Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IDEA
•
WINTER 2010/2011
WINTER 2010/2011
Common Ground
Albright and Rice Display the Spirit of Aspen
Highlights from the
Sixth Annual
Ideas Festival
Plus:
Our First Security Forum
Celebrate brilliance.
©2010 Teleflora
contents TH E
I d ea
WINTER 2010/2011 The Aspen Institute
features
48
38
departments
6 l key staff
8 l Aspen Institute facts l
What is the Aspen Institute?
32 l leading voices l
The McCloskey Speaker Series hosts
leaders from philanthropy, politics, and 48 T he W orl d of Id eas
the armed forces. The planet’s most stimulating leaders and thinkers gather to provoke,
34 l ideas in action l inspire, and challenge at the sixth annual Aspen Ideas Festival.
US Air Force Academy cadets use
Institute programming to reflect on
00
leadership and modern warfare.
36 l society of fellows l
Symposia and discussion events for the
Institute’s key donor group featured
Peter Beinart, Kai Bird, and General
Dana Born.
38 l socrates society l
Socrates hosts Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Niall
Ferguson, and Jeff Rosen—plus, what’s
in store for the coming season.
40 l dialogue l Former
Secretaries of State and Institute trustees
Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza
Rice discuss current foreign policy
challenges and the choices made in
office that they would make differently
On the Cover: Institute trustees and former Secretaries of State Madeleine
today. Albright and Condoleezza Rice. Photo by Michael Brands. Photo illustration by Table of Contents continues on page 4
Steve Johnson and TMG. Insets left to right: Melody Barnes, Geoffrey Canada,
Bill Gates, Eric Holder, and Mike Mullen by Dan Bayer.
2 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
modern masterpiece
O F O V E R 10 , 0 0 0 S Q U A R E F E E T
A N D I N N O V A T I O N I N T E C H N O L O G Y,
N I G H T H A W K
P H O T O S DAV I D O . M A R LO W
ASPEN, COLORADO
EXCLUSIVELY OFFERED BY
NIGHTHAWKASPEN.COM
contents TH E
I d ea
43
67 66
67
departments
44 l dialogue l EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson and actor
Wendell Pierce talk about the BP oil spill
at the 2010 Aspen Environment Forum.
65 “ A N ew Beginning ”
The Institute’s constellation of projects
46 l dialogue l Michael in the Middle East expands.
Bloomberg talks immigration at the
second annual Washington Ideas Forum.
4 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Aspen Meadows Resort – open year round for relaxing personal getaways or inspiring meetings
True hospitality rewards all the senses, from cuisine that tantalizes, to sights, settings and
experiences that inspire the mind body and spirit - whether for business or pleasure. This is what
makes Aspen Meadows Resort a great choice year round! Personalized service, 22,000 square
feet of premier meeting and event space, 98 well-appointed guest suites, gourmet dining,
recreational amenities, and more ensure any gathering or special event is the very best it can be.
6 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Great leaders strive
to create a better place to live.
A great realtor does much the same.
C W
V
A R R I E E L L S
Those are a few of the qualities of a cation needed to help you find your
why Carrie Wells has been the reality. So, if you’re interested in
leading Coldwell Banker broker in Aspen, give Carrie a call. Just like
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www.carriewells.com
AspenInstitutefacts
B o a rd o f Tr u s t e e s
Chairman
Robert K. Steel
vice Chairman
Henry E. Catto
Madeleine K. Albright
Paul F. Anderson
Mercedes Bass
Berl Bernhard
Richard S. Braddock
Beth A. Brooke
Melva Bucksbaum
William D. Budinger
Stephen L. Carter
James S. Crown
Andrea Cunningham
John Doerr
Sylvia A. Earle
Michael D. Eisner
Brooks Entwistle
Leonhard Fischer
Michael Brands
Alan Fletcher
Henrietta Holsman Fore
Ann B. Friedman
Stephen Friedman
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
S eminars
Socrates Society participants on a hike
The Aspen Seminar work and into the broader range of Foundation to combine in Aspen this summer.
For almost 60 years, the Aspen the Institute’s programs. Socrates Aspen-moderated semi-
Seminar on Leadership, Values, events include weekend-long semi- nars with a world-class
and the Good Society has chal- nars in Aspen and at the Institute’s African safari experi-
lenged leaders in every field Wye River campus; day-long semi- ence. The next Africa
to think more critically and nars in major US cities; and will seminar—“Fifty Years of
deeply about their impact on soon add international seminars. Africa Conservation”—
the world. A premier leadership Recent topics include bioethics, will take place February
and professional-development the impact of the financial crisis 12–17, 2011. Beginning
roundtable, the Aspen Seminar is on the US economy and emerging with introductory ses-
a unique opportunity to step away markets, technology and privacy, sions in Johannesburg,
from the demands of the present China and America, energy secu- South Africa, partici-
and to reflect on the concept of rity, Afghanistan and Pakistan, pants will fly to Singita
a good and just society—with 20 globalization, Islam and democ- Game Reserves, one of
others in a moderated, text-based, racy, sports and society, health the world’s most exclu-
Socratic dialogue. What is a good care reform, and green investing. sive private safari desti-
society? How does one make it a Visit www.aspeninstitute.org/ nations, for four nights.
reality? What is my role in mak- socrates. Guest speakers along
ing that happen? The sublime with Africa’s leading sci-
Michael Brands
settings of Aspen, Colorado, and Philanthropy Seminar entists and civic leaders
Maryland’s Eastern Shore are The Philanthropy Seminar is a will moderate sessions
ideal for rejuvenating body, mind, collaboration with the Global about this vibrant con-
and spirit. “The Aspen Seminar Philanthropy Forum and is open tinent. To learn more
is the best whetstone out there,” to principals of family foundations, about the seminar, contact Donna seminars engage faculty, senior
says Reed Hastings, founder and individual philanthropists and Horney at donnah@aspen academic administrators, and col-
CEO of Netflix. To learn more, CEOs of private and corporate institute.org or at 202-736-5835. lege presidents in an exchange of
visit www.aspeninstitute.org/ foundations seeking a meaning- ideas about liberal arts education,
aspenseminar. ful and substantive exploration of Racial Equity and Society citizenship, and the global polity.
philanthropic values and wishing The Racial Equity and Society
Justice and Society to share practical strategies that Seminars provide an opportu- Custom Seminars
The Justice and Society Seminar generate positive, lasting impacts nity for participants to immerse Custom seminars enable organiza-
focuses on conceptions of justice both domestically and around the themselves in readings, study, tions and companies to develop
and how a just society ought to world. Because of the highly par- and dialogue on issues of race, one- to multi-day seminars rel-
deal with issues such as private ticipatory nature of this seminar, ethnicity, and equity in the United evant to their day-to-day opera-
conduct and public mores, the the program is closed to auditors States. Participants explore a range tions. This program has grown to
social impact of economic dispari- and is open only to those who can of issues, including historical and include many of the world’s lead-
ties, the extent of entitlements, make the three-day commitment. contemporary dynamics of struc- ing corporations.
equality and the breakdown of For more information, including tural racism, ideological and polit-
long-held hierarchies of race and speakers, agenda, and registration ical debates regarding race-related
gender, the purposes of criminal materials, visit www.aspen issues, the ways public policies
punishment, and the contours institute.org/psi by mid-February and social processes promote or
HOW TO SIGN UP
For more information or to
of justice in a globalized world. or contact Tracey Totten at tracey. limit racial equity, and social and
register for a seminar,
Readings for the seminar range totten@aspeninstitute.org. cultural influences on popular
contact Charlene Costello
from classic philosophical texts perceptions of race and ethnicity.
at (410) 820-5374 or visit
to short stories, films, and plays, Africa Conservation www.aspeninstitute.org/
to cases currently before the Seminar Wye Faculty Programs seminars. Limited financial
Supreme Court. Next summer’s The Institute’s Energy and In a longstanding collaboration
assistance is available for
seminars will be held July 10–16, Environment Program has part- with the Association of American
most seminars.
2011, with a second session TBD nered with the African Wildlife Colleges and Universities, these
in late July. For more information,
visit www.aspeninstitute.org/jss.
2010–2011 SEMINAR SCHEDULE
The Socrates Society
The Socrates Society provides a The Aspen Seminar* Topical Seminars
forum for emerging leaders (ages Visit www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenseminar for Socrates Society Seminar
approximately 28–45) from a wide more information on upcoming seminars in 2011.*
range of professions to explore con- November 19–20, 2010, Salon, San Francisco, CA
temporary issues through expert- *By invitation/nomination only. For more information, February 18–21, 2011, Winter Seminars,
moderated roundtable dialogue. contact Todd Breyfogle at todd.breyfogle@aspen Aspen, CO
Socrates also provides an introduc- institute.org
April 1–2, 2011, Salon, Boston, MA
tion into a diverse professional net-
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 9
AspenInstitutefacts
Each program has a different policy area at its core, but all
policy programs strive to promote dialogue and informed leadership.
anD partnerships
Advocacy and Exchange CHANGE AND PROSPERITY:
Program on Agent THE PROGRAM ON THE WORLD
Orange/Dioxin promotes dia- ECONOMY promotes dialogue
logue within the US policy com- among leaders in business,
munity and between the United finance, government, academia,
States and Vietnam on solutions and the media from industrialized
to the continuing impact of the and developing nations to gener-
wartime use of herbicides in ate new approaches to major eco-
Vietnam. nomic challenges.
www.aspeninstitute.org/ www.aspeninstitute.org/pwe
agentorangeprogram
COMMISSION ON NO CHILD
ADVOCACY PLANNING AND LEFT BEHIND is designed to
EVALUATION PROGRAM and inform the anticipated reauthori-
US State Department
its Continuous Progress Strategic zation of this landmark legislation
Services help partners and cli- by holding hearings, conduct-
ents plan, evaluate, and learn ing and distilling research, and
from efforts to shape public developing recommendations to
policy. Consultants work with improve its effectiveness.
foundations and NGOs in the www.nclbcommission.org Delegates of President Obama’s Forum with Young African Leaders at an
Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs and Global Health and
US, Tanzania, Kenya, France,
Development Program reception
and Germany on issues as COMMUNICATIONS AND
diverse as curbing teen obesity SOCIETY PROGRAM promotes
and increasing access to family dialogue and innovation in ness, and visibility of women who GLOBAL HEALTH AND
planning. communications and informa- lead at the highest levels. DEVELOPMENT supports leader-
www.aspeninstitute.org/apep tion policy. It convenes leaders www.womenworldleaders.org ship in health in low- and middle-
www.continuousprogress.org to assess the impact of modern www.aspeninstitute.org/cwwl income countries and promotes
communications and information innovative strategies to address
ASPEN Network systems and develops new models ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES global health and poverty at a
of Development for communications policy. PROGRAM supports fields of significant scale.
Entrepreneurs is a global www.aspeninstitute.org/c&s practice—including workforce www.aspeninstitute.org/ghd
network of organizations commit- training and education, micro
ted to creating and implementing COMMUNITY STRATEGIES enterprise development, and GLOBAL INITIATIVE ON ARTS,
market-based solutions to global GROUP designs and manages financial services—that make eco- CULTURE, AND SOCIETY seeks
poverty. Members provide critical action-inducing peer-learning nomic opportunity more acces- to build a neutral platform for
financing and business support to among community-based lead- sible to those who are struggling reflection, network-building,
small and growing businesses that ers and policymakers to advance in the changing economy. policy formulation, leadership
create significant economic, envi- local economic development, www.aspeninstitute.org/eop development, and resource
ronmental, and social impacts in civic capacity, family livelihoods, mobilization in the fields of
developing countries. and the development of philan- EDUCATION AND SOCIETY arts, culture, and socioeconomic
www.aspeninstitute.org/ande thropic resources. PROGRAM helps local, state, and development.
www.aspeninstitute.org/csg national education leaders share www.aspeninstitute.org/
ASPEN STRATEGY GROUP uses knowledge about how school cultureandsociety
a bipartisan lens to identify and CONGRESSIONAL PROGRAM systems can improve the educa-
examine the most contentious for- offers nonpartisan educational tion and life chances of poor and HEALTH, BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE,
eign policy and national security programs designed to foster lead- minority students, and works with AND SOCIETY INITIATIVE
concerns facing the United States ership on public policy issues them to create programs and poli- examines domestic and
and to assess America’s evolving among members of the US cies to accomplish these goals. international policy issues related
strategic interests. Congress. www.aspeninstitute.org/ to health, medicine, nutrition,
www.aspeninstitute.org/asg www.aspeninstitute.org/ education and biotechnology through
congressional a combination of roundtable
BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT discussions, speaker series, and
PROGRAM is dedicated to COUNCIL OF WOMEN WORLD PROGRAM brings together public forums.
developing leaders for a sustain- LEADERS mobilizes women lead- leaders in business, government, www.aspeninstitute.org/health
able global society. Through ers globally for collective action educational, research, and
dialogue and education, the on issues of critical importance to environmental organizations HOMELAND SECURITY
Program challenges business women. The Council promotes to seek creative solutions to INITIATIVE examines issues
leaders to link financial success good governance and gender domestic and international policy relating to US homeland secu-
with social and environmental equality, and enhances the experi- issues involving energy and the rity, assesses progress made by
innovation. ence of democracy globally by environment. the Department of Homeland
www.aspeninstitute.org/bsp increasing the number, effective- www.aspeninstitute.org/ee Security, and develops recom-
10 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
AspenInstitutefacts
public programs
mendations to make Americans partnerships between America Aspen Ideas Festival 2011. For more information, visit
safer. and the Muslim world. This weeklong, large-scale www.aspenenvironment.org.
