The Future of Diplomacy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Tomorrow Now: The Future of Diplomacy in a Disrupted World A student driven, applied learning seminar limited to 2nd year graduate students, this course will address four main questions: 1. What in the world is happening? Tapping on various resources, we will explore the range of global trends currently underway, identify those likely to have the most significant impact, and critique the diplomatic tools to address them. 2. Is strategic forecasting fate or folly? Conducting an analysis of the principal methodologies employed in strategic forecasting, we will examine the extent to which projections are analytically sound and subsequently validated, or ignored by policy makers and prone to cognitive bias. 3. Is diplomacy on life-support? In light of the dramatic disruptions currently underway, has traditional diplomacy become obsolete? If so, what will take its place and how might this have its own impact on trends underway? 4. Are technological advances in communications upending or replacing traditional public diplomacy? We will focus on the impact of social media and other burgeoning forms of communication on the global trends underway and the diplomacy to address them. Each student will select one trend and one region of the world to focus on for the semester. Student projects will include the following: - Interview of two practitioners and a two-page summary of the student's conclusions based on the interviews. - An Op-Ed that meets the Washington Post guidelines for publication. - Each week a pre-assigned group of students will kick off the seminar discussion by identifying the key questions emerging from the readings. - Capstone team presentation that advocates approach to an emerging trend including a communications strategy to advance the chosen approach.