Academy Programs
Annual Awards Luncheon: Recognizing Contributions to Diplomacy
The Academy annually grants the prestigious Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy, the Arthur Ross Award for Distinguished Reporting & Analysis of Foreign Affairs, and the Douglas Dillon Book Award to individuals for their significant contributions to the field of diplomacy. This ceremony is held each year in December in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the US Department of State.
> Read about AAD’s 2009 luncheon, where we honored Ambassador William Lacy Swing
> Read about AAD's 2008 luncheon, where we honored Ambassador Ryan Crocker
Annual Meeting
The American Academy of Diplomacy hosted its 2009 annual meeting at The DLA Piper/ Cohen Group on June 29, 2009, and had the pleasure of welcoming Ambassador Harry Thomas, Director-General of the US Foreign Service, as the keynote speaker. Academy members gathered for a discussion focusing on the future of the US Foreign Service. Of particular interest was identifying the short-term challenges of establishing new positions and absorbing additional funding, as well as the long-term, institutional challenges of managing growth in the Foreign Service.
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Arthur Ross Discussions of American Diplomacy Series
The Arthur Ross Foundation has generously provided the American Academy of Diplomacy with an endowment to create a series of discussions exploring the role of diplomacy in US foreign relations, and to encourage discussions of foreign affairs in different parts of the country. AAD was pleased to present the second of this series, "African Conflicts and American Diplomacy: Roles and Choices", held at CSIS on October 29, 2009.
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Diplomacy and Democracy
A key issue in US foreign policy is whether the US should promote political stability or encourage democratic reform abroad. This debate has increasing relevance in light of the rising challenges of extremism and regional instability. Although some frame the debate of democracy promotion and stability in terms of pursing one at the expense of the other, the American Academy of Diplomacy’s newly launched Diplomacy and Democracy initiative seeks to reframe this debate, asking what tools are at our disposal to balance both our strategic interests in stability with our national values.
The Academy will host a series of outreach events in Washington, DC and across the country focused on encouraging a dialogue about the challenges and opportunities in encouraging sustainable democratic development abroad.
>Read more about the democracy panel discussion, The Real World of NGOs and Diplomats, in Minneapolis, MN
>Read about the expet panel discussion, New Directions for Democracy Promotion, in Washington, DC
Diplomacy and Terrorism
In 2006 and 2007, the Academy sponsored panel discussions
and events in Chicago and Los Angeles to discuss the role of diplomacy
in the war on terror.
Read
more about the Academy’s activities on diplomacy and terrorism
Foreign Affairs Budget of the Future Project
While the US is faced with several pressing foreign policy challenges including failing and failed states, Islamic fundamentalism, and the impact of globalization, the foreign policy tools at its disposal to meet these challenges are increasingly under-resourced, according to several recent studies. The American Academy of Diplomacy has published a new report that builds upon these studies to provide the Administration with the budget needed to enable the State Department and USAID to accomplish their missions in classic diplomacy, public diplomacy, development diplomacy, and reconstruction and stabilization.
Read more about the FAB Project, the outreach campaign, and access the report
Genocide Prevention
Task Force
Preventing
Crimes Against Humanity:
Strengthening America's Ability to Respond
In an effort to enhance the US government's
capacity to recognize and respond to emerging threats of mass atrocities
around the world, the Academy partnered with the US
Institute of Peace and the Holocaust
Museum to launch a Genocide Prevention Task Force on November 13,
2007. The Task Force, co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, published its report one year later, in December 2008, that put forward concrete
recommendations for policymakers on how to prevent future crimes against humanity. Drawing on expert
working groups, Task Force members focused on making policy recommendations that would enable America to take more preventative action, and to respond in an effective
manner to future atrocities.
Read the Genocide Prevention Task Force report
Integrating Instruments of
Power and Diplomacy
The Academy and the RAND Corporation
jointly sponsored a study on how coordination can be improved
among military, diplomatic, business, and non-governmental actors to enhance
US and international security. The report was published in October 2008 and draws from the expertise of 67 U.S. and European senior practitioners from both civilian and military posts. The recommendations in the report are based on lessons learned from experiences in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and argue for more funding for diplomacy and the U.S. State Department, and that military and civilian efforts be better integrated in the future.
Read the report
Joseph J. Sisco Memorial Series
AAD sponsors discussions as part of the Joseph J. Sisco
Memorial Series in honor of the late Joseph J. Sisco, Chairman
of the Academy from 1999-2004. This is a series of events dedicated to the discussion
of pertinent themes in US foreign policy, and has been endowed through a generous Challenge Grant from the Sisco Family Fund.
Access a summary of a recent Sisco Memorial event held in Minneapolis on UN Peackeeping
Read
more about the Joseph J. Sisco Memorial Forum
Leonard Marks Foundation Essay Contest
The Academy annually sponsors the Leonard Marks Foundation
Essay Contest to encourage critical and creative thought on uses of public diplomacy. Participants
in the contest submit papers framed as Action Memorandums to the Secretary
of State that propose policy recommendations addressing specific challenges
to American diplomacy. The goal of the contest is to foster interest in diplomacy, the Foreign Service and to encourage applicants
and the schools that they represent to think creatively about the role
and uses of public diplomacy in implementing a realistic
and practical foreign policy. The first place winner receives an $8,000 cash prize and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC to present their essay to Academy members, as well as to a senior State Department official.
This contest was named for and is supported
by the former chairman of the Academy’s Executive Committee.
Read
more about the Leonard Marks Foundation Essay Contest
Philip Merrill Fellowship
The American Academy of Diplomacy, in partnership
with the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns
Hopkins University, awards the Philip Merrill Fellowship for a winning
essay on the practice of American diplomacy. This fellowship provides
one half of the SAIS tuition for both years of study.
Read
more about the Philip Merrill Fellowship
Archived Programs
Ansary Program
In 2004, the Academy began an innovative
program to enhance public understanding of US foreign policy objectives,
focusing on the issues facing American diplomacy in the 21st century.
The program features lectures, town-hall discussions, and papers focused
on specific issues, and was generously funded by a grant from the Honorable
Hushang Ansary.
Read
More about the Ansary Program
Diplomacy and Rising Powers
In June 2007, the Academy collaborated with
the World Affairs Councils to launch a series of lectures and presentations
known as the “World’s Rising Powers Series,” which aims
to educate a public beyond domestic borders on foreign policy issues.
Read
more about the "World's Rising Power Series"