www.aspeninstitute.org/ www.aspeninstitute.org/ public event—co-hosted by
security mideast The Atlantic—brings some of Cultural Diplomacy Forum
the world’s brightest minds and Each fall, the Institute examines
INITIATIVE ON FINANCIAL PROGRAM ON PHILANTHROPY leaders to Aspen every summer the relationship between arts,
SECURITY convenes a leadership AND SOCIAL INNOVATION for enlightened dialogue on the culture, and politics with its
group from the financial-services employs seminars, leadership planet’s most pressing issues. Cultural Diplomacy Forum.
industry to explore financial programs, and evidence-based The Festival will take place from For more information, visit
products that create lifelong discussions to strengthen and June 27 through July 3, 2011. For www.aspencdf.org.
asset-building opportunities for inform philanthropy, the non- information, visit www.aifestival.
the tens of millions of working profit sector, and social enterprise org or call Deborah Murphy at Aspen Security Forum
Americans who currently lack so that each can contribute to the (970) 544-7955. The Aspen Security Forum will
access to tax-advantaged or good society, domestically and convene leaders in government,
employer-subsidizedsavings internationally. The Washington Ideas industry, media, think tanks, and
vehicles. www.aspeninstitute.org/psi Forum academia to explore key home-
www.aspeninstitute.org/ifs Presented in partnership with land security and counterterror-
REALIZING RIGHTS: THE The Atlantic and The Newseum, ism issues in Aspen from July 27
JUSTICE AND SOCIETY ETHICAL GLOBALIZATION this Washington, DC-based to July 30, 2011. For more infor-
PROGRAM convenes leaders INITIATIVE aims to put human event features leading figures mation, visit www.aspen
from several professions to rights principles at the heart of in public policy discussing the securityforum.org.
affect national and international global governance by catalyz- most important issues of the day.
policy regarding human rights, ing new thinking and action For information, contact Lidia Aspen Writers’ Foundation
international law, transitional to address global inequities. Barabash at lidia.barabash@ Throughout the year, the Aspen
justice, and multilateral peace Founded by former President aspeninstitute.org or at Writers’ Foundation encour-
keeping operations. Through of Ireland Mary Robinson, it is (202) 736-2913. ages writers in their craft and
public programs and roundtable a partnership of the Institute, readers in their appreciation of
discussions, the Program focuses Columbia University, and the Aspen Community literature through its repertoire
on issues that crosscut law and International Council on Human Programs of year-round programs, includ-
public policy. Rights Policy. The Institute offers residents ing the Summer Words Literary
www.aspeninstitute.org/justice www.aspeninstitute.org/egi of Aspen and the surround- Festival, Winter Words, Lyrically
ing Roaring Fork Valley com- Speaking, and Story Swap.
Market-Building Initiative ROUNDTABLE ON COMMUNITY munities a variety of programs www.aspenwriters.org
generates dialogue, develops CHANGE is a forum in which throughout the year, including
frameworks, and supports active leaders working to revitalize the McCloskey Speaker Series, Innovation Economy
engagement for countries distressed urban and rural com- Arts & Ideas Series, Community Roundtable
building legitimate market munities can address common Great Ideas Seminar, Sharing The Institute and Intel host a
economies after conflict and problems and share strategies for Shakespeare, and NEW VIEWS series of roundtable discussions
instability. The Initiative aims to promoting positive change. Documentary Film Series with and forums on the future of US
create value chains and underpin www.aspeninstitute.org/rcc aspenFilm. For information, innovation, education, and suc-
the credible institutions that contact Cristal Logan at cristal. cess. To learn more, contact Lidia
allow citizens to participate in logan@aspeninstitute.org. Barabash at lidia.barabash@aspen
the benefits of a globalizing Author Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita institute.org or at (202) 736-2913.
in Tehran) at the Cultural Diplomacy
world. Aspen in New York
Forum
www.aspeninstitute.org/mbi The Institute now hosts a variety DC Book Talks and
of programs in New York City, Roundtables
MIDDLE EAST Programs from book talks and discussions From September through
takes a comprehensive approach to symposia and benefits. For June, the Institute’s DC head
toward the Middle East with more information, contact Lidia quarters hosts the Alma and
Partners for a New Beginning, Barabash at lidia.barabash@aspen Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series,
the US-Palestinian Partnership, institute.org or at (202) 736-2913. lunchtime discussions with
the Emirates-Aspen Partnership, Or visit www.aspeninstitute. major recent authors, and the
the US-Lebanon Dialogue, the org/newyork. Washington Ideas Roundtable
North Africa Partnership, and the Series, which focuses on world
Huda and Samia Farouki Speaker Aspen Environment affairs, arts, and culture and is
Series. These initiatives work Forum made possible with support from
with American, Middle Eastern, The 2011 Aspen Environment Michelle Smith and the Robert
James R. Brantley
and Muslim business and Forum, co-hosted by the National H. Smith Family Foundation.
political leaders dedicated to a Geographic Society, will convene To learn more, contact Jeffrey
peaceful resolution to all Middle eminent leaders in energy and the Harris at jeffrey.harris@aspen
East conflicts and to forging environment in Aspen in summer institute.org.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 11
AspenInstitutefacts
s
ince 1997, the Institute has built a series of programs for accomplished leaders in the United States
and abroad—from South Carolina to South Africa. Beginning with and inspired by the Henry
Crown Fellowship Program, these initiatives share a goal of developing a new generation of civically
engaged men and women by encouraging them to move “from success to significance.”
Each program selects an annual class of approximately 20 proven leaders and convenes them several
times over the course of two years for a series of intensive leadership seminars. Each Fellow is also
required to design and carry out a high-impact leadership project. This family of initiatives comprises
the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Today, the Network numbers close to 1,200 Fellows from
43 countries and continues to grow.
A Tradition of
Bipartisanship
F
ormer Secretaries of State
Madeleine Albright and
Michael Brands
14 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Every day, government and commercial cyber networks
Forum delegates
GeNeraTION
aFrIca
on August 2, the Institute’s Aspen
Network of Development Entrepre-
neurs and the Global Health and
Development Program, together with
Michael Brands
LEHrEr, HoSSEINI
Young African Leaders at the Smith-
sonian National Museum of African
Art. The Forum brought together
In August, the Aspen Strategy Group—a bipartisan forum to explore foreign policy puzzles
facing the united States—met in Aspen to discuss American interests in Pakistan, India,
and Afghanistan. Attendees included former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and
Condoleezza Rice, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Jack Reed, representatives Howard
Berman and Jane Harman, former Secretary of Defense Bill perry, Center for Strategic and
International Studies President John Hamre, and Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace President Jessica Tuchman Matthews. The five-day meeting launched with a public
conversation between Albright and rice—also Institute trustees—and was moderated by
Michael Brands
Nicholas Burns, director of the Group (see page 40 for more). To learn more about the Aspen
Strategy Group, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/asg.
Nora Feller
in New York City. This year’s event will honor Lauder
Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of Estée
Lauder Companies Inc., with the Corporate
Leadership Award, and Vartan Gregorian,
president of the Carnegie Corporation of
New York, with the Henry Crown Leader-
ship Award. Christiane Amanpour, anchor
of ABC’s “This Week,” will moderate a con-
Michael Brands
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 17
insights&ideas
Stories
Post-Katrina
Troy Simon and James Jones, high
school students and survivors of Hur-
ricane Katrina, discussed “Sketches
Riccardo Savi
of New Orleans” as part of the Aspen
Writers’ Foundation’s 34th annual
Aspen Summer Words Literary Fes-
tival. “After Katrina, it was struggle and pain,” Simon told Institute CEO Walter
Isaacson during the event. “Now it’s happiness: I started reading and writing!”
Simon and Jones were both scholars in the five-day writing retreat, and Jones also
participated in the Foundation’s first-ever international Story Swap, which connected
students from New Orleans and Haiti. Other Festival speakers included best-selling
author Kathryn Stockett, The Help; Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Ernest Gaines,
A Lesson Before Dying; National Book Award finalist Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out
of Carolina; and 2009 National Book Award winner Colum McCann, Let the Great Sports &
World Spin. To learn more, visit www.aspenwritersfoundation.org.
the City
Cuomo, Whitman Headline Tisch Series On November 15, the Wash-
ington Leadership Series
The Institute will host the next installment of “The Aspen Leadership will feature special guest Ted
Whitman
Series: Conversations with Great Leaders in memory of Preston Robert L eonsis —businessman, profes-
Tisch” at the Roosevelt House in New York on November 9. The sional sports team owner, author,
discussion will feature former Governors Mario Cuomo and Christine and philanthropist—to discuss his
Todd Whitman on the challenges of modern leadership; WYNC’s Brian instrumental role in reinvigorat-
Lehrer will moderate. Earlier this year, the series featured playwright, ing Washington, DC, through
actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith and arts activist and former his successful management of
New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Damian Woetzel in a discus- the NHL’s Capitals and, more
sion about the future of the arts. This series is made possible through recently, the NBA’s Wizards. The
the generous support of Steve, Laurie, and Lizzie and J onathan Tisch.
Steve Johnson
18 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
insights&ideas
Putin,
Goldman
Prince Albert
Lead Arctic
Conference
Measure
of
Success
Maxim Shipenkov/Corbis
In October, the Institute’s second annual Business and Society Program Forum was
held in New York City and hosted by Bloomberg TV. Leaders like Nobel Laureate
Daniel Kahneman, Honest Tea CEO Seth Goldman, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers,
Google executive Marissa Mayer, and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman answered
In September, Russia’s Prime
the question: How do you measure success? Over two days of public conversation,
Minister Vladimir Putin and
speakers explored the health of business today and societal progress. To learn more or
Monaco’s Prince Albert II gave
to watch video of the event, go to www.aspeninstitute.org/video.
the opening address during an
international conference with
the Institute’s Energy and Envi-
ronment Program in Moscow.
Originally planned with Monaco
JOIN US!The Music of Leadership
The Institute will present the first annual Preston Robert Tisch Award in Civic Lead-
as an Aspen Arctic Commission
ership to Wynton Marsalis at the Kaye Playhouse in New York on November 29.
exchange forum with Russian
The award recognizes a leader who embodies the spirit and values of Preston Robert
experts, “The Arctic: Territory of
Tisch—someone who has had significant positive impact on the community and who
Dialogue” evolved into an inter-
also embodies the Institute ideal of values-based leadership. Marsalis, an internation-
national conference presented
ally acclaimed musician and composer, works to bring music and music-education
by RIA Novosoti and the Russian
programs to young people, and he has led efforts to help New Orleans recover from
Geographic Society. Participants
the devastating effects Marsalis
examined the exploration of
of Hurricane Katrina.
natural resources, conservation,
Marsalis will receive
and Arctic infrastructure with the
$25,000 to donate to a
goal of preserving the region and
nonprofit organization
its peoples while mitigating the
of his choice. He will
effects of global climate change.
discuss his community
“Protecting the Arctic will only
work and his music with
happen with international coop-
Institute CEO Walter
eration,” said David Monsma ,
Isaacson as part of the
executive director of the Institute’s
ceremony. To learn
Energy and Environment Pro-
more, contact Linda
Clay McBride
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 19
insights&ideas
Ideas Sarukhán
on Film
This summer, the Insti-
tute, in partnership with
aspenFILM, presented a
series of critically acclaimed
new films, NEW VIEWS
Premiere Documentaries.
Bill Cunningham New York
Thanks to generous support
from Evelyn and Leonard
Lauder and Jane and Michael Eisner, five documentaries were screened in Aspen
Michael Brands
and followed by a discussion with the director or producer: The Furious Force of
Rhymes, a work-in-progress about the globalization of hip-hop with Director Joshua
Atesh Litle; Bill Cunningham New York, about the enigmatic photographer with
Director Richard Press and Producer Philip Gefter; Waste Land, about the transfor-
mative power of art in Brazil with Director Lucy Walker; Woodmans, about the talents The Art of
and tragedies of an artistic family with Director C. Scott Willis; and Freakonomics,
based on the best-selling book with Producer Chad Troutwine. To learn more, visit Diplomacy
www.aspeninstitute.org/events/newviews. On October 4, the Institute—
Appiah with the Phillips Collection
and and the New York University
Gerson
John Brademas Center for the
Study of Congress—held the
2010 Aspen Cultural Diplo-
macy Forum. This year, former
Secretary of State and Institute
trustee Madeleine Albright dis-
Steve Johnson
20 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
July 27–30, 2011 • Aspen, Colorado
presented by:
Tuan Hoang
from the Aspen Unveils Agent Orange Action Plan
Embassy of
Vietnam The Institute unveiled a proposed plan of action this June that will tackle the lingering
health and environmental damage in Vietnam associated with US wartime use of the
herbicide Agent Orange. Walter Isaacson, co-chair of the Institute’s US-Vietnam Dia-
logue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin, said the plan addressed “something major in our
history that had been relegated to a footnote in our consciousness.” For an investment of
$30 million per year over ten years, the plan calls for funding an effort to pinpoint the
extent of dioxin contamination, clean up contaminated soils, restore damaged ecosystems,
and expand services to people with disabilities and their families. The Dialogue Group on
Agent Orange/Dioxin is a citizen-to-citizen forum for leaders in both the United States
and Vietnam to address this troubling legacy of the Vietnam War. To learn more, visit
Steve Johnson
www.aspeninstitute.org/agentorangeprogram.
22 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
insights&ideas
Seminar
participants
NEVER MISS AN
in Africa ASpEN EVENT
From the Aspen Ideas Festival to
our DC book talks and round-
tables, our new Multimedia
channel at www.aspeninstitute.
org/video features a complete
library of Aspen events. Hun-
dreds of hours of full-length and
edited videos of conversations
from Institute forums, festivals,
policy programs, and special
events are yours to access any
time, on demand.
Steve Johnson
aspeninstitute.org or at (202) 736-5835. Alexander
Arrillaga-
Andreessen
and Gallucci
Michael Brands
Donor Download
Steve Johnson
This July, the Institute’s Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation convened
Bachelet the Aspen Philanthropy Group—20 leaders of private and corporate foundations—to
discuss how best to measure and evaluate their funding efforts. The Group consid-
V oi ce o f ered the problem of spending crucial funds on expensive and burdensome searches
for evidence of impact and discussed what an optimal system might look like—
R ea s o n and how the Institute can create it. Led by PSI Director Jane Wales, participants
included Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Bob
As part of the Institute’s Mad- Gallucci, president of the MacArthur Foundation; and Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen,
eleine K. Albright Women’s founder and chairman of the SV2 venture philanthropy fund. To learn more, visit
Voices Series, the Council of www.aspeninstitute.org/psi.
24 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
insights&ideas
Michael Brands
Financial
Security
On June 27, the Institute welcomed the Aspen community to an open house celebrat-
ing the reopening of the Walter Paepcke Memorial Building. More than 1,000 people
attended the free programs and tours held throughout the day. The building will now
be 55 percent more energy efficient with a geothermal pond, new insulation, a new for Life
roof, and double-paned windows, among other green features. As noted in The Aspen “We need simple and secure financial
Times: “The Paepcke Building has always been special; now, it’s smart, too.” The big- products to help all Americans save,
gest architectural changes are in the auditorium, which has been expanded by 600 invest, and own,” said Lisa Mensah,
square feet to make room for 60 new seats. The Ann W. Richards stage features the executive director of the Institute’s
best theatrical lighting, sound, and cinematic electronics available. If you haven’t had Initiative on Financial Security,
a chance to visit the Paepcke Building, we hope you can drop by soon. before a Senate Special Commit-
tee on Aging hearing titled “The
Retirement Challenge: Making Sav-
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 25
insights&ideas
Dustin Franz
Dustin Franz
26 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
insights&ideas
on 10/10/10
finalists de Sola
at the Institute’s Annual Awards Dinner in and Danner.
New York and will receive $100,000. Prize
Henry Crown Fellow Tim Noonan judges include former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, President of the Rock-
wants to ensure that this generation efeller Foundation Judith Rodin, and Ugandan presidential candidate Olara Otunnu.
of wounded warriors is the best cared To learn more, visit www.mcnultyprize.org.
for in our nation’s history. So, on
10/10/10, Noonan launched Give-
Back10 as his Aspen Global Leader-
ship Network project. GiveBack10 is
a national nonprofit campaign that
Small Loans. Big Impact.
Microfinance and microenterprise development are not just international phe-
asks Americans to take ten minutes
nomena anymore. The United States has
to learn about wounded warriors’
recently discovered peer-to-peer lending
issues, tell ten friends, and give $10
platforms, like Nobel Peace Prize-winner
to wounded-warrior organizations.
Muhammed Yunus’ Grameen America.
GiveBack10 uses social-networking
But domestic microenterprise isn’t new
and marketing to tell wounded
to the Institute. Since 1991, the Institute
warriors’ stories and has teamed up
has been tracking the industry, and, more
with the USO to unite Americans
recently, the Economic Opportunities
in shared service. “The base of our
Program’s FIELD (Fund for Innovation,
republic needs to serve the few at
Effectiveness, Learning, and Dissemina-
the apex who sacrifice and suffer to
tion) initiative created the US Microenter-
defend our freedom,” says Noonan.
prise Census, counting 696 programs across
To learn more, visit www.give
the country that provide training, technical
back10.org.
assistance, and loans to aspiring entrepre-
neurs. Programs can be searched by name, state, or service. You can access the
directory on the FIELD website: www.fieldus.org.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 27
insights&ideas
Dan Bayer
Mosle
Mosle Heads
New Program
Oh, Baby!
Nationally, there has been a sharp
Michael Brands
Children under five get free care at this Sierra Leone health clinic,
which Realizing Rights helped to open in April.
28 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
insights&ideas
Schiller
A Legacy of Human Rights
On December 14, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative will come to
its planned end after eight years with a celebration of rights in New York. “We set out
to create a global network of committed leaders and partners dedicated to demonstrat-
ing how the broad human rights agenda matters
in tackling some of the world’s most difficult chal-
lenges,” said Mary Robinson, founder and presi-
dent of Realizing Rights. “Now those leaders and
a range of new initiatives are in place and tasked
with continuing to keep human rights at the heart
Riccardo Savi
Media for
Policy—has created a host of programs that dem-
onstrate the value of a broad international human
rights agenda to addressing issues ranging from
the Masses global health to women’s empowerment.
Under the leadership of Robinson, former
The 2010 Forum on Commu- president of Ireland, Realizing Rights has fostered
nications and Society, “News Robinson visits a health care clinic in respect for human rights among international busi-
Sierra Leone.
Cities: The Next Generation of nesses by supporting the work of the UN Global
Healthy Informed Communi- Compact and helping launch a new London-based Institute for Human Rights and
ties,” took on the need for good Business; initiated innovative programs to expand employment opportunities in Libe-
journalism, public engagement, ria and Ghana; and has made women central to peace efforts and security in countries
digital and media literacy, uni- like Sudan and Zimbabwe through its Women Leaders Intercultural Forum.
versal broadband, open net- One of Realizing Rights’ most enduring legacies is in global health. The pro-
works, and government transpar- gram’s work in reproductive health, access to health services, political leadership for
ency. Vivian Schiller, president women’s health, and the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health have all
of NPR, called for an expansion had impact across the planet. The work of these crucial initiatives will now be carried
of “public media so that all on by the Institute’s new Global Health and Development Program.
communities throughout the Robinson and her colleagues at Realizing Rights set the agenda for leaders the
country will be served.” Julius world over to make human rights integral to governing, knowing that the world’s
Genachowski, chairman of the problems won’t be solved without realizing human rights for all.
Federal Communications Com-
mission, praised the Institute and ADVERTISEMENT
the Knight Commission’s report,
Informing Communities, saying
Collecting and Realizing Upon Judgments of Magnitude
it influenced the government’s
for Nearly Forty Years Throughout the United States
initiatives on the future of media.
and in Select Foreign Countries
Other participants included
Craig Newmark , founder of
“I chase con artists and fraudsters”
craigslist.com; Marcus Brauchli,
executive editor of The Washing-
Only 1-3 Judgments Accepted Per Year
ton Post; and Alberto Ibargüen,
The Law Offices Of Andrew L. Quiat, P.C.
president of the John S. and
P. O. Box 2900
James L. Knight Foundation. To
Aspen, CO 81612
watch video of the Forum, visit
www.alqpclaw.com
www.aspeninstitute.tv.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 29
insights&ideas
M I L E S TON E S
Small
In Memoriam
This year, Kathleen Daubert Smith, said Institute Executive Vice President
a lifetime trustee of the Institute, lost Peter Reiling.
her battle with cancer. Throughout her
years in Aspen, Colorado, Smith served Central America Leadership Initiative
in many positions Fellow Ian Merriam, CEO of Hondu-
of philanthropic ras’ E Consulting Group, was another
leadership, join- extraordinary man, with a higher calling
ing the boards to live a purposeful
of the Aspen Art life. He died in a
Museum; the tragic accident this
Anderson Ranch summer. Merriam
Arts Center, where worked tirelessly
Smith
she served as presi- toward a vision of
dent of the board the good society in
for three years; and, of course, the Aspen Merriam
Honduras, particu-
Institute. Thanks to Smith’s generous larly in the wake of
and thoughtful planning, the Institute
will receive $250,000 from a Charitable
the 2009 presiden-
tial crisis. “He was living life to its very History
Remainder Trust she established. At the
request of Kathy’s family, the Institute
fullest and not wasting time on idle
pursuits,” said Institute senior moderator Exhibit
plans to use this gift to create “The
Kathleen Daubert Smith Scholarship
and Henry Crown Fellow Stace Lindsay.
“We honor Ian’s legacy by living our own Captures
Fund.” A range of full and partial schol-
arships will be awarded from this fund to
lives with purpose and passion.”
Aspen’s
encourage young leaders’ participation
in Institute programs that foster values-
based leadership.
Henry Crown Fellow Bill Patterson
died surrounded by loved ones this fall
after suffering from a brain tumor. Pat-
Past
terson leaves a legacy of passionate care Institute lifetime trustee
The Aspen Global Leadership Network for the environ- Albert Small has generously
has suffered the heartbreaking loss of ment and a deep donated several rare prints
three young Fel- love of his family to the Institute. The prints
lows. Africa Leader- and friends. In include detailed and artistic
ship Initiative Fel- his working life, portraits and maps of the
low Karl Flowers, he was a partner city of Aspen dating back to
managing director at SPO Partners, the 19th century. The Albert
of South Africa’s a private invest- H. Small History Exhibit can
Tour Africa Invest- Patterson
ment firm. In ser- be seen in the Paepcke
Flowers ments, died as a vice to his com- Library on the Institute’s
result of sudden ill- munity, he was chair of the board of Aspen Meadows campus.
ness in June. As a Network moderator, the California Academy of Sciences, a “They’re just spectacular,”
Flowers touched Fellows across the “living” natural history museum in San says Institute Executive Vice
planet. In Africa, he created opportuni- Francisco. He also served as president President Susan Sherwin. “The
ties for artisans and small businesses, and of the board of the Bay Area Discovery prints capture the spirit of his-
he provided education to young people, Museum, as a trustee of the Marin toric Aspen and are a timely
including the children of the HIV/ Community Foundation, and a member contribution to the recent
AIDS pandemic. “I know he lives on in of the advisory council of the Woods renovation of the Paepcke
the lives of the many he inspired in his Institute for Environment at Stanford Building.”
journey from success to significance,” University.
30 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
insights&ideas
S P o t L I G h t o n E D u C At I o n
Forum to
Showcase
education
Innovation
Sparked by i3
want to learn more about the most
creative and enterprising education
projects in the united States? Stay
tuned for “i3 and beyond: The Aspen
Institute’s National Summit on Edu-
cation Innovation” on January 19–21
in washington, DC. we will join
forces with the uS Department of
Laurence Genon
O’Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor
Institute Lifetime Trustee and
retired US Supreme Court
Justice
“It’s a bad time in our country if
Riccardo Savi
we have to have so many issues
decided on party-line votes. I hope
we can do more of what [the Insti-
tute] is trying to achieve, which Daniel Pink
is have more discussions, make Author, Drive: The Surprising
friends, and talk. Most of these Truth about What Motivates Us
issues do not get resolved readily “Human beings are a mix of drives.
along party lines; they just don’t.” We have a biological drive: We
Nora Feller
32 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Open a new door. SM
CHAFFIN LIGHT
Brenda Wild —
When opportunity knocks, listen.
When opportunities present themselves, take them.
Knowing when both are present, intelligence.
A S P E N | S N OW M A S S | BA S A LT
34 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Red Mountain at its best. Where architectural distinction, custom details, the
finest materials, energy efficient systems, and exceptional views surpass your
expectations. Where nature is seen from every angle. Please call for a private
showing. Price upon request.
society of fellows
Beinart
A Season of
Humor, Music,
and Politics
The summer’s symposia created
especially for the Institute’s key donor
group ranged from the serious to the
seriously funny. In June, “What’s
So Funny?: The Nature and Uses
of Humor” featured Bob Mankoff,
cartoon editor of The New Yorker,
and Mike Peters, Pulitzer Prize-
winning cartoonist. In July, “The
Golden Decade: How 1900–1910
Transformed Music and Shaped the
Modern World” was a special two-day
Mankoff
Nora Feller
Connections and
conversations
Society of Fellows 2010 summer programming included a rich array of luncheons,
Nora Feller
36 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
TOP OF THE WORLD
Views from Starwood are always amazing, but
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Michael Brands
racy; Harvard’s Joseph Nye on the US use of soft Winter Socrates Seminars in Aspen:
power in foreign relations; and George Washington “Bioethics, Post Health Care
Law School’s Jeff Rosen on how technology affects Reform,” with Ezekiel Emanuel,
democracy and privacy. Ferguson and Nye also held a special joint session to debate special White House health policy
China’s role in the 21st century. Meanwhile, Kai Ryssdal of American Public Media’s advisor
Marketplace moderated a Teen Socrates seminar on the opportunities and impacts of “Creating Sustainable Communi-
the global financial crisis. ties: Design, Transportation, Energy
and Agriculture,” with the Nature
The Senate Goes to Socrates Conservancy’s Michelle Lapinski and
Socrates convened senior Senate staffers and other public and private Jeff Speck, former director of design
sector participants at the Institute’s Wye River campus for a seminar on the at the National Endowment of the
Arts
effects of US demographic shifts on foreign policy, national identity, and
competition. Clive Crook, senior editor at The Atlantic and chief Washing- “Immigration and the Challenge
ton commentator at Financial Times, and Jack A. Goldstone, the Virginia of Crime and Corruption on the
E. and John T. Hazel Jr. professor at the George Mason University School Southern Border,” with Peter
Romero, former US ambassador to
Goldstone of Public Policy, co-moderated this three-day seminar in October.
