- Jürgen Hardt, Coordinator, Transatlantic Cooperation, German Federal Foreign Office; Member of the German Bundestag
- Kent Logsdon, Chargé d’Affaires, US Embassy in Berlin
- Jan Techau, Director, Richard C. Holbrooke Forum, American Academy Berlin
- Kurt Volker, Executive Director, McCain Institute for Int. Leadership & US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations
About
Transatlantic relations are yet again experiencing a turbulent period. Challenges on both sides of the Atlantic not only question the values, on which our democracies are built, but also the relevance of the transatlantic relationship. In the United States, societal pressures to focus more on domestic issues at the expense of international engagement are increasing. In Europe, heretofore inviolable assumptions, like the benefits of open borders or the significance of a deeper and wider European Union, are increasingly contested. On both sides of the Atlantic, citizens are struggling with the consequences of globalization, technology, terrorist attacks, refugee flows, rising nationalism and xenophobia as well as a distrust in institutions and the media. At this critical juncture, The Brookings Institution and the Robert Bosch Stiftung are expanding their cooperation.
The “Brookings – Robert Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Initiative” (BBTI) aims to create non-partisan policy research and recommendations as well as common activities on the most pressing transatlantic issues of our time. The goal is to build and expand resilient transatlantic networks, contribute to sustained dialogue between the United States and Europe and to reinvigorate transatlantic collaboration on global issues and social cohesion on both sides of the Atlantic.
More information on the BBTI.
About the Panelists and Moderator:
Jürgen Hardt is the Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation at the German Federal Foreign Office, Berlin. Hardt has been a Member of the German Bundestag since 2009 and Foreign Policy Spokesman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group.
Kent Logsdon is Chargé d´Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. He has been the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin since August 24, 2015. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Kent’s previous positions include Director of the Operations Center, Director of the Office of Russian Affairs, and Deputy Chief of Mission in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has also served as Political Counselor in Kyiv, Ukraine, and held a variety of positions in Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.
Jan Techau is the director of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum for the Study of Diplomacy and Governance at the American Academy in Berlin. Previously, he served as director of Carnegie Europe. He works on transatlantic affairs, EU integration and foreign policy, and German foreign and security policy. Techau is a regular contributor to German and international news media.
Kurt Volker is executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University based in Washington, D.C. He also currently serves as US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations. Ambassador Volker is a leading expert in U.S. foreign and national security policy with some 30 years of experience in a variety of government, academic, and private sector capacities.
Constanze Stelzenmüller, Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at Brookings, will moderate the panel discussion.
Registration for this event is closed.