The Internet, Free Expression, and Authoritarianism

Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and the Mortara Center for International Studies invite you to a conference on The Internet, Free Expression, and Authoritarianism. The conference, led by Evgeny Morozov, ISD Yahoo! Fellow, will discuss the evolving nature of authoritarianism in the age of social media and digital communications. Our speakers will assess the impact of new communication technology on regime stability, free expression and civic engagement, and discuss the changing political environments in Russia, China, and Iran. [RSVP]

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Associates' Roundtable

The Influence of Media on Public Diplomacy

Panel

On October 28, 2009, panelists Walter Douglas, Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, John Walcott, Washington Bureau Chief for the McClatchy Company, and Sonni Efron, Washington-based journalist specializing in foreign policy and national security issues and a Senior Fellow with GlobalSecurity, led a discussion on the natural tension between public diplomacy and the news media, how the Department of State defines public diplomacy, how it is practicing public diplomacy today, and how this is changing due to digital technologies. [more]

ISD Associates

Trainor Lecture

The Hon. Louise Arbour, President, International Crisis Group, delivered the annual Trainor Lecture on Wednesday, September 30, 2009. The title of her lecture, "Civil Society and Public Interest Diplomacy," is available as a pdf file.

ISD Issues New Report

Diplomacy and Security in the Twenty-first Century, by Janne E. Nolan. Dr. Nolan, project chair, led a working group discussion of four cases of diplomatic initiatives aimed at containing problematic nuclear developments among distinct regional powers -- North Korea, India/Pakistan, Libya, and Iran -- investigating how U.S. policymakers and intelligence officials have supported (or failed to support) these efforts. [Report pdf]

Paula Newberg Appointed Director

Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Dean Robert L. Gallucci announces the appointment of Paula R. Newberg as the Marshall B. Coyne Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD).

Newberg comes to ISD as a scholar and practitioner with wide-ranging experience in multilateral and nongovernmental organizations. She specializes in issues of democracy, human rights, and development in crisis and transition states, and has served as a Special Advisor to the United Nations in various regions, including multiple postings in Afghanistan. Newberg has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and held a senior associate position at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she co-founded its Democracy Project and chaired the South Asia Roundtable.

Newberg taught at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University for many years, and she publishes extensively on issues including law and constitutionalism in Pakistan, insurgency and human rights in Kashmir, and international assistance to war-torn Afghanistan. A graduate of Oberlin College, Newberg received her doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago. She succeeds Casimir A. Yost, who stepped down in 2008 after 14 years at the helm of ISD.

Since 1978, ISD has been the School of Foreign Service's link to the foreign affairs practitioner. Its resident and non-resident associates, who are U.S. and foreign government officials and other foreign affairs practitioners, are affiliated with the institute for a year or more. Institute associates teach courses, organize lectures and discussions, and mentor students at the School of Foreign Service. The institute's larger constituency is the broader academic and policy community. Publications and case studies are available online.