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Future of Diplomacy Project
The Future of Diplomacy Project (FDP) has published a report celebrating its 10-year anniversary, “A Decade of Diplomacy: The Future of Diplomacy Project at 10,” which looks back on a wealth of speakers, panels, conferences, and debates about diplomacy’s place in an increasingly complex global landscape. The report includes reflections from some of the Project’s former fellows on the opportunities and challenges for diplomacy in the decade ahead.
In April 2021, the Project launched the Bosworth Memorial Lecture in Diplomacy which was established to honor the legacy of one of America’s finest diplomats and educators, Ambassador Steve Bosworth. The Bosworth lecture series brings distinguished leaders to Harvard to speak about foreign policy, diplomacy, and peacekeeping—three areas where Ambassador Bosworth focused his diplomatic and academic career. President Bill Clinton served as the inaugural speaker and was interviewed by Professor Nicholas Burns. He addressed an audience of more than 1,000 members of the Harvard community with his perspective on key diplomatic issues today, including bilateral relations with a resurgent Russia and a rising China. The virtual event featured opening remarks by Harvard President Larry Bacow and a video tribute to the late Ambassador Bosworth. A closing video featured comments by Ambassador Bosworth’s widow, Christine Bosworth, and their grandson.
In collaboration with Carla Dirlikov Canales, an Arts Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, a renowned opera singer, and current Fellow at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, the Project created the Future of Cultural Diplomacy seminar series and a subsequent Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy Study Group that explores how to harness culture to advance foreign policy objectives, an important but often overlooked angle in current foreign policy debates. The series hosted UNESCO’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, and Professors Joe Nye and Nicholas Burns, among others.
The Project’s 30 events in its international speaker series reflected a deepened commitment to embedding diversity in all aspects of its programming and to supporting a more inclusive next generation of international policy leaders. Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke about the global role of the U.S.and his efforts to promote greater diversity and inclusion in the State Department. Similarly, the Project hosted a conversation with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Global Head of Sustainability and Inclusive Growth at Goldman Sachs Dina Powell McCormick, and Ezinne Uzo-Okoro, Harvard Kennedy School mid-career graduate (2021) and the Assistant Director for Space Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, about how their experiences as refugees and immigrants shaped their views on America’s role in the world and influenced their careers in public service.
The Future of Diplomacy Project is dedicated to promoting the study and understanding of diplomacy, negotiation, and statecraft in international politics today. The Project aims to build Harvard Kennedy School’s ability to teach in this area, to support research in modern diplomatic practice and to build public understanding of diplomacy’s indispensable role in an increasingly complex and globalized world.
Faculty Chair: Nicholas Burns
Executive Director:
Cathryn Cluver Ashbrook (until July 2021)
Deputy Director:
Alison Hillegeist (until September 2021)
Research and Administrative Manager:
