DUCIGS/Rethinking Diplomacy Program (DUCIGS/RDP) was a proud partner of the Meridian Diplomacy Forum that took place on April 12, 2022, in Washington D.C.
The forum is a signature annual gathering of the Meridian International Center(link is external), a 60-year-old diplomacy center that connects leaders to drive solutions for global challenges.
Featured speakers this year included, among many others, the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Ambassador John Negroponte, His Excellency Lazarus O. Amayo, Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to the U.S, Her Excellency Anniken Krutnes, Ambassador of Norway to the U.S, and 12th NASA Administrator Major General, Charles F. Bolden Jr.
DUCIGS/RDP contributed to the identification of the 2022 forum’s topic—Statecraft in the Evolving Frontiers: Ocean, Arctic and Space. RDP fellows and co-founders of the new Rethinking Diplomacy/Space Diplomacy Lab (SDL), Benjamin Schmitt (Harvard) and Giovanni Zanalda (Duke) as well as SDL’s fellow, Lyndsey Gray (National Science Policy Network, NSPN), attended the event in DC. Duke students and affiliates were in attendance online.
In the session, “Universal Appeal: The Astronomical Need for Modern Space Diplomacy,“ the panelists discussed about the need of space diplomacy in the face of an “increased potential for future conflict as nation-states develop an array of counterspace weapons and increased traffic may lead to collision with satellites and harmful space debris.”
It is also worth noting the announcement at this year’s forum of a follow-up DiplomacyRISE initiative(link is external), an in-person fair aiming to connect “private and public sector professionals with students of diplomacy and the next generation of international affairs practitioners (…) to cultivate the next generation of diplomats.”
Watch all the sessions of the 2022 Meridian Diplomacy Forum:
