Cambridge MA -- The Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs announces the appointment of spring 2015 Fisher Family Fellows; former NATO Secretary-General and Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen; former EU Trade Commissioner and Belgian Foreign Minister, Karel de Gucht; former National Security Advisor and Foreign Secretary of India, Shivshankar Menon; and Brazil’s former Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim.
“We are delighted to welcome to our Future of Diplomacy Project this semester these four distinguished global leaders. Their presence will allow our students, faculty and fellows to deepen our understanding of the complex challenges to international peace and security,” said Professor Nicholas Burns, Faculty Director and Founder of the Future of Diplomacy Project.
Rasmussen will be in residence with the Project from February to March and will facilitate a two-part study group with Kennedy School degree students on the future of the NATO alliance. De Gucht will be leading a series of study groups on the relationship between geostrategic developments and trade policy. Both Menon and Amorim will teach study groups on the security and defense policy of their respective countries, India and Brazil, during their time on campus. In addition, all fellows will deliver public addresses to the wider Harvard University community and engage in research for upcoming book projects.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen was appointed 12th NATO Secretary-General on August 1, 2009. Prior to this appointment, he served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2001 to 2009. While acting as Danish Prime Minister, he assumed the rotating Presidency of the European Union in 2002 was influential in completing accession negotiations with ten candidates for EU membership, among them Poland and Cyprus. He previously held numerous high-level governmental posts, including as Minister for Economic Affairs in the Conservative-Liberal coalition Government (1990-1992) and as Minister for Taxation (1987-1992) and acted as Danish negotiator of and signatory to the Maastricht Treaty while Minister for Economic Affairs and member of the EU’s ECOFIN-council. Rasmussen was also Vice-Chairman of the Foleting’s Foreign Policy Board from 1998 to 2001.
Karel de Gucht was elected as the European Union Commissioner for Trade in 2010 and served in this position until 2014. As EU Trade Commissioner, de Gucht assisted in pursuing and securing free trade negotiations between the EU and the U.S. through the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). He was previously European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2009 to 2010. Before working for the EU, de Gucht served as Belgian Deputy Prime Minister in 2008, Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2004, and Member of the Belgian House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009. Since 2002, de Gucht has also held the honorary title of Minister of State in Belgium. De Gucht taught European law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he received his law degree in 1976.
Shivshankar Menon was India’s former national security advisor and foreign secretary. While foreign secretary in 2008, Menon was an active voice in negotiations over the India-US civil nuclear initiative, which placed India’s civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. As a career diplomat, he was India’s ambassador to China (2000-2003) and Israel (1995-1997), as well as high commissioner to Pakistan (2003-2006) and Sri Lanka (1997-2000). In addition to this, he served in Japan and in Austria in the Embassy and the Mission to the IAEA. Earlier in his career, Menon was Director in the Department of Atomic Energy in Mumbai from 1983 to 1986. Menon graduated from the 1972 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and received an MA in History from Delhi University.
Celso Amorim currently serves as Brazil’s Minister of Defense. He was previously Brazil’s longest serving Foreign Minister under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Itamar Franco and played a crucial role in transforming Brazil into a major international leader. Amorim was appointed Secretary for International Affairs in the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1987 and served as Director-General for Cultural Affairs in the Ministry of External Relations in 1989. While acting as permanent representative of Brazil to the United Nations in New York (1995-1999) and in Geneva (1991-1993, 1999-2001), Mr. Amorim represented Brazil on the Security Council panel on Iraq in 1999. He was named Ambassador to the U.K. in 2001. This is Amorim’s second appointment as a Fisher Family Fellow after 2011.
The Fellows’ work at Harvard Kennedy School is made possible through The Richard and Nancy Fisher Family Fellows Program, created by Nancy and Richard W. Fisher, AB ’71, long-time supporters of Harvard University’s international engagement and teaching. The fellowship was created in 2010. Previous fellows include Farah Pandith, former U.S. Special Representative to Muslim in Communities (Fall 2014); Jairam Ramesh, former Indian Minister for Rural Development (Fall 2014); Douglas Alexander, UK Shadow Foreign Secretary (Spring 2013); Josette Sheeran, then-Vice Chairman of the World Economic Forum (Spring 2013); Christopher de Bellaigue, author and journalist (Spring 2013); Javier Solana, former Secretary General of NATO (Spring 2013); Soli Özel, professor of international relations and columnist (Spring 2013); C. Raja Mohan, senior associate in Carnegie’s South Asia Program (Fall 2013); Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary of India (Spring 2013); David Manning, Former UK Ambassador to the US and NATO (Fall 2012); Anna Diamantopoulou, former EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs (Fall 2012); Tim Shriver, President and CEO of Special Olympics (Fall 2012); Celso Amorim, Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs (Spring 2011); Kai Eide, former UN Special Representative to Afghanistan (Spring 2011); Roger Cohen, columnist for the New York Times (Fall 2011); David Miliband, former UK Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Fall 2010); Said T. Jawad, former Afghan Ambassador to the United States (Fall 2010).
Led by R. Nicholas Burns (Faculty Director) and Cathryn Clüver (Executive Director), the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is dedicated to promoting the study and understanding of diplomacy, negotiation and statecraft in international politics today. The Project aims to build Harvard Kennedy School’s ability to teach in this area, to support research in modern diplomatic practice and to build public understanding of diplomacy’s indispensible role in an increasingly complex and globalized world.