Ecuador
“From Facebook to Body Scanners:
The Future of Privacy and Tech-
Benefit Highlights Social Innovators nology in the Age of Google,” with
George Washington Law School’s
The Socrates Society’s annual ben- Jeff Rosen
Rhee
efit dinner, chaired by Gary and Laura
Lauder, featured a riveting discussion April 1–2, 2011
between two young, successful, public Socrates Salon in Boston, MA:
leaders: Kasim Reed, mayor of Atlanta
“Soft Power in the 21st Century,”
and a Rodel Fellow of the Institute, and
with the Harvard Kennedy School of
Michelle Rhee, chancellor of DC public Government’s Joseph Nye
schools. Moderated by David Gergen,
CNN commentator and former White
House advisor, the panelists discussed
the challenges of leadership and social Join the Socrates Society!
Michael Brands
38 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Follow us on FaceBook ReddotBlog.woRdpRess.com
dialogue
Michael Brands
Heads of State Burns: Where did you make your
mark? What are you most proud of as
secretary? And, if you could redo an
issue, what would it be?
40 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
dialogue
the diplomatic conference call. Every of mistakes. These were big, complex the broken nuclear non-proliferation
day, I called the major foreign ministers operations, and there are many things I system; how to deal with the growing
of NATO in order to plan what we were would do differently. It may well be that gap between the rich and the poor;
going to do. I feel particularly good, the Afghans and the Iraqis will not take how to deal with energy, environment,
because it has been decided that it is the opportunity that has been given to food security; how to have a really good
appropriate that Kosovo be an indepen- them to become multiethnic democratic reputation for democracy; and now the
dent country. states. But they have a chance that they financial crisis. Just listing them makes
I was ambassador during the time did not have in 2001, and I’m very proud you realize that, no matter how powerful
of Rwanda, and I wish we could redo of that. … the United States is, we cannot deal with
that. One of the things I find very hard There are a whole bunch of things those issues alone.
about the way we operate: You have to that I would do differently. But let me Therefore, the next phase has to be
figure out what we knew at the time— put one on the table that may surprise one in which there are other powers that
not in hindsight. There’s a lot of stuff you a little bit: I am so sorry we didn’t we recognize as having a global respon-
on Rwanda that has come out later, but get comprehensive immigration reform. sibility with us. I don’t think it detracts
I can assure you that there was nothing When you have a bill that George from our power; it’s a force-multiplier.
in our intelligence that was really defini- W. Bush, Teddy Kennedy, and John The question is: How to make China
tive in terms of what was going on. I got McCain all want, and you can’t get it take a larger responsibility, not to just
instructions that we could not in fact through the Congress, you realize the be free-riders. The bottom-line here is:
support more UN troops. I didn’t like
my instructions. I really wish that I had
argued more. “I do not see a challenger to the particular confluence
Another one that I would redo is
Camp David, the Israeli-Palestinian dis-
of assets the United States has: democracy, economic
cussions, of August 2000. We’ve all gone power, political power, military power. I don’t see a
over it over and over again in our minds,
and the mistake we made was to [think]
real challenge to that—including China.”
that we couldn’t condition the moderate
Arabs. We should have talked to them potential for the demagoguery about list the issues, and you recognize that
much more ahead of time. Because this particular issue. I’m a great believer US power is the strongest in combina-
Arafat had the right to make decisions that the United States of America is a tion with others. And I don’t see us as a
about the size of the Palestinian state— country of immigrants. It is both what declining power.
he was the Palestinian leader—but we has been a great deal of our energy and
were asking him to make disposition of our ability to regenerate. If we don’t get Rice: I agree. I don’t know what to
the holy places, of which he was not the this issue right, then we are going to predict 50 years from now, but I would
sole keeper. undermine one of the most important put it this way: I do not see a challenger
tenets of what has made the United to the particular confluence of assets
Rice: Some of what went right and States work. the United States has: democracy, eco-
some of what went wrong will not be nomic power, political power, military
known for a long time. Today’s headlines Burns: There is a bit of conventional power. I don’t see a real challenge to
and history’s judgment are rarely the wisdom these days, that the United that—including China. As much as
same. But, with that caveat, I am really States has lost its edge, that we’re China has done—it is remarkable—we
pleased that we stood for the proposi- going to lose relative power in the tend to overstate the kind of straight-line
tion that every man, woman, and child world. Maybe China not only is gain- projection for China going forward. The
has the right to live in freedom. Now, ing on us, but will overtake us at some Chinese leadership knows that it has an
I will be the first to admit that [it was] point in our lifetimes. What are your awful lot of work to do at home. This is
not because we started out to launch thoughts on that? still a very poor country in terms of the
democracy in Afghanistan or Iraq, but number of poor people in it. It’s a coun-
because we saw security threats there. Albright: We are looking at a very try that’s experiencing a lot of strain from
Once having dealt with the security different world. I laid out some umbrella the rapid economic and social develop-
threat, we felt that the United States had issues [the president has to confront]: ment that is taking place there within
to have a view about the future of those how to deal with terrorism without cre- a pretty rigid political system. Can a
countries. I recognize that we made a lot ating more terrorists; how to deal with country that is so terrified of the Internet
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 41
dialogue
Michael Brands
Senator Dianne Feinstein and Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta
Former
Albright
National
Security
Advisor Brent
Scowcroft
and Harvard’s
Joe Nye, who
joined forces in
Michael Brands
Michael Brands
1984 to create
the Aspen
Strategy Group
Michael Brands
42 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Hosseini
dialogue
Michael Brands
20th century, Afghanistan was a nation
at peace with itself, with its neighbors,
and was a stable nation. While the un-
“Afghans Want
warrior-like nations in Europe and the
United States waged major war after
major war. Yet it’s the Afghans who bear
Peace”
the label of irredeemable warriors.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 43
dialogue Pierce and Jackson
Michael Brands
After the Spill
leak of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The
main leak was thought to be the tanks
that were on the rig that collapsed into
the Gulf. My thinking was air-sampling,
water-sampling, sediment samples. Our
Lisa Jackson and Wendell Pierce talk first sampling events took place within
about the effects of the BP oil spill on that first week of the collapse, because
the environment and the resilience of I knew that as this thing evolved, that
people would want data to determine
the Gulf community. whether or not human health was being
protected.
Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University, opened the 2010 Aspen Environment Cowen: What are the two or three
Forum with a discussion about the oil spill in the Gulf with two natives of New major lessons that we should be taking
Orleans: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and actor and
away from this?
philanthropist Wendell Pierce.
Jackson: I think the first lesson is
actually a very basic one: the role of
Cowen: In the last five years, the Gulf Coast, and especially Louisiana, has government at its most basic is protec-
gone through three incredible shocks, historic and unprecedented, and all tion—and environmental protection
man-made: Katrina, the economic downturn, and of course, the oil spill. … doesn’t happen by itself. … The BP spill
When you heard about the incident itself, how did you mobilize the EPA to [happened] on the heels of what was
respond? a horrible tragedy in West Virginia, 29
miners who lost their lives. We need to
Jackson: The rig actually collapsed on Earth Day. That’s beginning to be part be reminded that there is a role for gov-
of the jargon, but it wasn’t in the very beginning. The EPA stood up its emergency- ernment in overseeing corporate actions
operations center and began to do what it does by law, which is support the Coast and ensuring that the public welfare is
Guard on response at sea. … Recall that on Earth Day, it was still a life-saving not the price that we pay as a country in
operation. Actually BP was saying at the time that they didn’t believe there was any order for them to make a profit. … One
44 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
dialogue
A Call to Action
By Christine Benedetti
“We are the first generation to know that climate change is happening and
the last to be able to do something about it,” said William Antholis, managing
director of the Brookings Institution, at the 2010 Aspen Environment Forum.
Government leaders, scientists, nonprofit heads, environmental experts, and
those with concern for the planet gathered in Aspen midsummer for the Forum,
of the coolest things about working in which was hosted by the Institute’s Energy and Environment Program and
the environmental field is that you have National Geographic to make a call to action for sustainable living.
to be an optimist all the time. We are a Over three days, more than 100 speakers—including Kevin Costner, actor-
science-based voice for the American turned-activist; Bruce Babbitt, former secretary of the Interior; Mohan Munas-
people’s protection. inghe, vice chairman of the International Panel on Climate Change; and Elizabeth
Cheney, vice president of safety, environmental, and sustainable development for
Cowen: What has been the impact Shell—spoke to crowds about energy, water and food demand, climate change,
of this oil spill on the people of Louisi- green development, and living on a planet with a population that’s rapidly
ana, especially on the Gulf Coast? approaching nine billion. Discussions focused on everything from creating a car-
bon tax to instilling youth with an appreciation for nature, but over and over again
Pierce: One of the things that we real- the theme returned to sustainability on a crowded planet that is heating up.
ized right off the bat—especially after Speakers presented varying theories on the effects of climate change, includ-
going through that one-two punch of ing the devastating weather events that could cause famine, flooding, and fires
Katrina and the recession—is the fact as well as the potential for climate refugees to emerge from low-land countries
that we are a resilient people. We knew like Bangladesh. Still, there were those who cautioned against being alarmist
that we would be able to prepare our- about global warming, too. “What you hear about on the grand scale is tailored
selves to deal with the response to this oil toward catastrophism, and we need to regulate that,” warned Peter Huybers,
spill and the effect it would have on our a climate professor at Harvard.
communities and the economy of our The final discussions were geared toward innovation and hope for imple-
communities. We knew that we had that menting local and global change. Will Wynn, former mayor of Austin, Texas,
resilience. … The one thing that I’m inspired many by recounting his ability to galvanize a move toward urban living
proud of—being a New Orleanian and a in his state’s capital city, and T.H. Culhane, an urban planner and a National
resident of South Louisiana—is we have Geographic emerging explorer, presented a slew of ideas on sustainable living,
shown the world our character, our resil- such as recycling water to support backyard farms and turning human and
ience, and that we are prepared to do animal waste into biofuels. To learn more about the Forum, go to www.aspen
anything possible to protect our homes, environment.org.
our livelihoods, and our environment.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 45
dialogue
Bill Burke
America’s Mayor
that until you figure out how to give visas
to the people we really need. …
We have an enormous number of
people who need jobs. We have an
enormous number of jobs available. You
Michael Bloomberg discusses can’t get them together because the skill
immigration reform and why he won’t sets don’t match. So you will never keep
run for president. business going unless you get people
with greater skills coming into this coun-
try. This is not rocket science. …
At the Washington Ideas Forum—presented by The Atlantic, the Institute, and the We are committing national suicide
Newseum in October—Mayor Bloomberg talked to FOX’s Chris Wallace about how with our immigration policy. Social
to enforce immigration, acknowledge undocumented workers who support the US Security is going to go bankrupt six years
economy, and still maintain border control. earlier if we deport all of the 11 million
undocumented. The dirty little secret
here is that most of the undocumented
who work, pay taxes and pay Social
Wallace: Isn’t the political reality that we are going to have to find some way Security. But, of course, they don’t get
to secure the borders before Congress will ever pass a comprehensive [immigra- any benefits because there’s no place to
tion] plan? send the checks to. …
You have to do something about get-
Bloomberg: You will never secure the borders unless you reduce the demand for ting control of our borders and bringing
undocumented workers. And you will never be able to withstand the economic hit of in the people we need. You can’t get
46 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
dialogue
Bill Burke
But border control is one-third of the
problem. Getting the best and the bright-
est from around the world is another
thing that is just as important. If we don’t Ideas in DC
do that right now, we are never going The Institute and The Atlantic kicked off the second annual Washington Ideas
to get back these industries we are now Forum at the Newseum in Washington, DC, this October with a who’s who of
losing overseas. The third thing is deal- recent newsmakers. Over two days of action-packed interviews and conversa-
ing with the 11 million undocumented tions key leaders and top journalists attempted to go beyond sound bites and
workers. Why? People who are undocu- polarizing punditry, digging deeper and challenging assumptions.
mented come here to work. America is a Speakers included prominent businessmen like Carlyle Group founder
terrible place to come if what you want David Rubenstein and Google CEO Eric Schmidt; several elected officials,
to do is put your feet up, get together, including Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and
hold hands, and sing “Kumbaya.” We Governor Haley Barbour (R-MS); White House Cabinet officials, including Sec-
are a competitive society. You’ve got to retary of Education Arne Duncan and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner;
work if you come here. White House advisors Melody Barnes and David Axelrod; and a host of com-
And so the people who come here are pelling thought leaders and political figures, including filmmaker Spike Lee,
young. They tend not to bring their kids, Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, former Homeland Security
so they don’t use the school system. They Advisor Fran Townsend, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Paki-
are young, so they don’t use the hospi- stan Richard Holbrooke, and The Black Swan author Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
tals, because most of our care is at the Moderators featured top Washington journalists such as NBC’s Chuck Todd
end of life. They pay taxes because their and Brian Williams, The Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg and James Fallows, The
employers don’t want to go to jail. They Week’s Margaret Carlson, Vanity Fair’s Douglas Brinkley, FOX’s Greta Van
have a very low crime rate because the Susteren, and ABC’s Christiane Amanpour.
last thing they want to do is get involved The range of topics moved from the BP oil spill to the Iraq war, from an
with the INS. And they take jobs that Afghanistan exit strategy to the economy: Spike Lee wondered if the oil
nobody else will take. Other than that, spill would have been cleaned faster had it happened in Nantucket; Chalabi
what is wrong with undocumented? claimed weapons of mass destruction were never part of his support for war in
Iraq (“We never said it was a ‘slam dunk.’ ”); Ambassador Holbrooke declared
Wallace: Why won’t you run for July 2011 “the beginning of a draw-down” from Afghanistan, not a deadline;
president? and Secretary Geithner defended the Obama middle-class tax cuts. For more
and to watch complete video coverage of the event, go to www.firstdraftof
Bloomberg: Can’t win. Mayors never history.theatlantic.com.
go on to other jobs—better jobs or higher
jobs. But there is no better job in govern-
ment than being a mayor. Mayors have to side. And the legislative side lets you vote Mayors never go on to anything else
make decisions. Legislators and typically for the war but not to fund it. It lets you be because they have to be explicit; they
people who would become governors or pro-choice but not for women. One of the have to make decisions. You can follow
presidents, senators, congressmen, they arts of getting elected and moving up the and find out where they really stand.
work their way up through the party sys- ladder is to let everybody hear what they And, every time you make a decision,
tem, and they are always on the legislative want to hear. … you alienate those who are against it. A
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 47
The 6th
Annual
Aspen
Ideas
Riccardo Savi
Festival
The World
Riccardo Savi
The 2010 Festival brought together its largest number of speakers yet—more than 300 pre
Dan Bayer
eminent thinkers for more than 180 sessions over the course of seven days—united in civil
discourse if not in opinion. “The whole goal here is to bring all of us together and have a discus
sion that’s not characterized by the quip of the moment or the appeal of a short-term response,
but instead to add a different rhythm to the way we think about things,” said Institute Chairman
Robert Steel at the Festival’s opening ceremony. Steel also had some good advice for the audience:
“Make a special effort to listen to those who might have a perspective different from yours.”
