal lunch conversation with students and faculty. The talk was part of an ongoing series of lectures at Georgetown featuring African ambassadors.
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Dr. Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy, received the 2016 Trainor Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy for his role and his team’s role in the P5+1 negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program and the Paris climate talks. The first scientist to receive the prestigious award, Dr. Moniz addressed a large audience of students and faculty at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service on April 11, 2016, reflecting not only on the Iranian and Paris talks but the Department of Energy’s broad role bringing science to diplomacy on “weapons, windmills, quarks and quagmires.”
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April 8, 2016
What does the Syrian refugee crisis look like on the ground? As part of ISD’s Distinguished Practitioners Series, on April 7 ISD State Department Fellow Ramon Escobar shared his experiences meeting with refugees and humanitarian organizations this spring. Ramon traveled to Berlin, Lesvos, and Turkey in March 2016 to talk with refugees about their choice to abandon their homes and livelihoods – risking everything to reach safety beyond Syria’s borders.
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The Diplomatic Pouch, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s blog, highlights the intersection of diplomatic history and current affairs, and history’s influence on foreign relations. To borrow from William Faulkner, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” History, and diplomatic history in particular, influence the everyday workings of international affairs. Practitioners who craft policies unhinged from history risk policies unhinged from current realities. The Diplomatic Pouch seeks to connect history to the present in service to the diplomat or foreign policy practitioner – and to spark reasoned debate that places current affairs in broader historical context. The inaugural post in ISD's Diplomatic Pouch looks at the success of the NATO Alliance, 67 years later.
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The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) and Institute for Women, Peace and Security welcomed a distinguished group of civic leaders from across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland on March 16, 2016, to assess the accomplishments and remaining challenges of the peace process.
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The Walsh Scholars Initiative (WSI) selected five SFS students for its inaugural cohort for the 2015-2016 academic year. Selected from a highly-qualified pool of candidates, the cohort demonstrates the academic performance, professional and leadership experience, and commitment to Georgetown’s values necessary for successful careers in public service. In collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and the SFS Dean’s Office, WSI provides each scholar with the professional skillset and network of practitioners and scholars necessary to address the most pressing international challenges of our time. After a semester of professional development training and relationship building, each Walsh Scholar will complete a substantive public service internship.
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Former Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Fellow for 2011-2012, Brigadier General Diana Holland, became the first woman Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy West Point on January 5, 2016. Prior to becoming Commandant of Cadets, Holland was the deputy commanding general of support for the 10th Mountain Division (light), the first female deputy commanding general of a light infantry division. She also led the legendary Black Diamonds – the 30th Engineer Battalion – during its deployment to eastern Afghanistan, the first of her two deployments to Afghanistan.
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Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD), along with the Mortara Center for International Studies, received a nearly $840,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York under its “Bridging the Gap” initiative. This honor highlights the School’s century-old mission to connect academia and the global policy world. The grant – “From Scholar’s Theory to Practitioner’s Work, and Back” – will focus on expanding the understanding and application of diplomacy as a critical tool of national policy. The grant empowers students, scholars, policymakers and the broader public through its emphasis on innovative learning, support for original research, and infrastructure for real-time publication of policy relevant work.
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On January 19, 2016 Ben Rhodes, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, delivered the 2016 Oscar Iden Lecture on American Foreign Policy and International Diplomacy. Mr. Rhodes oversees all of President Obama’s national security communications, speechwriting, and global engagement. In addition to channeling the President’s voice, Mr. Rhodes has played a key role in a number of diplomatic achievements, including the nuclear deal with Iran and the diplomatic opening with Myanmar. He was also one of two U.S. officials who conducted secret negotiations with the Cuban government, leading to the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In this conversation, moderated by ISD Fellow Bernadette Meehan and GU Politics Executive Director Mo Elleithee, Mr. Rhodes discussed his role as one of the President’s closest advisors, his path to the White House, the politics and policy behind this Administration’s national security decisions, and what to expect in the President’s final year in office.
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Within 40 Under 40: Latinos in Foreign Policy, Georgetown University and ISD were well represented by Elvia Valle, a graduate student and Thomas R. Pickering Fellow in the School of Foreign Service, and by Ramon Escobar, one of our 2015-2016 Dean & Virginia Rusk Fellows who is co-teaching Diplomatic and Military Statecraft this fall and will be teaching U.S. Foreign Policy in Conflict States in the spring.
