In November of 2008 the US will elect a new president who will inherit a daunting array of international dangers, challenges and opportunities. How will he or she respond?
In the spirit of great debate befitting a presidential election, the Global Leadership Forum addresses the most pressing global issues facing the US; ranging from relations with transatlantic allies and the Middle East, to climate change and the crisis in the global economy.
The speakers represent both sides of the Atlantic, and all sides of the debates surrounding whether or not the classic strategic partners need or in fact want to sustain the Transatlantic Partnership- Royal United Services Institute
Bio
Christopher Coker
Christopher Coker is Chair of the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics.
Dr. Karen Donfried
Dr. Karen Donfried returned to the German Marshall Fund in 2005 as senior director for policy programs after an extended leave of absence during which she served in the U.S. Department of State. In her new position, she provides strategic direction to GMF's programs and bolsters its continued work on U.S.-European relations.
While at the State Department from October 2003 through May 2005, Dr. Donfried handled the Europe portfolio on the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State. She previously served as GMF's director of foreign policy and, prior to that, worked as a European Affairs specialist in the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). She has written numerous articles and reports for Congress on German foreign and defense policy, European integration, and transatlantic relations. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Council on Germany.
Philip H. Gordon
Dr. Philip Gordon is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and Director of the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe.
Prior to coming to Brookings he was Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council, where he was responsible for as range of issues including NATO, Western Europe, Turkey and the OSCE. From 1994-98 he was Senior Fellow for U.S. Strategic Studies and the Editor of Survival at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
He has previously held teaching and research posts at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC; INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France and Singapore; and the German Society for Foreign Affairs in Bonn.
Dr. Gordon has a Ph.D. and M.A. and in European Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a B.A. in French and Philosophy from Ohio University. He is a regular commentator in international affairs and U.S. foreign policy for major television and radio networks and a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of major publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, The New Republic Online, Yale Global and Le Monde.
He is the author or co-author of a number of books, including Crescent of Crisis: U.S.-European Strategy for the Greater Middle East (Brookings, 2006); Allies at War: America, Europe and the Crisis Over Iraq (McGraw-Hill, 2004); Iraq: The Transatlantic Debate (EU Institute for Security Studies December 2002); The French Challenge: Adapting to Globalization (Brookings, 2001); Cold War Statesmen Confront the Bomb: Diplomacy and Nuclear Weapons Since 1945 (Oxford University Press, 1999); The Transatlantic Allies and the Changing Middle East (Oxford/IISS, 1998); NATO's Transformation (Rowman and Littlefield, 1997); France, Germany and the Western Alliance (Westview, 1995); and A Certain Idea of France: French Security and the Gaullist Legacy (Princeton, 1993).
John Ikenberry
John Ikenberry is a theorist of international relations and United States foreign policy and a professor of Politics and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He also serves as the co-director on the Princeton Project on National Security. He has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is also the reviewer of books on political and legal affairs for Foreign Affairs.
Robin Oakley
Robert Oakley OBE is a British journalist who is a Political Editor at CNN International and formerly held the same title at the BBC.
Charles Powell
Charles Powell is a diplomat, politician and businessman. He served as a key foreign policy adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s.
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