On right: Members of
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Folklórico
Dan Bayer
Dan Bayer
48 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
of
Just a sampling of the broad range of voices from the Festival is on the pages that follow. Microsoft
Chairman Bill Gates extolled the virtues and lessons of high-performance charter schools. US Attorney
General Eric Holder expressed frustration at the politicization of Guantanamo Bay. National Oceanic
Bottom left:
and Atmospheric Administration Director Jane Lubchenco lamented the tragedy of the BP Gulf oil
Kids race Lego cars at the
spill on the natural world. And Twitter Co-Founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams talked about find Festival’s Lego workshop.
ing themselves at the center of the Iranian revolution. As famed author and environmentalist Bill
Fred Swaniker, CEO of
McKibben said in one session, “All the issues the world deals with and hopefully will surmount is the African Leadership
chewed through by the Aspen Institute.” Academy
For complete coverage of the Ideas Festival, including audio, video, photographs, and blogs, visit
www.aifestival.org, or find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/aspenideas), Twitter (twitter.com/
aspeninstitute), or YouTube (www.youtube.com/aspeninstitute). A
Dan Bayer
Michael Brands
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 49
AspenIdeasFestival
Brooks “How is it possible that a young man living in a
prosperous society, a free society, would decide
to freely opt for a set of beliefs, that tells him
that it’s OK to improve the world by killing other
people and that you will get rewarded in the
hereafter? … Did we offer an alternative set of
beliefs? Did we target those young people the
way that agents of radical Islam are targeting
them? Are we competing with them? … There’s
no one better at competition than Americans. We
should be able to sell our beliefs. We should be
able to sell our values.”
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel
Ali
Michael Brands
“Washington, now
more than ever,
is a team sport.
Riccardo Savi
Ginsburg
50 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Barnes
reform
School
Dionne: Could you talk a little bit about No Child
Left Behind?
For complete coverage of the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival, visit www.aifestival.org.
Canada
“Here’s a very simple thing: If you
fire everybody who doesn’t succeed
with the kids, you either end up
with no one working for you or
a program that works. We ended
up with a program that works.
Everybody understands: Failure
is not an option. [But most public
school teachers] have a job that
you could fail and still take three
months off—‘Oh, I know, I didn’t
do a good job, but I’m not coming
back until, like, September.’ I mean
that’s crazy! Only in education can
you have those kinds of things.”
—Harlem Children’s Zone Founder
Geoffrey Canada
Dan Bayer
52 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
“I want to help us move from a system based on sick care
to one based on wellness and prevention. … We need to get
doctors to treat exercise as medicine, to get doctors to give
an exercise prescription just like you would give a pill.”
—US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin
Dan Bayer
State Department.” technology but as a triumph Benjamin
of humanity.”
—Twitter Co-Founder and
CEO Evan Williams —Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone
Dan Bayer
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 53
AspenIdeasFestival
“The
Gates
Big ”
Institute CEO
Walter Isaacson
talks to Bill &
Melinda Gates
Foundation
Co-Chair and
Microsoft
Win
Chairman Bill
Gates about
his passion
for education,
high-performing
charter schools,
and why teachers
are the key to
reform.
Riccardo Savi
Isaacson: What could we do to improve K–12 edu- Gates: I’m a big believer in charter. But, today, high-
cation in America? performance charters are 2 percent [of schools]. The
best you could imagine over a 15-year period is going
Gates: We need to take the very best practices, the to be about 10 percent. You’re still going to have almost
great teachers, and the great environments for teach 90 percent of the students in public schools. And
ing that have been created, and spread that out to the so, you have to believe that changing the personnel
rest of the system. There is a very small part of the system, using online technology, and spreading best
system—which is high-performance charter schools— practices from charters into those schools is where you
that prove that, for less than what we spend on average get the dramatic change. Yes, we should keep growing
for students in the public school system, you can get charters. And there are some low-performing charters
over 90 percent of the kids to go to a four-year college. that need to be shut down. Schools like KIPP, however,
By every metric it’s a phenomenal experience, and the should grow as fast as they can.
most deprived inner-city kids are the ones who charters But the heart and soul of this issue is going to be
are aimed at and who they work well for. about how teachers are encouraged to improve, how
they’re told what they’re good at, given positive feedback
Isaacson: Should we have competition in education for helping other teachers learn to do what they do well.
so that there’d be charter schools competing with That’s the management challenge, the personnel chal
the school monopoly? lenge: having more great teachers. That’s the big win.
54 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Canada
Riccardo Savi
learning in a year.” Gates
Earlier in the
Isaacson: You’re about to address the American performance charters are doing that in a systematic way. Festival, Gates
participated in
Federation of Teachers, which is one of the two big We also take the Webcam results. We survey the a panel discus-
unions. What are you going to say to them? parents. We survey the other teachers. All of these indi sion on educa-
cators line up. And so for reading, math, you’ve got very tion following
a screening
Gates: The American Federation of Teachers’ president, strong data that are constant. … A few teachers may of the film
Randi Weingarten, has reached out and gotten involved not measure up, but we care about educating the kids, Waiting for
in a number of reform efforts. [The Gates] Foundation so this is a good system. That’s the goal. But you can’t Superman with
the Harlem
has four districts where both the district and the union [create] change without bringing teachers along and Children’s
have agreed to really measure the teachers and give them having them be enthusiastic about what you’re up to. Zone’s
feedback—and, where they’re short in terms of keeping Geoffrey
Canada.
the classroom calm or helping the student who is behind Isaacson: Why do we still have textbooks and when
or helping the one that’s ahead, you give them a way of we can get rid of them?
[earning] that knowledge. … What you have by default in
America is a teacherevaluation system where all you have Gates: Textbooks in the US are particularly maligned,
to know is how many years have you been in the job and because they’ve been designed by a committee and
do you have a master’s degree—and then you know the the textbooks just keep getting bigger and bigger. An
salary. There is no factor that has to do with how well your American math textbook is three times larger than an
kids are doing. Yet, the data shows that the top quartile of Asian textbook. And it’s stunning that there’d be this
teachers gives you about two years of learning in a year, systemic difference.
and the bottom quartile gives you close to zero years of In the next three or four years, some evolution of the
learning in a year. The variance is mindblowing. Netbook or iPad or iPhone will be adequate for engag
ing that textbook in an interactive way. And the price
Isaacson: How can technology help us with teacher will come down enough that you can do that for well
assessment? less than you spend buying the textbooks—yet what
you get is a lot better. You also need selfassessment. …
Gates: In an area like math, the most straightforward Our view is you should be able to go online, spend 15
assessment is to take the math scores of the kids com minutes, and know exactly what result you’re going to
ing in and the math scores of the kids going out and get and know which areas you need to work on. Every
say, Did they improve? And we can correlate that with body should have free access to that.
other metrics. If you go to the students and you just ask
them two questions—Does your teacher use class time Isaacson: Should school days be till 6:00 or 7:00 pm
well? And, when you’re confused, does your teacher and school years be 11 months?
help you out?—you get a result that correlates perfectly
to the test results. And the students know who the good Gates: At KIPP, the school day is about an eightand
teachers are—it’s different than who they like. ahalfhour day, and they go every other Saturday and
When you visit a charter school, that’s what you see three weeks in the summer. And, of course, the teach
that’s just so phenomenal: The teacher is really tracking ers are working longer hours, because they make them
everybody in the room. And it’s not that they’re small class selves uniformly available to the students afterhours.
sizes: There are 30 to 35 people in that room. They’ve A lot of those people in that top quartile are not only
learned technique. … They found some exemplars and naturals, but the energy and devotion they are putting
took different pieces of what they’d done. The high in is pretty phenomenal as well. A
For complete coverage of the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival, visit www.aifestival.org.
“Latin America is no
longer the backyard
of the United States.
We need to have a
partnership that is much
more horizontal. How
do we strengthen our
democratic institutions?
If democracy is not
able to deliver concrete
results to the poor, then
we are going to have a lot
of Hugo Chavezes in the
region.”
—former President of Peru
Alejandro Toledo
Michael Brands
“We’ve been the biggest economy in the world since 1870. We will lose that
title roughly around 2035 to China. And then India will ultimately in this
century be the second-biggest economy. We will probably for the remainder
of this century be the third-biggest economy in the world.”
—Carlyle Group Co-Founder and Managing Director David Rubenstein
56 T h e A s p en I d ea
Huffington
“[Today’s Supreme Court] is a
deeply c ollegial body—whether
it is a great body is a separate
question. The Roosevelt Court
was a great body—in which the
members could not stand each
others’ sight.”
—Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman,
author of Scorpions: The Battles and
Triumphs of FDR’s Great Justices
Kennerly
“healthy oceans
Matter”
nBC’s Andrea Mitchell speaks to
national oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration director Jane lubchenco
about the gulf oil spill.
Mitchell: Let’s talk about healthy oceans because tal movement led directly to the creation or the passage
there is so much attention for obvious and important of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the estab
reasons to the surface effects [of the Gulf oil spill] and lishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, the
the effects on the marshlands. passage of the Endangered Species Act, the Coastal
Zone Management Act, the National Marine Sanc
Lubchenco: Healthy oceans matter. They matter to tuaries Act, and the creation of the National Oceanic
the thousands of men and women who work on the and Atmospheric Administration. So it is appropriate,
water, continuing a way of life that defines so many at this Ideas Festival, for each of us to consider: What
coastal communities. They matter to the creatures large do we want the legacy of this event to be? What is the
and small that call the Gulf home. They matter to our good that can come from this? One outcome should
personal happiness—whether supporting a way of life be a commitment to healthy oceans, because healthy
or enabling us to just take a walk on a nice pristine oceans matter. A
beach and do some birdwatching or
watch turtles hatch. Healthy oceans also
matter to our nation’s economic prosper Lubchenco and Mitchell
ity. Healthy oceans matter in large part
because they are an expression of our
commitment to one another, to the rest of
life on our planet, and to the future. …
I emphasize that this is truly an
environmental disaster, but even more
than that it’s really a human tragedy. It
is just so poignant that the inner relation
of those two is brought home by this
tragedy in no uncertain terms: the con
nectedness between people and healthy
oceans. We remain committed to doing
our utmost until the oil is stopped, until
it’s cleaned up, until everyone who has
been compensated should be, until the
Gulf is brought back to health, and the
community is made whole.
This tragedy began to unfold as we
were celebrating the 40th anniversary
of Earth Day, and, if that isn’t ironic, I
don’t know what is. Earth Day was part
Dan Bayer
For complete coverage of the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival, visit www.aifestival.org.
Riccardo Savi
Carroll
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 59
AspenIdeasFestival
Casey
Sanger: The Quadrennial Defense Review that came central organizing principle of the Department.
out a few months ago stepped away from the old con That’s the way we’re going with the Army. As we
cept that the United States needs to be able to fight a look at the future, we’re at war with a global extremist
war in one place and moved instead to the concept of network that attacked us on our soil and has tried twice
a much more flexible military that could do counter since Christmas to do it again. These guys aren’t going
insurgencies around the world and still have the capa to quit. They’re not going to give up, and they’re not
bility to fight a major war. Can we be prepared for that going to go away easily. We believe this is a longterm
many contingencies at one time? ideological struggle. And, if we look at the trends in the
global environment, they seem more likely to exacer
Casey: We have to. The central organizing principle bate that situation rather than ameliorate it. We’re in
of the Department of Defense for the last six years has for a decade or so of what I call “persistent conflict”—
been conventional war—the ability to do these two protracted confrontation among states, nonstates, and
major regional contingencies. That isn’t what we’re individual actors who are increasingly willing to use
doing today. Yet the whole Department of Defense is violence to accomplish their political and ideological
lined up to produce the outputs for conventional war. objectives. It’s going to be more complex and it’s going
And I have come to think, after we’ve looked at the to be more uncertain. And so, you have to be organized
environment, that versatility—the need to be able to to deal with a range of contingencies—knowing that
do a variety of different things—has got to become the the best we can hope to do is get it about right. A
For complete coverage of the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival, visit www.aifestival.org.
Dan Bayer
center-right coalition is
to understand that, on the
issue that moves their vote, Wolff
what they want from the
government is to be left “We are self-
alone. Taxpayers: Leave conscious creatures.
my money alone. Home- We cannot avoid
schoolers: They’ve passed
the consciousness
on the government’s kind
of performing for
offer to baby-sit their kids
for 18 years and all they want ourselves, watching
is to be left alone. All the ourselves at a
Second Amendment people distance. Faith lifts the
want is to be left alone with burden of that self-
their Second Amendment consciousness.”
rights. People for whom the —Author and Harman-Eisner
most important thing in their Artist-in-Residence
life is practicing their faith Tobias Wolff
and transmitting it to their
children are voting on one
issue: They want to be left
alone.”
