The Weiser Diplomacy Center serves as a hub for engagement with the foreign policy community, bringing a diverse cadre of seasoned diplomats and foreign policy experts to campus and creating new opportunities for students and faculty.
The globe has no shortage of crises and hot spots. And the need for diverse, disciplined diplomats and other foreign affairs professionals has never been greater.
That's the perspective of experts at the Ford School and what's prompting an...
Since its launch in 2019, the Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) has sought to develop new practical student training opportunities in foreign affairs. One key element is to expand the Ford School’s menu of international policy simulations.
“Reading...
University of Michigan Law School alum Theary Seng cut her hair live on Radio Free Asia this past Thursday. It was not for fashion but convenience: should she go to jail the next week, she wanted to be prepared to deal with lice.
Seng is a...
Regardless of political or partisan stripes, few voters see the November election as anything less than consequential. And whether one advocates for a go-it-alone or go-with-friends approach to global relations, the world still carefully watches the...
Disinformation in sub-Saharan Africa, money laundering in the Western Hemisphere, space diplomacy, China’s domestic drug problem and international hostage negotiation are real-world issues that students will explore as the Ford School’s Weiser...
Ford School professor of practice Ambassador Susan Page served in the Foreign Service in Kenya, Botswana, and Rwanda, and was the first U.S. ambassador to South Sudan. In a recent article in The Atlantic, she reflected that her long career abroad...
Over the past month, students in Thailand have been protesting against the monarchy and the military-led Thai administration and demanding more democracy. An article on the World news website says, “The monarchy seems to have taken note,” as the...
An ideological link that exists today between Brasilia and Washington, and between the personalities of Presidents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, according to an article in O Globo, one of the most prominent newspapers in Brazil. Should Joe Biden...
The Persian Gulf region represents one of the most geopolitically and strategically important parts of the world. Among other attributes, the nine Gulf nations hold 55 percent of the world’s oil reserves. However, tensions among and between the...
Ambassador Susan D. Page, who has served the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations in senior roles for decades – across East, Central and Southern Africa, and...
The Ford School will welcome delegates from countries around the world as we host the National Democratic Institute (NDI) Symposium virtually or in-person October 12-16, 2020. NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization that works...
Brazil’s Supreme Court on April 28 ordered an investigation of President Jair Bolsonaro after popular Justice Minister Sérgio Moro resigned and accused him of firing the country’s Federal Police chief in an attempt to interfere with investigations....
On February 26, the Ford School welcomed Denis McDonough, former White House Chief of Staff for President Obama for an armchair conversation on “New Frontiers: Labor, Immigration and Foreign Policy,” with John Ciorciari, associate professor at the...
Following her public event at the Ford School this past Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Ambassador Susan Rice sat down with 20 Ford School students to discuss her career and leadership experiences working for the U.S. government. Students from...
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Ford School hosted Ambassador Susan Rice, former United Nations Ambassador and former U.S. National Security Advisor, for a conversation with Dean Michael S. Barr on her new memoir Tough Love: My Story of the...
The Hill recently featured Ford School faculty expertise on domestic and international security and counterterrorism. Javed Ali, Towsley Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School, discusses domestic terrorism and the United States’ role in Iranian...
In conjunction with hosting a presidential debate next fall, the University of Michigan will welcome representatives from regions across the globe for a symposium on promoting political candidate debates and other key democratic principles and...
The Ford School’s new Weiser Diplomacy Center officially launched this fall with visits from an all-star lineup of leaders in foreign affairs.
A lecture by Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for North Korea, kicked off the series. In a...
Last week, Stephen Biegun (LSA ’86), U.S. special representative to North Korea, discussed the United States’ denuclearization efforts with North Korea during the Ford School’s Weiser Diplomacy Center launch series. Biegun emphasized the United...
A lecture by Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for North Korea, will kick off a series of talks planned for the fall at the new Weiser Diplomacy Center housed at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of...
As a young lawyer in his first job out of law school, John Ciorciari made a choice that would alter the trajectory of his professional career.
He had been the editor-in-chief of the Harvard International Law Journal and specialized in...
The U.S. and Russia are inciting collective déjà vu. With the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, memories of the Cold War are returning to the zeitgeist. The Mirror’s Oliver Milne highlights some of the most concerning...
Lou Fintor is the Ford School’s new Diplomat in Residence (DIR), a U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officer offering State Department career, internship, and fellowship information.Joining the Foreign Service in 2002, Fintor served as U.S....
The intrigue of espionage has hit close to home, as Novi man Paul Whelan was detained in Russia under the accusation of being a spy. Detroit ABC-affiliate WXYZ called upon Melvyn Levitsky, professor of policy and practice at the Ford School, to...
When done well, international tribunals play an integral role in governmental cooperation and the promotion of human rights. But this is a tricky balance, and the costs—both in financial and human capital—are high. To explore the success of such...
The Weiser Diplomacy Center, housed at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, will bring a diverse cadre of seasoned diplomats and foreign policy experts to...
Written by Mandira Banerjee, Michigan News
John Ciorciari is professor of public policy and director of the International Policy Center at the Ford School of Public Policy. His research focuses on Southeast Asia and foreign policy strategies,...
Robert Axelrod on "the blame game" for responding to cyber attacks
In a world where cyber attacks are both increasingly common and increasingly dangerous, deciding whether and how to respond to one is an estimable challenge for policymakers....
Ambassador Ronald N. Weiser (BBA ’66) and Eileen L. Weiser (MMus ’75) have allocated a $1.1 million gift to establish the Weiser Family Fund for Student International Policy Engagement at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public...
Policy Talks @ the Ford School,
Conversations Across Differences
Joan and Sanford Weill Hall
Annenberg Auditorium (1120)
In the year since the Hamas attack on Israel, the deadly conflict has widened into crises beyond Gaza -- in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Yemen. Two experts with long experience in Middle East policymaking return to the Ford School for a substantive policy conversation about the conflict and the broader implications for the region, and the ways in which U.S. policy and policymakers are acting and reacting to the crises. This event is open to Ford School students, faculty, and staff, and will be streamed live and on-demand.