The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University (LISD) will host a special session on "The State of the World" with President José Manuel Durão Barroso, frmr. President EU Commission and Non-Executive Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. The address is part of the Seminar on Global Diplomatic and Security Challenges (GDSC), a yearlong interactive seminar for graduate and undergraduate students. President Barroso will address students in a private forum with the objective of exploring the global challenges affecting the nature of ongoing diplomatic and geopolitical cooperation. 

The session is open to Princeton University faculty and students only. To attend, please RSVP to Ms. Kristen Cuzzo at [email protected]. Only those that have registered will receive link to participate.

The Honorable José Manuel Durão Barroso is a non-resident senior fellow with LISD, following his 2015-2016 term as a visiting policy fellow with LISD and the Frederick H. Schultz Class of 1951 Visiting Professor of International Economic Policy. He is the former president of the European Commission. Barroso, former prime minister of Portugal, became president of the European Commission in 2004 and was reelected to the post in 2009. The European Commission is the executive body of the EU and is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the day-to-day running of the EU.

The Seminar on Global Diplomatic and Security Challenges (GDSC) is a year-long interactive seminar led by Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Founding Director of LISD, which affords participating students the opportunity to participate in in-depth discussion on select issues critical for contemporary diplomacy and security with eminent experts and representatives in an interdisciplinary and interactive virtual venue. The GDSC will explore conceptual dimensions like perception, predictability, realpolitik, trust, leadership, strategy, sphere of influence, sovereignty and self-determination; focus on geo-strategic developments and crises in regions like the Arctic, Eurasia, the Mediterranean, the wider Middle East, the Caucasus, Central and South Asia, North East Asia; and deal specifically with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the United Nations (UN). The seminar will analyze critical global challenges, such as the SARS2 Covid-19 Pandemic, inequality, the environmental challenges; as well as the role of media, and new technologies. 

Participating students, the GDSC Fellows, are expected to register for the entire academic year 2020/21 and are expected to attend all sessions. Special arrangements will be made so that the Fellows will have additional time with speakers to discuss their interests in a more private forum. Fellows are required to attend all sessions, complete one brief assignment/commentary (approx. 3,000 words) at the end of the Fall Semester and compose an approx. 6,000-word final paper by end of the Spring Semester, 2021. Of those final papers, the research papers which meet the criteria of completion will be presented at an international meeting, anticipated to be held abroad in the summer of 2021.

For all inquiries about the program and to submit your application, please contact Ms. Kristen Cuzzo at [email protected]. To apply, please email Ms. Cuzzo your (a) name, (b) class year, (c) intended concentration, (d) a few lines about previous work, as it pertains to the seminar theme, (e) independent research interests, and (f) reason for wanting to participate.