—Americans for Tax Reform President
Dan Bayer
WINTER 2010/2011
AspenIdeasFestival
The Law
of the Land US Attorney
General Eric Holder
talks to CBS’s Bob
Schieffer
about the Arizona
immigration law, Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed,
Guantanamo Bay,
and race.
Schieffer: You filed suit to ask a judge
to overturn Arizona’s new immigration
law. It has put Republicans in a rage.
Why did you file this lawsuit?
62 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Holder and
Schieffer
For complete coverage of the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival, visit www.aifestival.org.
www.aifestival.org
a
The Institute’s
work in the
Middle East
expands.
In 2004,
new
beginning
former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and
Henry Kissinger launched the Institute’s Middle East
Strategy Group, which spearheaded innovative and prag-
ment of our national strategy” and out-
lined how entrepreneurialism, education,
and exchanges of ideas between Ameri-
cans and Muslims could alter the political
landscape of this troubled region.
matic economic and policy initiatives to advance peace And so, under the rubric of Partners
in the Middle East—mainly through initiatives that for a New Beginning, the Institute’s
Middle East Programs now include
directly addressed the Arab-Israeli conflict. the Emirates-Aspen Partnership, the
US-Lebanon Dia-
logue, and the US-
Palestinian Partner-
ship, which works in
cooperation with the
Institute’s highly suc-
cessful Middle East
Investment Initiative.
Plus, the Institute has
Middle East Programs initiatives include job training for women and girls across the Middle East.
added seminars that
But, over the years, the entwined fates with the Institute—Partners for a New explore the politics of the Middle East;
of all Middle Eastern nations made this Beginning—created specifically as a has featured top-level Middle Eastern
approach seem too limited. Palestinian partnership between the United States officials at major public events, including
refugees live throughout the Arab world, and Muslim communities globally. Part- the Aspen Ideas Festival; and has intro-
extremist groups have spread regionally, ners for a New Beginning is based on duced a new Middle East Leadership
and, more than ever before, the Muslim President Barack Obama’s 2009 Cairo Initiative, whose Fellows are members of
community has become a touchstone for speech in which he envisioned “a new the Aspen Global Leadership Network,
US foreign policy. So, over the last two beginning” between the United States which takes rising entrepreneurial lead-
years, the Middle East Strategy Group and the Muslim world. The program will ers from across the region through a series
has evolved into the Middle East Pro- be chaired by Institute trustee and former of seminars that encourage them to apply
grams, with initiatives in Lebanon and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright their skills to the foremost societal chal-
the United Arab Emirates in addition to and vice-chaired by both Institute CEO lenges around them.
its core programs in Palestine. Walter Isaacson and Coca-Cola Com- On the following pages, you can see
“We have been looking at ways to pany CEO Muhtar Kent. a roadmap of this network of program-
expand our regional focus for a while,” “I think that this is one of those occa- ming translating ideas into action and
says Middle East Programs Director Toni sions in the diplomatic history of our learn more about the Institute’s impact
Verstandig. “This realignment reflects country that we will look back on and say in the Middle East with deep dives into
the administration’s more comprehensive made a difference,” said Secretary of State a few of its programs. For more informa-
approach to the Middle East region.” Hillary Clinton at the official announce- tion about the Middle East Programs at
Indeed, this year, the US State Depart- ment of Partners for a New Beginning. the Institute, visit www.aspeninstitute.
ment spearheaded an umbrella initiative Clinton called the program a “key ele- org/mideast.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 65
◗ leadership: Meli eMiraTes-asPen ParTnershiP
UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayid Al Nahyan and UAE Ambassador
In 2009, three Henry Crown Fellows of to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba announced the launch of the Emirates-Aspen
the Institute decided to expand the Aspen Partnership at a dinner in Washington hosted by the Institute’s Middle East Programs.
Global Leadership Network with the launch of The Partnership’s first program, the Forum on Innovation, was held in Abu Dhabi.
the Middle East Leadership Initiative.
HE Saeed Al Hajeri
with The Economist’s
Vijay Vaitheeswaran
at the
Forum
Nayna Sasidharan
Al Nahyan and Al Otaiba
Jonathan Gibbons
A trust exercise at
the first Middle East
Leadership Initiative u s-lebanon Dialog u e
meeting
The US-Lebanon Dialogue launched with a conference in Washington, “Leading
in the Levante,” with Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Antoine Chedid,
Lebanese Member of Parliament Nayla Mouawad, and US Representative Nick
Rahall among others.
◗ seminars
Former US Ambas- Chedid, Mouawad,
sador to Israel and Rahall
headquarters in Washington.
Dan Bayer
MI D D L E E A S T P O LICY PRO G RAMS
u s-PalesTinian
ParTnersh iP
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and
then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
spoke at the US-Palestinian Partnership’s
Business and Investment Forum. The UPP
Pa r T n e r s focuses on creating economic opportunities
for a new and leadership skills for Palestinians.
beginning
Fayyad and Rice
US Chamber of Commerce
local
ch aPT e rs This year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Partners for a New Beginning will
announced a joint effort between the US State
set up local partnerships in Egypt,
Department and the Institute, Partners for a New
Indonesia, North Africa, Pakistan,
Turkey, and the West Bank/Gaza. Beginning, which will bring together American and
Muslim leaders for what Clinton called “person-to-
person diplomacy.” Former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright will chair the program and Peres and Case
Institute CEO Walter Isaacson and Coca-Cola
Company CEO Muhtar Kent will vice chair.
Israeli President Shimon Peres
talks to UPP Co-Chair Jean
Case in Israel.
MiDDle easT
inVe s TMenT iniTiaTiV e Mayer, Feinstein,
and Fayyad
Right: Institute Chairman Emeritus William
Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent spoke
Mayer, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA),
at the Partners for a New Beginning
and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam
launch in New York.
Fayyad discuss the Institute’s Middle
East Investment Initiative. The Initiative
stimulates economic activity, creates jobs,
Kent and expands home ownership across the
Dan Bayer
Middle East.
Executive Director Toni Verstandig hosted the event. Verstandig and Albright
The
Business
Peace
of
The
US-Palestinian
Partnership
fights for the
state of a nation.
68 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Institute CEO Walter Isaacson, President George W. Bush, Palestinian
Authority’s Minister of Youth and Sports Tahani Abu Daqqa, and Institute
trustee Lester Crown at the US-Palestinian Partnership launch.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 69
economics
of
hope
The Institute’s mission is premised on “thought The Middle East
leading to action,” but few people—including this Investment Initiative is
author—would have believed that the Institute’s creating a better life for
Middle East Investment Initiative would have helped a troubled region.
to generate almost $70 million in business loans in By Berl Bernhard, chairman of MEII and
the West Bank in less than three years. chairman emeritus of the Aspen Institute
70 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
the region, there is an innate culture of
entrepreneurialism, and the banking sec-
tor is well-established and sophisticated.
Nevertheless, small- and medium-sized
enterprises, which make up more than
90 percent of firms in the West Bank and
Gaza, are largely unable to get the credit
they need to expand their operations and
create jobs.
The Solution
Extremely conservative lending policies
have long dominated banking in Pal-
estine. Credit risk has historically been
managed by imposing prohibitively high
collateral requirements, thereby restrict-
ing credit availability to large, highly capi-
talized businesses, and lending has also
tended to be short term. In addition to
discriminating against smaller businesses,
Above: The five-star Mövenpick Hotel in Ramallah The Problem these practices isolate lenders from the
Two-thirds of the people living in the enormous banking business potential
On left: MEII President Jim Pickup talks to Middle East are under the age of 30, offered by many thousands of viable
Institute trustee and MEII board member Henry the youngest population in the world. small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Catto, the Palestine Investment Fund’s Durgham
Maraee, and Bernhard outside of the Council of
The region also has the highest youth By contrast, the Middle East Invest-
Ministries after meeting with Palestinian Prime unemployment rate, the second-highest ment Initiative uses loan guarantees
Minister Salam Fayyad. urbanization rate, and the largest gender to reduce bank reliance on collateral,
gap in employment. The Palestinian which can be as high as 200 percent
Below: Institute Chairman Robert Steel shakes Territories are typical of this, but they of a loan’s value. Our loan guarantees
hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas as Nafez Husseini, chief ICT officer of have some advantages, too. Palestinian avoid such restrictive collateral prac-
Consolidated Contractors Company, looks on. literacy rates are among the highest in tices, unlocking bank resources and
making credit available to many smaller
businesses. By working with banks to
implement credit-management reforms
and to demonstrate new ways to evaluate
risk—such as analyzing cash flow—
MEII transforms the way Palestinian
banks support growing businesses. By
MEII’s planned end in 2017, we expect
that most Palestinian banks will meet
the ongoing credit needs of all bankable
businesses on a sustainable basis and
without donor intervention.
The Effects
The Middle East Investment Initiative’s
impact is best understood through the
loans it has guaranteed—as in the olive
industry. Eighty percent of Palestinian
farms are olive orchards, and their har-
vests can account for 25 percent of the
West Bank’s gross agricultural income.
Unfortunately, the quality of Palestinian
olive oil has not always satisfied inter-
national standards, and access to global
markets has been limited.
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 71
Right: A metal furniture company in Hebron
offers the potential for job creation and business
growth.
As a result, com-
panies with little
collateral—like one
of our key borrow-
ers, which sells olive
oil and organic foods
produced by infor-
mal cooperatives of
more than 1,700 small
farmers—were unable
to obtain traditional
financing. MEII, how-
ever, guaranteed a
substantial loan for
the company to pur-
chase a modern olive and compete globally; $150,000 to a the West Bank. The project will gener-
oil press and stainless- female-owned rural sewing cooperative ate close to 800 direct jobs, more than
steel storage tanks. to purchase new machinery, create 70 2,000 indirect jobs, and more than 60
The farm’s produc- new jobs, and provide extra employee new small businesses in the West Bank
tion capacity has dra- training; and $18,000 to a Palestinian to support the venture. Similarly, MEII
matically advanced, doctor to purchase medical equipment has backed the completion of a new,
and the company can for a new clinic in a residential neighbor- five-star Mövenpick Hotel in Ramallah,
now store and export hood cut off from urban areas by Israel’s which will create approximately 275 new
quality olive oil year- security barrier. Other types of lending direct jobs and be a magnet for West Bank
round. The farm has also hired 15 new have extended from greenhouses in the tourism.
employees, and more farmers can par- Jordan Valley and dairy farms to the first
ticipate in the cooperatives and receive metal-waste and paper-and-plastic recy- The Future
higher prices for their harvests. Most cling plants in the region. Robert Mosbacher, former president of
important, the company is providing the While our focus has been almost the Overseas Private Investment Corpo-
training and technical assistance neces- exclusively on small- and medium-sized ration and one of our earliest partners
sary to grow and harvest organic olives businesses, the MEII loan-guarantee pro- in the West Bank, said the Middle East
that consistently meet international gram is a necessarily flexible economic- Investment Initiative reminded him of
standards. development tool. Occasionally, we have the adage: “Give a man a fish and you
In addition to revolutionizing farm- made larger loan guarantees in order to have fed him for a day. Teach a man to
ing in the West Bank, MEII has loaned create significant numbers of jobs. For fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.”
$400,000 to a door manufacturer, allow- example, in 2009, MEII supported the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who
ing the company to hire 53 new workers Wataniya Palestine communications has teamed with the Institute on Partners
project—the largest eco- for a New Beginning, offered a modifica-
nomic investment in the tion: “Teach a woman to fish and you
Palestinian Territories in feed a whole village for a lifetime.”
more than ten years. So With this in mind, MEII’s next step is
far, the money has cre- to find ways for both men and women to
ated the first competitive have the chance to invest in the “fishing
cell-phone company in industry”—to be owners. MEII recently
supported the first commercial loan of $1
MEII board members Elizabeth million to a leading Palestinian microfi-
Liechty, Nafez Husseini, George nance institution and then guaranteed a
Salem, William Mayer (also an
Institute trustee), and Institute $500,000 loan to a microfinance institu-
Chairman Robert Steel have tion owned entirely by women. MEII
lunch with OPIC officials fol- does not have the resources to review
lowing their meeting with
Palestinian President Mahmoud hundreds of small loans to individual
Abbas. entrepreneurs, but it can facilitate such
72 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Bernhard, Albright and Fayyad
lending by guaranteeing loans through
larger institutions expressly dedicated
to microfinance. Since March, MEII-
supported microfinance institutions
have made 391 loans worth more than
$1 million. Of those 391 borrowers, 331
were women and close to 400 perma-
nent jobs—primarily for women—have
been created.
