The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

70 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS Adair Lecture: Amb. Stephenson on the Future of Diplomacy On Aug. 31, AFSA Presi- dent Ambassador Barbara Stephenson gave this year’s Caroline and Ambassador Charles Adair Memorial Lec- ture at American University in Washington, D.C. The Adair Memorial Lecture is co–hosted by AFSA’s Fund for American Diplomacy and the School of Professional and Extended Studies at AU. AFSA thanks Dean Carola Weil and Dr. Christian Maisch for facilitating the event, which took place in packed- to-capacity Kaye Spiritual Life Center on the AU campus. Made possible by the generous support of former AFSA President Marshall Adair and the Adair family, the lectures—now in their 10th year—are designed to expose students to indi- viduals who have spent their careers practicing diplo- macy and thus add practical insights to the students’ theoretical studies. Amb. Stephenson shared her thoughts on the future of diplomacy, saying that she expects the conduct and practice of diplomacy to be very different over the next decades than when she first started her Foreign Service career. This is due to a range of new threats, she explained, that are global in scope and as diverse as collapsing fisheries, rising oceans and epidemic diseases such as Ebola and Zika. The AFSA president emphasized her dedication to ensuring that the next gen- eration of the Foreign Service is equipped to handle these new challenges. Citing several current diplomatic initiatives, she described how the practice of diplomacy is already being reshaped to prepare for the future. She hailed, for example, the Conference Of Parties 21—the global climate change initiative agreed on in Paris last year—as a bold move toward public problem solving and a key example of stakeholders working together with “traditional” diplomats to address a global problem. “My central argument is that most of the global challenges ahead will require working with a much broader array of partners than was the case in the past—and a cadre of people prepared to step up and provide the leadership necessary for that effort. People who are com- fortable talking about sci- AFSA President Ambassador Barbara Stephenson addresses students at the 10th annual Caroline and Ambassador Charles Adair Memorial Lecture. A student in the school of Professional and Extended Studies at American University asks Amb. Stephenson a question at the Adair Memorial Lecture. AFSA/GEMMADVORAK AFSA/GEMMADVORAK ence, technology, engineer- ing, medicine, transportation, climate science and even social work,” Amb. Stephen- son said. “The people I’m describing are you.” A lively Q&A session followed the lecture, with students from the United States, Egypt, Afghanistan and Japan stepping up to ask questions about the future of American involvement in the Middle East, engagement of non–state actors in the fight against new threats and Amb. Stephenson’s personal expe- riences as a U.S. diplomat. For a video of the event, visit www.afsa.org/video. n —Gemma Dvorak, Associate Editor Citing several current diplomatic initiatives Amb. Stephenson described how the practice of diplomacy is already being reshaped to prepare for the future.