World
Diplomacy
The international community faces unprecedented threats. What will geopolitical arrangements look like going forward? Is it time to rethink America’s relationship with China? What are NATO’s strengths — and vulnerabilities? How can we protect free and independent press around the world?
Populations around the world have been electing more and more autocratic leaders in the past couple decades, via supposedly free, fair, and democratic elections. The freedom of the press is being impinged upon in many places, and fear, outrage and misinformation are often taking the place of reasoned debate. Minority populations in some countries are increasingly oppressed...
At the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival, we dug into some of the most important and fascinating issues of our time, from rebuilding trust in our institutions and the promise and peril of A.I. to the ingredients of a good life and the emerging geopolitical order — plus so much more!
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. With heightened political tensions and an ongoing trade war, some experts argue that new ways of thinking about America’s relationship with China are necessary. Business leaders point out that we are deeply invested in China, such that n...
With the dream of the Oslo Accords long in the rear-view mirror and no prospect of an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians ahead, is it time to give up on the two-state solution?
The war in Ukraine has once again highlighted the importance of international alliances, and that is certainly evident on the African continent, where the world’s superpowers are actively engaged in a competition for support and resources. How will this contest play out, what are the stakes, and who stands to gain -- and lose?
As Israel marks its 75th birthday, the existential challenges it faces don’t only come from geopolitical vulnerabilities. How will the Jewish state confront internal divisions and divergent opinions about threats to its democratic institutions?
Hostage-taking presents nations with a conundrum: How can governments bring their citizens home while also preventing further captures? The United States’s top hostage negotiator, a leading scholar, and a former hostage discuss navigating the difficult waters of hostage diplomacy.
The Afternoon of Conversation is the Aspen Ideas Festival's pinnacle programming moment. Over 2,000 people gather in the Benedict Music Tent, an open-air venue with acoustics that mimic an amphitheater, to hear from global leaders, community change-makers, journalists, politicians, and more. Doors open at 2 p.m.
With renewed conflict on the international stage, India’s decades-long policy of nonalignment, together with its surpassing China as the most populous nation, have arguably positioned it to become the world’s newest superpower. To what ends is it harnessing its growing influence and geopolitical independence?
Ongoing war in Ukraine and the resulting tensions between the West, Russia, and China have made the NATO alliance all the more significant, and yet perhaps more vulnerable. What lies ahead as the alliance’s member nations assess each other’s commitments to their mutual security?
Since the dawn of the Olympics, sports have been a contest of global powers. Today, how are sports used as a means of conducting foreign policy — for better and for worse?
Across the globe, free and fair elections have given rise to autocratic regimes. Have we underestimated the fragility of democracy and overestimated its value? (Book signing with Shadi Hamid to follow.)
Does going electric mean buying lithium from Russia and Venezuela? What happens if the United States takes carbon action while competitors don’t? Experts weigh in on the geopolitical implications — and opportunities — of a global transition to cleaner energy.
The festival kicks off with thought leaders sharing fresh ideas about bridging divides, having better conversations, and encouraging creativity. A conversation with Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States will follow, and the program concludes with a discussion on the late-breaking developments in Russia. Doors open at 4:30 pm.
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, reporters bring us more and more heart-wrenching stories and images of suffering caused by the conflict. The scale of the damage can feel overwhelming, but a firsthand account can sometimes help us process the impact and ground us in what’s happening in the region. Yuliya Tychkivska is a longtime activist and the executive director...
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting geopolitical instability have caused many to draw parallels to the events preceding World War II. In the post-war years, the international community came together to establish institutions they believed would prevent worldwide conflict and genocide. Multiple conventions and treaties have since been ratified in an effort to stav...
For years, experts have predicted that the next major conflict would take place inside our computers, rather than on physical battlefields. But the initial months of Russia's war in Ukraine have seen a surprising absence of cyber warfare — or has it? What’s the real role digital attacks have played in that war, and what have we learned about how cyber war works — and doesn...
Over the last two years, the nation seems to have been broken. Against the background of a politicized pandemic, there was a verbal and legal assault on democracy predicated on the lie of a rigged election, followed by a literal assault on the US Capitol building. Then, in spite of something so obvious to unite against, the opposition party struggled to find a solid ticket...
The Afternoon of Conversation is the Aspen Ideas Festival's pinnacle programming moment. Over 2,000 people gather in the Benedict Music Tent, an open-air venue with acoustics that mimic an amphitheater, to hear from global leaders, community change-makers, journalists, politicians, and more.