Building on this success, MEII has
been working with a coalition of orga-
nizations to develop the first affordable
home-mortgage finance company in the
Palestinian Territories. In June, Palestin-
ian President Mahmoud Abbas formally
launched the landmark AMAL (“hope”
Vicky Pombo
liberal, and modern society in the Middle evaluate their national strategy through the lens of global
trends. Other participants included Walter Isaacson, Institute
East,” said United Arab Emirates Ambas- CEO; Toni Verstandig, director of Middle East Programs at
sador Yousef Al Otaiba at the Aspen Ideas the Institute; John Sexton, president of New York University;
Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Com-
Festival this July. “And we’re bringing the petitiveness; Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global correspondent for
Ideas Festival to the UAE.” In fact, Al Otaiba was so impressed The Economist; Waleed Al Muhairi, Chief Operating Officer
by the depth and quality of dialogue that flowed from bringing of Mubadala; Ibrahim Ajami, CEO of Advanced Technology
together eminent global leaders in an idyllic setting, that he Investment Company; and Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar.
was motivated to pursue a partnership with the Institute and Many discussions touched upon the theme of education,
bring this model of dialogue to the Middle East. This year, which Sexton called a main pillar of the global innovation eco-
the Institute entered into a partnership with the United Arab system. A unique event of the conference was a session hosted
Emirates: The Emirates-Aspen Partnership is designed to cre- by His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Al Nahyan,
ate relationships between American and Emirati leaders at the chairman of the Crown Prince Court. Abu Dhabi’s leader-
highest levels of policymaking, commerce, and opinion. ship has laid the groundwork for the United Arab Emirates’
The centerpiece of the first year of the Partnership was exciting national growth—including the Vision 2030 plan, an
the Emirates-Aspen Forum on Innovation, which Al Otaiba economic roadmap for Abu Dhabi.
called necessary for “creating a culture of innovation and The United Arab Emirates have lately become a hub for
entrepreneurship.” Held at the renowned Emirates Palace large conferences and industry gatherings where speakers talk
Hotel on October 5–6, 2010, the Forum explored leadership at you; but the Emirates-Aspen Forum on Innovation brought
for an innovation economy, the big ideas and sectors that will a fresh approach to dialogue to Abu Dhabi. The interactive
drive the next wave dialogues not only catalyzed deep thinking on the elements
of innovation, and and challenges in innovation, but also created an environment
the role of education in which concrete connections and relationships could form
in molding future among the American and Emirati participants.
innovators. The con- Moving forward, the Emirates-Aspen Partnership hopes to
ference wrapped up build on the inaugural Forum on Innovation with explorations
with a session led of other topics, like the impact of the Gulf states on the regional
by David Rothkopf, economy and the power of social entrepreneurship. After all,
president and CEO rapid advances in business, education, environment, and the
of Garten Rothkopf. arts are establishing the United Arab Emirates as a vibrant
Rothkopf engaged global center and a transformational economic force. In light
emerging Emirati of these exciting developments, the possibilities for partnerships
Cathy Isaacson, Glenda Greenwald, and leaders in an interac- are endless. As Al Otaiba said, “The Emirates-Aspen Forum was
Toni Verstandig at the Grand Mosque in tive discussion that as I hoped—deep dives with top thinkers that fostered signifi-
Abu Dhabi challenged them to cant opportunities for US-UAE collaboration.” A
74 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Her i t ge
The
SOCIETY of
To learn more about supporting the Aspen Institute and becoming a member of the Heritage Society,
please contact Kristen B. Loden at kristen.loden@aspeninstitute.org or (970) 544-7974 or visit www.aspeninstitute.org/heritagesociety.
ThreaT
Assessment The INaUGUraL aSPeN SeCUrITY FOrUM TaKeS ON aL QaeDa, hOMeGrOWN
TerrOrISTS, SOFT TarGeTS, aND INTeLLIGeNCe-SharING. By Clark Kent Ervin
“We’re seeing an increasing level of distributed
threats,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Mike Mullen told a sell-out, standing-room-
only crowd of more than 800 at the first annual Aspen
Security Forum held by the Institute’s Homeland
Security Program. “We’re living in a world where I
am increasingly concerned about the nexus between
terrorists and nuclear weapons.”
Mullen and Sanger
Dan Bayer
Dan Bayer
(for more from Mullen, see Hart
sidebar on page 79).
Taking issue with Leiter was former Bush White House Homeland
Security and Counterterrorism Advisor Fran Townsend, who said, when
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 77
the Christmas Day plot occurred, we had “a lot of information we didn’t take
advantage of, … information that was not adequately shared.” Townsend
argued that, while intelligence has certainly improved since 9/11, it is still
not shared within the national security community to the extent that it should
be all these years later—especially since Al Qaeda is aligning with a “matrix”
of groups globally. Progress, she believes, will remain fitful unless and until
there is a single senior-level official (other than the homeland security advi-
sor or the national security advisor) responsible specifically for intelligence-
sharing and completely accountable for any failure—like a successful attack
on the homeland or a near-miss.
Turf battles and a lack of information-sharing came up again when former
Townsend Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bill Bratton described his frustration
trying to get big government agencies to let him “into the tent.” Bratton also
discussed attacks on soft targets—the failed attack on Times Square, mass-
transit attacks in Europe, the Fort Hood gunman, and the attack on the Taj
Mahal Hotel in Mumbai—and how state and local security-enforcement
officials confront such terrorism. Bratton said that worldwide attacks on soft
targets caused him to “totally reorganize” his department as the “homegrown
threat has become much more important.” After all, he said, “The home-
78 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Mullen
tHe
ADmIRAL’s
VIeW
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral
Mike Mullen flew into Aspen direct from
Afghanistan after the most eventful week of
the summer: President Obama fired General
Stanley McChrystal as commander of allied
Dan Bayer
OnAfghanistan: OnIran
“We’ve got to establish a security environment with the “This whole issue of Iran and its development of nuclear
Afghan police and the Afghan forces. … We underestimated weapons has been very much on my mind. I believe that,
the degree of difficulty of establishing the local governance. strategically, they continue to pursue it. They’ve not complied
That’s a big lesson as we move into Kandahar. … I have been with the NPT; they’ve not complied with the IAEA. They have
struck by how the Afghan people see the Taliban: They see been given every chance to do this, and they have not. … And
them in an incredibly negative way. Obviously, they’re con- some, who historically have supported them, are now turn-
cerned about how this turns out and who ends up running ing against them. This increasing isolation is something that
the country. But the Taliban are incredibly unpopular, and the they bring on themselves. It is incredibly dangerous for them
Afghan citizens that I’ve spoken to have no desire to return to to achieve [nuclear-weapon] capability, destabilizing in the
any kind of Taliban regime.” region. It generates the great potential for a nuclear arms
race in the Middle East. The place is unstable enough; we
On Pakistan and Al Qaeda: don’t need that. And, at the same time, a strike against Iran
“Pakistan is also a country, now, very much under siege from also will be incredibly destabilizing.”
terrorists internally. If you go back two years, who would
have predicted that the Pakistani military would have done
as much as they’ve done [to quell terrorism]? Not many of us Join Us Next Year
would have gotten that right. … We’ve seen in our own coun- The Homeland Security Program is already looking forward to next
try—recently with Detroit, with Times Square—an increasing summer’s second annual forum on July 27–30, 2011. A number of note-
level of distributed threats. Al Qaeda is at the center of this, worthy participants have already confirmed, including former CIA and
and Al Qaeda leadership resides in Pakistan. We know that, NSA Director General Michael Hayden, former CIA Deputy and Acting
and that’s why this relationship with Pakistan is so important. Director John McLaughlin, Deputy White House Homeland Security
Al Qaeda continues to be the seminal threat. Their strategic Advisor and terrorism-financing expert Juan Zarate, and Bush admin-
goals include killing as many Westerners and Americans as istration counterterrorism legal advisor John Yoo. To learn more, visit
possible. They still seek nuclear weapons. We’re living in a www.aspeninstitute.org/security.
80 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Aspen
Institute
italia
Aspen Institute Italia remains a leader in promoting
enlightened dialogue in Europe and across the Atlan-
tic, organizing a number of conferences, seminars, and
roundtables each year on economics, business, politics,
and security. Its quarterly, Aspenia, is read in Italy and
abroad, and has been judged one of the best foreign
affairs journals in the world. Aspen Italia conferences Jaced Rostowski, Wolfgang Schauble, and Giulio Tremonti in Berlin
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 81
international Aspen
Imamichi and
Aspen
Owada
Institute
Japan
Aspen Institute Japan is a nonprofit organization com-
mitted to enhancing values-based leadership in contem-
porary society. Evolved from the Tokyo liaison office of
the Aspen Institute and Aspen Institute Japan Council,
AIJ was formally established in 1998. Its flagship pro-
gram has been the Nippon Aspen Executive Seminars. Owada, who played “Disillu- Upcoming
The Institute offers three seminars annually, providing sioned Homecoming,” which Events
the leaders and future leaders of Japan with reflective was composed by Imamichi Nippon Aspen Executive
experiences through moderator-led dialogue based during World War II. Seminar
on extensive readings of texts from both classic and Aspen Fellows of Aspen November 11–16, Osaka
I n s t i t u t e J a p a n j oi n e d February 10–15, Chiba
contemporary authors and from the Western and non-
a national celebration of
Western world. In addition to the seminars, the Institute the exciting return to Earth NAES for Ishikawa
offers other executive seminars tailored to the needs of Japan’s space probe October 29–November 1,
of national and local government officials and young Hayabusa (peregrine falcon) Ishikawa
business executives. It also organizes periodic lecture Nippon Aspen Executive Seminar participants
programs for the alumni of the seminars.
82 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Aspen
Institute
India
Aspen Institute India promotes values-based leader-
ship, open dialogue, and cross-sector outreach by Ridding and Maira
engaging business, governments, nonprofits, and other
and China, each country’s cerning the planet’s fragile
stakeholders on issues related to India’s development.
relationship with the United environment.
Focusing on India’s challenges, Aspen Institute India States, and the path that
invites industrial, economic, financial, political, social, India, China, and the United Launch of Kolkata
and cultural leaders to discuss these issues in settings States must take in the com- Chapter
that encourage frank and open dialogue. ing years for a mutually ben- The Aspen Institute India for-
eficial coexistence. mally announced the launch
Recent and challenges he faced and of its Kolkata Chapter with
Highlights how his life’s journey led Book Launches M.K. Narayanan , honour-
him to become one of the Aspen Institute India in col- able governor of West Ben-
Public Programs key influencers of India’s laboration with the American gal, as the Chief Guest.
Aspen Institute India has development in the last two Centre and Random House Alongside the event, Aspen
organized numerous out- decades. launched Pulitzer Prize- India organized a session on
reach sessions on the broad In July, Aspen India hosted winning journalist Geeta “India’s Engagement with
theme of India’s develop- a session with Nicholas Burns, Anand’s book The Cure as the World.” The session was
ment and leadership. We former US undersecretary of well as CEO of HCL Vineet moderated by Tarun Das ,
also organized a session on state, and Shashi Tharoor, Nayar’s new book, Employ- president of Aspen Institute
“The Internet and the Crisis member of Parliament. The ees First, Customers Second. India, and Krishna Bose, for-
Confronting News Media” session focused on the growth mer member of Parliament
with John Ridding, CEO of of India and how it has India Strategy Group was a respondent.
Financial Times, moderated changed the relationship Aspen Institute India led a
by Arun Maira , Planning dynamic with the United team to Dublin in May for
Commission member. The States. The discussion also a Trilateral Commission UPCOMING
session focused on the poten- dwelled on what both coun- Annual Meeting. Also, the EVENTS
tial of print, Internet, and tries should be doing to US-India Strategic Dialogue India-Israel Forum:
television media and how the develop this relationship in was held in Aspen, Colorado, November 1–2, 2010
amalgamation of the three the future. in collaboration with the
could be the next big innova- As part of its series on Aspen Strategy Group. This Ideas India:
tion since the printing press. China, Aspen India hosted dialogue has helped both December 15–17, 2010
Keeping with the topic of a forum on “India, China, sides in bringing bilateral
Information and Innovation, and the Asian Strategic Land- issues and challenges to the India Leadership
Aspen India organized a con- scape” with Kim Holmes , forefront and has also helped Initiative 3:
versation with Sam Pitroda, Lisa Curtis , Raja Mohan , develop a roadmap for future November 10, 2010
advisor to the prime minister and Indrani Bagchi. The ses- cooperation.
on public information infra- sion focused on the growth Aspen Institute India
structure and innovation. of India and China as the Policy Dialogues Mr. Tarun Das
During the conversation, new superpowers, the effects In September–October, President,
Pitroda stressed on the need of their growth not only on Aspen Institute India orga- Aspen Institute India
for food banks, connectivity, the Asian geopolitical land- nized US-India Track II Dia- 2P, Sector 31,
and harnessing the power scape, but on the rest of the logue on Climate Change. Gurgaon, 122001
and talent of India’s youth in world as well. The discussion The objective of this dia- Tel. +91-124-4218620-22
an effective manner. He also also examined the bilateral logue is to help both sides to Fax +91-124-4218624
talked about his life, work, relationship between India understand the issues con- www.aspenindia.org
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 83
international Aspen
Institutul
Aspen
Romania
The Institutul Aspen Romania is a politically neutral international conference focused on leadership quali-
organization. Its membership represents a broad range included EU Commission ties and styles, practical train-
of opinion, from the corporate, academic, political, and Vice President Maros Sef- ing in skills and technique,
covic , EU Commissioner team-building exercises, and
other sectors of society. The Institutul focuses on the
Dacian Ciolos, and Romanian presentation of case studies.
development of leadership networks and the promo- Minister of Finance Sebas- The third Seminar in Sep-
tion of democratic values, the rule of law, and economic tian Vladescu, who all partici- tember, in Bucovina (North
efficiency. It hosts Executive Seminars, policy programs, pated in a substantive debate Romania), offered the Fel-
and a Young Leaders Program. on the causes of EU’s current lows the opportunity to con-
challenges—in particular, the front real-life situations and
perceived vulnerabilities of its design projects that tested
RECENT how political dynamics influ- Eastern members’ economies. their leadership style and
HIGHLIGHTS ences transatlantic relations, The conference aimed to give vision, prioritization capacity,
and vice versa. A report by new momentum to the com- innovation, planning, time
Policy Programs Stephen Larrabee (RAND, petitive advantages and pro- management, and teamwork.