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Three experts offered their analysis on the ongoing conflict in Yemen and assessed the prospects for a political solution. On December 4, 2015, the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted the event “Yemen between War and Political Solution,” with Mohammad Al-Shami, youth activist, advocacy trainer, and former Leaders for Democracy Fellow at Maxwell School of Syracuse University; Amat Alsoswa, founder of the Yemeni National Women’s Committee, former Human Rights minister, and former UN Assistant Secretary General; and Barbara Bodine, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and Director for the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in The Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen. Henri J. Barkey, Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, moderated the event.
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Bruce Hoffman’s Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947, a behind-the-scenes look at the tumultuous period leading up to the collapse of British colonial rule in Palestine and the establishment of the Jewish state, has been awarded the gold medal in The Washington Institute's 2015 Book Prize competition, the research organization announced today. Hoffman, director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, will receive the prestigious award and an accompanying $25,000 prize.
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Elijah Jatovsky is an ISD student fellow and has just published his first academic article in Dartmouth's World Outlook Undergraduate Journal of International Affairs on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
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ISD Student Fellow Elijah Jatovsky and SFS senior Patrick Lim delivered their talk, "A Syrias Risk" on October 24 at the TEDx Georgetown conference on Risk Takers. Their talk details their study abroad experiences in Jordan and activism with Syrian refugees.
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October 2, 2015
From the 23rd to the 26th of September, the European Academy of Diplomacy, in cooperation with the National School of Public Administration, hosted the 42nd meeting of Deans and Directors of Diplomatic Academies and Institutes of International Relations. The forum gathered representatives from 6 continents and more than 50 diplomatic academies for an intense 3-days program that discussed new trends and challenges in preparing future diplomats for work in a rapidly changing international environment.
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On November 3, 2015, Special Envoy to the Colombian Peace Process Bernard Aronson joined Ramon Escobar, ISD Rusk Fellow for a discussion: "Is Colombia's Long War Drawing to an End?" This event was co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies. Aronson helped promote the first successful democratic elections in Nicaragua and an end to the contra war and a negotiated settlement of the war in El Salvador. In addition during Aronson’s tenure: Panama was liberated from the dictatorial rule of General Manuel Noriega; the United States helped Colombia defeat Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel; Latin America emerged from both the debt crisis and the lost decade; NAFTA was negotiated; Argentina and Brazil put their nuclear programs under IAEA safeguards; Peru defeated, with U.S. assistance, Sendero Luminoso; and the OAS unanimously adopted the Santiago Declaration committing its member states to the collective defense of democracy.
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In the first Distinguished Practitioner Discussion Series of the 2015 fall semester, ISD was pleased to host Joe Cirincione, President of Ploughshares Fund for a discussion about the historic Iran deal. Moderated by Bernadette Meehan, ISD Rusk Fellow, the conversation centered around the efforts (from both inside and outside the government) that are necessary in order to create, communicate, and carry out such a major diplomatic achievement.
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October 2, 2015
A participant from the 2013 Georgetown Young Leadership Seminar in Qatar, Tin Ma Ma Htet - Teacher and Storyteller, Monastic Education Development Group, Myanmar Storytellers - joins Clinton Global Initiatives 2015 Annual Meeting to discuss "The Future of Impact". You can watch the video of the panel here.
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The American Academy of Diplomacy has released a new report, Diplomacy for the 21st Century: Embedding a Culture of Science and Technology Throughout the Department of State. The report recommends steps that the Department of State should embrace to take full advantage of the leading science and technology (S&T) capabilities of the United States.
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Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy welcomes its new class of six graduate and two undergraduate research fellows. The fellows pursue independent research projects that focus on a wide range of ongoing and emerging diplomatic issues. They are advised by ISD senior staff and associates, other Georgetown University faculty, and notable practitioners. The projects culminate in substantial studies presented at a public colloquium during the spring semester.
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Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy is proud to announce its new cohort of diplomats and military and intelligence officers as the 2015-2016 ISD Associates and Senior Fellows. These practitioners-in-residence, from the U.S. Department of State, the intelligence community, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and the Korean and Chinese foreign ministries, bring a broad range of professional experience to ISD, to the University, and the School of Foreign Service. As part of their residencies, these practitioners will teach at both the graduate and undergraduate level, support ISD-sponsored simulations, and conduct informal seminars; each looks forward to the opportunity to interact with students and faculty across the University community. They join ISD’s Director, Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies Chester Crocker, Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor Casimir Yost, and Director of Studies Jim Seevers. Several of them will teach capstone courses in the spring as part of ISD’s newly launched Certificate in Diplomatic Studies.
