This event, which took place in Vienna, explored the changes in data and communications technologies that have important implications for the interfaces between countries and the techniques of diplomacy. Read More

Held in New York, this workshop examined the current methods used to address displaced populations and suggestions for improvements building upon a multilateral framework. Forced migration is currently occurring at historically high rates. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) statistics, there are currently 17.9 million forced migrants outside the borders of their citizenship. Moreover, the number of expellees has sharply increased because of war, terror, and state breakdown in the Middle East: since 2011, three million people have fled Syria alone. In addition,... Read More

Held at the Ludwig Boltzman Institute for Human Rights in Vienna, this workshop addressed ways to foster global justice and human rights and how these two concepts can complement and enrich each other and ultimately contribute to a more just and thus stable world order. The Issues The relevance of human rights in the 21st century: Has the concept of human rights as a universal set of values become stronger or is it ending?  Are human rights universal and are they still relevant in 2015 and beyond? A stable and durable world order governed by human rights: Considering the erosion of the... Read More

Extreme poverty is too prevalent in the world of 2015. The gap between rich and poor is growing within countries, while inequality at the global scale persists at a very high level. New dynamics of inequality have arisen from changes in the world order. Technological innovation has exacerbated the gaps, through the incentives new technologies provide to private companies. Scholars of innovation have identified several approaches that redirect innovation energy to inclusive development. National and international organizations have different roles to play in this process. International... Read More

The conceptual backdrop for the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the impending struggle among three ideologies that would shape the emerging modern international order:  liberalism, nationalism, and the far-from-spent forces of monarchical legitimism. Religion played a role in these ideological contests, while socialism and economic radicalism waited in the wings. Today liberalism, nationalism, modernized forms of autocratic rule, religious identity politics, and radical critiques still contend and recombine in new, revitalized forms.  While the bicentennial of the Congress provides an... Read More

This workshop brought together scholars of religion, politics, and international relations to debate the role of religion in world order and its complex implications for two critical global policy imperatives: combatting terrorism and advancing human rights. It was jointly organized by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University and the Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership. Read More

This event was an examination of the relationship of extractive industries to conflict, shifts in geo-economic and geopolitical power, international and domestic disparities, and governance.   The workshop addressed the following areas of importance regarding the extractive industries and their relationship to geopolitics and geoeconomics: Can we identify shared interests in respect of the handling of resource assets, exploitation, supplier and user needs that might permit some agreement between the major powers (if not more generally between governments) on behaviour that would improve... Read More

On 29-30 September 2015, a two-day workshop took place in New York on "Searching for a Global Peace and Security Architecture for the 21st Century: Challenges and Perspectives,” organized by the Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, in cooperation with the Herbert C. Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation and the International Crisis Group.  Participants representing academe, diplomacy, and non-governmental organizations debated critical issues related to structures, processes and policies of a future global peace and security architecture. Proceeding from the basic... Read More

This Vienna meeting explored the potential role the middle powers could play as a group to balance the pursuit of interests by the major powers. In 2015, Austria celebrates the sixtieth year of its neutrality law, presenting the opportunity to give the concept of neutrality a fresh look. After the Second World War, Europe has been divided into two military and ideological blocs. The conference of Yalta seventy years ago stands for this creation of spheres of influence when neutrality became the exception to the rule. 2015 is also the thirtieth anniversary of the Helsinki-Final Act. During... Read More

Hosted in Vienna, this event brought together a select group of individuals, up to the age of 28, to provide the youth perspective on the major themes of the Congress of Vienna: discord, disparity, and displacement. Some 110 graduate students from around the world participated in a facilitated discussion on the subjects of the Congress of Vienna 2015. The group convened for 2 days at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and on the 3rdday joined the Delegates to the Congress to report for consideration their thoughts on these topics. Read More