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event

Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Leaders

Wed. May 29th, 2024
Washington, DC

Join the Carnegie Endowment for Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Leaders, a special half-day conference designed to engage early-career professionals and students hosted by the 2023-2024 James C. Gaither Junior Fellows. Over the course of three sessions, leading experts and emerging voices in the foreign policy space will discuss issues impacting youth around the world, including the evolving global order and role of institutions, climate change, artificial intelligence (AI), radicalization, and shifts in the information landscape.   

Through the conference’s panels, we will explore the factors that will shape future foreign policy and invite participants to engage with pressing questions of the moment. How can the principles of global governance be reformed to better reflect the challenges Gen Z faces, such as climate change, AI governance, and nuclear security? In addressing the radicalization of youth by powerful non-state actors and illicit networks, what strategies do policymakers have to counter these influences? How has a changing information environment shaped the world and how can emerging policy scholars navigate it? 

Join us for an in-person discussion on how to address these critical challenges in the world that we’ve inherited. A light reception will be hosted at the beginning of the event.  

Keynote
Wed. May 29th, 2024 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM EDT

Opening Keynote Address

Abby Finkenauer, United States Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues at the Department of State, will deliver the opening keynote. Dan Baer, senior vice president for policy research and director of the Europe program at the Carnegie Endowment, will provide introductory remarks.

Dan Baer

Senior Vice President for Policy Research, Director, Europe Program

Abby Finkenauer 

Abby Finkenauer 

United States Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues at the Department of State

Panel
Wed. May 29th, 2024 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Perspectives on the Information Environment

The information environment is the space where people process information to make sense of the world. Conflicts within it, motivated by geopolitical tensions or enabled by emerging technologies, can challenge its integrity. How do we develop evidence-based policymaking for the governance of the information environment? How can we study and understand phenomena within it, from polarization to misinformation?

For early career researchers, these issues are particularly salient—the information we consume shapes our lives. What distinct approaches can younger scholars bring to issues of the information environment? How can we approach and navigate rapid technological change while building our policy voices?

Join our panel as they discuss the impact of the information environment, both on our world and on their own research and careers. Fiona Brauer, junior fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance program, will moderate this discussion with Quinta Jurecic, a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and senior editor at Lawfare, Vishnu Kannan, advisor to the president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Samantha Lai, senior research analyst with Carnegie’s Information Environment project.

Fiona Brauer

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Samantha Lai

Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs

Quinta Jurecic

Quinta Jurecic

Fellow at the Brookings Institute and Senior Editor at Lawfare

Panel
Wed. May 29th, 2024 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM EDT

Youth and Radicalization

The global community has witnessed a concerning rise in youth radicalization, which has manifested across various ideological spectrums and geographical boundaries. From the violent allure of al-Shabab in the Horn of Africa, to the rise of radicalized politics among young populations in the United States and Europe, the pathways to extremism are as diverse as they are perilous.  

What drives young individuals toward extremist ideologies? How do digital platforms and social networks contribute to or combat these dangerous trends? What role can educators, policymakers, and community leaders play in preemptively addressing the factors that may lead to radicalization?  

This session will feature insights from experts including Aneliese Bernard, director at Strategic Stabilization Advisors, Doug Klain, nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, and Sarah Yerkes, senior fellow at Carnegie’s Middle East program as they explore the contexts, implications, and potential solutions for this pressing issue. The panel will be moderated by Francesca Nyakora, junior fellow at Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance program.  

Francesca Nyakora

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Sarah Yerkes

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Doug Klain

Policy Analyst at Razom for Ukraine and a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council

Aneliese Bernard

Aneliese Bernard

Director at Strategic Stabilization Advisors

Panel
Wed. May 29th, 2024 3:55 PM - 4:55 PM EDT

Existential Risks and Global Challenges

Issues like nuclear nonproliferation, climate change, and artificial intelligence (AI) share a unique mandate for international cooperation, as the risks associated with each transcend national borders. Not all issues are created equal, but learning from previous approaches to global governance is necessary for younger generations to recognize missteps and work towards new solutions.  

How can tomorrow’s leaders build on existing platforms of multilateral cooperation and deliver a brighter future? What can be learned from previous attempts at multilateral cooperation on global risks? How will new issues like AI challenge governance norms and reshape global institutions? 

Dan Helmeci, junior fellow in the Carnegie Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics program, will lead a discussion with Stewart Patrick, director of Carnegie’s Global Order and Institutions program, Milo McBride, fellow in Carnegie's Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics program, and Kylie Jones, research assistant in the Nuclear Policy program at the Carnegie Endowment.

Daniel Helmeci

Research Assistant, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Stewart Patrick

Senior Fellow and Director, Global Order and Institutions Program

Kylie Jones

Kylie Jones

Research Assistant, Nuclear Policy Program, Technology and International Affairs Program

Milo McBride

Fellow, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie India, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Dan Baer

Senior Vice President for Policy Research, Director, Europe Program

Dan Baer is senior vice president for policy research and director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Under President Obama, he was U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)  and he also served deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

Abby Finkenauer 

Abby Finkenauer 

United States Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues at the Department of State

Abby Finkenauer serves as the United States Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues at the Department of State. Before joining the Department of State, she represented Iowa's 1st district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Daniel Helmeci

Research Assistant, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Daniel Helmeci is a research assistant in the Carnegie Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program.

Stewart Patrick

Senior Fellow and Director, Global Order and Institutions Program

Stewart Patrick is a senior fellow and director of the Global Order and Institutions Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His primary areas of research focus are the shifting foundations of world order, the future of American internationalism, and the requirements for effective multilateral cooperation on transnational challenges.

Kylie Jones

Kylie Jones

Research Assistant, Nuclear Policy Program, Technology and International Affairs Program

Kylie Jones was a research assistant in the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Program and Technology and International Affairs Program.

Francesca Nyakora

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Francesca Nyakora was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Carnegie Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program.

Sarah Yerkes

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Sarah Yerkes is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on Tunisia’s political, economic, and security developments as well as state-society relations in the Middle East and North Africa.

Fiona Brauer

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Fiona Brauer was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Carnegie Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program.

Vishnu Kannan is a J.D. candidate at Stanford Law School. He was previously the advisor to the president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he led executive office strategic initiatives and the president’s research team.

Samantha Lai

Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs

Samantha Lai is a senior research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Technology and International Affairs Program.

Aneliese Bernard

Aneliese Bernard

Director at Strategic Stabilization Advisors

AnelieseBernard is the director of research and programs with the NGO, Elva Community Engagement, and the Founder of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a DC-based risk consulting group. She has over a decade of expertise in P/CVE, stabilization, demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR), and security sector reform in North and West Africa.

Doug Klain

Policy Analyst at Razom for Ukraine and a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council

Doug Klain is a policy analyst at Razom for Ukraine and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center in Washington, DC. He focuses on Russia’s war in Ukraine, democracy and authoritarianism, and Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. 

Quinta Jurecic

Quinta Jurecic

Fellow at the Brookings Institute and Senior Editor at Lawfare

Quinta Jurecic is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a senior editor at Lawfare, where she was previously the managing editor. She is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the Washington Post’s Book World. 

Milo McBride

Fellow, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Milo McBride is a fellow in the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.