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The American Academy of Diplomacy has released a new report, American Diplomacy at Risk, that aims to stimulate the changes necessary to prepare American diplomacy for the challenges of the 21st century. "A strong State Department, based on a strong Foreign Service and a strong Civil Service, is a critical component of America's security. But America's diplomacy—the front line of our defenses—is in trouble. Increasing politicization undermines institutional strength; almost no career officers serve in the most senior State positions, while short-term political appointees penetrate ever deeper into the system. The Foreign Service lacks the professional education and standards to meet its current heavy responsibilities and to create its necessary future senior leaders. The Civil Service is mired in an outdated system with limited coherent career mobility."
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United States Ambassador to Sweden Mark Brzezinski addressed the need for action on climate change, the importance of using new techniques and methods in diplomacy, and the importance of Arctic policy. Mr. Brzezinski was confirmed to this position by the United States Senate on October 18, 2011.
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On Monday, April 27th, students enrolled in IPOL 358, The Military and Peace-building, presented their joint report, "Mali: Developing a Multi-faceted Strategy for a Successful U.S. Stability Intervention," to a senior panel of NSC, defense, and military practitioners in the Pentagon. The practitioner panel was very impressed by the report with one participant acknowledging, "I suspect we will detect traces of their ideas emerging in talking points for upcoming policy discussions in the building and across the river as we determine the best strategy for Mali." Congratulations to the students for a job very well done.
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In anticipation of her recent visit to Panama for the Summit of the Americas, ISD's Yahoo! Fellow, Yoani Sanchez, sat down for an interview with Yahoo! Noticias. To watch the interview (in Spanish), click learn more. "La periodista cubana nos habla de su nuevo bebé, Cuba y los retos personales y tecnológicos en este nuevo proyecto." -Yahoo! Noticias
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Adopted in 2013 by the UN General Assembly, the Arms Trade Treaty sets international standards for transfers of conventional weapons, and addresses diverging security, geopolitical, economic and ethical interests related to the international arms trade. Why was it negotiated in the framework of the UN? How did the actors, notably the United States, pursue their interests? What are the treaty’s impacts? How does it affect the decision whether to supply lethal weapons to conflict areas such as Ukraine or Syria? What role will the United States play in the future?
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Congressman Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), sworn in on January 6, 2015, is part of a new generation of leaders in Washington, and among the youngest. A decorated former U.S. Marine with four combat tours in Iraq, Rep. Moulton is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government. Featured in the 2007 award-winning documentary "No End in Sight," he asked of us all at the end, "Is this the best that America can do?" Not content to sit on the sidelines and wait for an answer, Mr. Moulton decided to run for office and do something about it.
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The Mortara Center and The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy are pleased to host Amb. Bill Luers, Paul Pillar, and Robin Wright of The Iran Project to discuss the current status of negotiations with Iran and the prospects for their success.
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January's issue of The Foreign Service Journal features a piece by ISD Director Barbara Bodine on effective ways to teach diplomacy to the next generation. Amb. Bodine asks, "Diplomacy is a collaborative process over time involving a number of players with differing perspectives and strengths. How does a practitioner convey that in a classroom?"
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ISD's Yahoo! Fellow, Yoani Sanchez, a prominent Cuban blogger and founder of online newspaper 14YMEDIO.com, writes for The Miami Herald on the latest developments in Cuba.
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The inaugural Distinguished Practitioners Series was presented by Gen. Wesley K. Clark U.S. Army (ret.) before a group of students and invited guests on the Georgetown campus. General Clark discussed topics from his new book, Don’t Wait For the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership. As America emerges from more than a decade of costly wars, Clark proposed a new strategic vision to address five persistent, interrelated, international challenges—terrorism, cybersecurity, financial instability, the rise of China and global climate change. This event was presented by the Institute in cooperation with the Center for Security Studies.
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The Honorable Wendy R. Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, received the Trainor Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy and presented a lecture on Sept 16, 2014, on US Policy in the Middle East: Present Course, Future Direction.
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The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy was honored to host Peter Dorman, president of the American University in Beirut, for a roundtable discussion of American-style education and the effects it has on culture, society, and politics in Lebanon and the Middle East. For 150 years, AUB has been seen as the "gold standard" of education in Lebanon. With an emphasis on liberal arts, not just professional abilities, its students are developing creative and critical thinking skills.