The Institutul held an inter- Washington), synthesizing ductivity roles these countries
national conference on
“Cyber Defense in the Con- UPCOMING
text of the New NATO EVENTS
Strategic Concept” on June December 2010 will bring
2, 2010, in Bucharest in part- another edition of the annual
nership with NATO Public Aspen Seminar as well as
Diplomacy Division. The a dedicated regional event
event created an informed focusing on ethics and the
and meaningful dialogue media in the context of
among critical stake-holders emerging new business
on the upcoming new NATO models.
strategy. The event is also In 2011, the Institutul’s
part of an ongoing series cooperative approach to
covering regional security regional issues will continue
from both European and US projects with NATO as well
perspectives. Young leaders on Romania’s Danube Delta
as the Aspen network. In May
On October 4–5, 2010 in 2011, we will discuss EU
Bucharest, the Institutul, the the discussions of both meet- have across the EU economy perspectives on European
European Union Institute ings and including policy while also promoting a serious security and economic inter-
for Security Studies, and recommendations will be debate on economic gover- ests in Asia and hold a “Black
the Romanian Ministry of presented at a third forum nance reform in Europe. Sea to Levant” forum later
Foreign Affairs organized a in mid-November 2010 in that summer.
workshop on “Unfinished Washington, DC. Young Leaders Program
Business in Europe II: East- On October 7–9, the Insti- The young leaders program
ern Europe.” The workshop tutul held its flagship annual at the Institutul began with Institutul Aspen Romania
continues a discussion on economic event: “Europe an Aspen Seminar in April 1, Herastrau Street
the Balkans started in War- Competitive and Resilient: and was followed by a Mod- Floor 3, Ap. 7, District 1
saw. The Bucharest event Economic Governance in ern Leadership Seminar, a 011981 Bucharest, Romania
focused on the post-Soviet Europe an East to West Per- weeklong training program Tel. + 40 311 024 128
world and the question of spective.” The high-level in the Danube Delta that www.aspeninstitute.ro
84 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Aspen Hoffman
Institute
germany
The Aspen Institute Germany is a non-partisan organiza-
tion dedicated to values-based leadership in address-
ing the toughest policy challenges of the day. Aspen
Institute Germany is devoted to promoting dialogue
between key stakeholders on important strategic
issues and to building lasting ties and constructive
exchanges between leaders in North America, Europe, macher, and Karsten Voigt on a “foreign minister plus
and the Near East. The Institute achieves this by bring- convened the 2010 Aspen zero” basis. This is the third
ing together groups of decision-makers and experts European Strategy Forum year that Aspen Germany
(the third so far in this very has hosted this event. This
from business, academia, politics, and the arts who
successful series). This year’s year, it is being organized in
might otherwise never meet. We convene in small-scale topic was “The Strategic cooperation with the Berlin
conferences, seminars, and discussion groups in order Implications of the Iranian Embassy of the Republic of
to consider complex issues with the spirit of open- Nuclear Program.” Austria and funded in part by
mindedness needed for a genuine search for common On the evening of Octo- the German Federal Foreign
ground and viable solutions. ber 11, 2010, Professor Bruce Office. We currently expect
Hoffmann of Georgetown top-level participation from
Aspen Institute Germany’s small staff organizes three
University spoke at an Aspen the German and Austrian
different types of activities: public programs, open to Germany public event at the foreign ministries in addition
the Friends of Aspen Germany and to select invited China Club on the topic of to the seven foreign minis-
guests; a closed, invitation-only series of policy pro- “Ten Years After 9/11: Les- ters from Southeast Europe.
grams; and a leadership program. sons Learned.” Hoffmann is a On December 10, 2010, a
leading international author- public opening event will
ity on terrorism. take place at the Austrian
Recent 2010, Aspen Germany con- Embassy in Berlin. Members
Highlights vened a conference for young of the Friends of the Aspen
On the evening of September leaders from the Western Upcoming Institute together with lead-
14, 2010, Admiral S. Robert Balkans at Schwanenwerder. Events ers from German, Austrian,
Foley Jr. , USN, retired, A final barbecue was held On the evening of October and Southeastern European
former commander-in-chief for the young leaders and 28, 2010, reigning Prince industry are invited to hear
of the US Pacific Fleet and Members of the Friends of Hans-Adam II of Liechten- the opening speeches, which
former vice president of the Aspen Institute on Friday, stein presented his new book we expect to be given by top-
the University of California September 17, 2010. The bar- The State in the Third Mil- level representatives of the
responsible for the manage- becue offered an opportunity lennium at a small, seated German and Austrian foreign
ment of the three national to enjoy Schwanenwerder dinner organized by Aspen ministries and to participate
laboratories that UC admin- in autumn, to meet emerg- Germany and the Embassy in an ensuing roundtable and
isters on behalf of the US ing European and American of Liechtenstein at the China reception.
Department of Energy and young leaders, to get to know Club.
its National Nuclear Security an ongoing Aspen Germany From Friday, December
Administration, spoke at an program better, and perhaps 10, 2010, through Sunday, Aspen Institute Germany
Aspen Germany public event to make some useful contacts December 12, 2010, Aspen Inselstr. 10
at the China Club on the for the future. Germany will host seven for- 14129 Berlin
“Strategic Implications of the On September 22–24, eign ministers from Southeast Germany
Rise of China.” Joachim Krause , Horst Europe for a closed-door con- Tel. + 49 (0) 30 80 48 90-0
On September 15–18, Teltschik, Günther Nonnen- ference at Schwanenwerder www.aspeninstitute.de
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 85
faces The 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival
Behind the scenes at the Institute’s sixth annual festival of
ideas.
Michael Brands
Harvard Law’s
Michael Brands
Charles Ogletree
Mexican Ambassador to the United States
talks with festival
guests. Arturo Sarukhán and former Director of
National Intelligence John Negroponte greet
Michael Brands
festival guests.
Michael Brands
Ambassador to the United
Dan Bayer
86 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
TK
Tk faces
CBS’s Bob
Schieffer and
Institute lifetime
trustee and
retired Supreme
Court Justice
Sandra Day
O’Connor
The 2010
Bezos Scholars
Michael Brands
Dan Bayer
Photographer
Lynn Goldsmith
Dan Bayer
Dan Bayer
The Atlantic’s James Bennet and Ta-Nehisi
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 87
faces
Michael Brands
Walter Isaacson
and Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates Michael Brands
Michael Brands
Dan Bayer
88 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
Dan Bayer
A
TK Summer of Strategy and Security
The Aspen Strategy Group met in Aspen and the Institute launched
Tk
its first Security Forum. faces
Dan Bayer
Admiral Mike
Mullen and the
Institute’s Homeland
Security Program
Director Clark Kent
Ervin
Michael Brands
Dan Bayer
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 89
faces Summer Celebration
Trustees and friends of the Institute celebrate at the Institute’s annual
benefit dinner, which honored Khaled Hosseini and Jim Lehrer
Aspen
Strategy
Group Director
Nicholas Burns,
Institute trustee
James Crown,
and Institute
Chairman
Robert Steel
Institute
trustee Bob
Hurst and his
wife, Soledad,
co-chaired the
dinner.
Institute
trustee and
CEO of the
Aspen Music
Festival and
School Alan
Fletcher
90 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
TK
Tk faces
Photography by Michael Brands
Institute trustee
Jacqueline Novogratz,
Antonia Paepcke
DuBrul, Institute
trustee Arjun Gupta,
and Institute trustee
Madeleine Albright
Society of Fellows
member William
Wallace and Institute
trustee Sylvia Earle
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 91
next SAVE THE DATE!
Aspen Ideas Festival: June 27, 2011–July 3, 2011
n NOVEMBER The Aspen Ideas Festival returns to the Institute’s Aspen Meadows
campus for its seventh year. For more information on next year’s Festival,
3–5
Board of Trustees Fall Meeting as well as links to audio and video clips from the 2010 Festival, visit
New York, NY www.aifestival.org.
4
27th Annual Awards Dinner
New York, NY
5–7
Aspen Institute Italia: Aspen Seminar
Como, Italy
5–7
Justice and Society Program:
“International Human Rights and
Humanitarian Laws: Their Application
in National Jurisprudence”
Wye, MD
8
Sharing Shakespeare: Coriolanus
Michael Brands
Aspen, CO
9–14
Aspen Global Leadership Network:
“Leading in an Era of Globalization” 2–3 n FEBRUARY
Aspen, CO The Aspen China Trialogue 7–12
11–16 Beijing, China Central America Leadership Initiative:
Aspen Institute Japan: Nippon Aspen 9 “The Challenge of Leadership”
Executive Seminar Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Antigua, Guatemala
Osaka, Japan Series with Andrew Young, Walk in My 12–17
16–19 Shoes: Conversations between a Civil Energy and Environment Program:
Business and Society Program: 2010 Rights Legend and his Godson on the Africa Seminar
First Movers Fellowship Seminar Journey Ahead Johannesburg, South Africa
Wye, MD Washington, DC 18–21
19 10 Socrates Society 2011 Winter Seminars
Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Holiday Party for Aspen Wye Fellows Aspen, CO
Series with Siddhartha Mukherjee, The and Friends of Wye 22–27
Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography Wye, MD Aspen Global Leadership Network:
of Cancer 13 “Leading in an Era of Globalization”
Washington, DC Sharing Shakespeare: Henry V Dead Sea, Jordan
19 Aspen, CO 28
Aspen Wye Fellow’s Reception and 30 Sharing Shakespeare: “Shakespeare in
Discussion with Steve and Cokie Roberts Aspen Institute Annual Holiday Film”
Wye, MD Reception Aspen, CO
19–20 Aspen, CO
Socrates Society: “Sustainable n MARCH
Communities: Designing Places that n JANUARY 21
Thrive” 20–25 Sharing Shakespeare: Macbeth
San Francisco, CA Aspen Global Leadership Network: Aspen, CO
“Leading in an Era of Globalization” 24–29
n DECEMBER Antigua, Guatemala Aspen Global Leadership Network:
1–6 24 “Leading in an Era of Globalization”
India Leadership Initiative: “The Sharing Shakespeare: “Villains in Aspen, CO
Challenge of Leadership” Shakespeare”
Bangalore, India Aspen, CO
92 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
YOU’RE INVITED!
Aspen Security Forum:
July 27–July 30, 2011
Join the Institute along with The New
York Times and leaders in government, CAROL DOPKIN
industry, media, think tanks, and academia
to explore key issues in homeland security REAL ESTATE, INC.
and counterterrorism on the Aspen
Meadows campus. For more information, Carol Dopkin & Belle
Dan Bayer
visit www.aspensecurityforum.org.
n APRIL n JUNE
1–2 3–8
Socrates Society’s Boston Salon: Liberty Fellowship Program:
“Soft Power in the 21st Century” “The Promise of Leadership”
Boston, MA Spartanburg, SC
1–5 20–23
Aspen in Florence Justice and Society: “The Overlawyering
Florence, Italy of America”
5–8 Aspen, CO
Business and Society Program: 2010 20–26
First Movers Fellowship Seminar Henry Crown Fellowship: Aspen Seminar
Manhasset, NY Wye, MD Yearling rescued by Carol
7–12 27–3
Aspen Global Leadership Network: 2011 Aspen Ideas Festival Real Estate with
“Leading in an Era of Globalization” Aspen, CO Horse Sense
Stellenbosch, South Africa
11 n JULY
Sharing Shakespeare: The Tempest An Aspen broker for over 31
7–10
Aspen, CO Aspen Global Leadership Network’s years. You can expect discreet,
12–16 ACT II Convening impeccable and professional
NewSchools Fellowship Program: Aspen, CO service with an all-encom-
“Values in Tension in Public 20–24 passing knowledge of the As-
Education” Africa Leadership Initiative, West pen market and lifestyle. Carol
Aspen, CO Africa: “The Promise of Leadership” is always one of Aspen’s top
12–17 Ghana producing brokers and serves
Liberty Fellowship Program: 20–24 on several non-profit boards
Aspen Seminar Africa Leadership Initiative, South expressing her appreciation
Pawley’s Island, South Carolina Africa: “The Promise of Leadership” for the privilege of living in this
Stellenbosch, South Africa
15–20 magical environment.
Africa Leadership Initiative, 27–30
South Africa: Aspen Seminar Homeland Security Forum 2011
Stellenbosch, South Africa Aspen, CO You’ll Love the Attention!
n MAY 122 WEST MAIN STREET
12–17 ASPEN, CO 81611
Aspen Global Leadership Network: OFFICE: 970.920.1186
“Leading in an Era of Globalization” STAY CURRENT
Aspen, CO For updates and additions to the MOBILE: 970.618.0187
Institute’s ever-growing schedule of CAROL@CAROLDOPKIN.COM
16 events, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/
Sharing Shakespeare: Othello events. WWW.CAROLDOPKIN.COM
Aspen, CO
WINTER 2010/2011 T h e A s p en I d ea 93
contact us
A Quick Guide to the Aspen Institute
Heritage Society
Special events and Benefits To learn more about the Heritage Society,
Senior Development Officer Erin Phillips, please call Steven Wickes, (970) 544-7912, or visit
(202) 736-3850 or erin.phillips@aspeninstitute.org www.aspeninstitute.org/heritagesociety
Offices
Headquarters, The Aspen Institute
POLICY PROGRAMS Suite 700, One Dupont Circle, NW
Program Director, Policy Programs Peggy Clark, Washington, DC 20036-1133
(202) 736-1081 or peggy.clark@aspeninstitute.org (202) 736-5800
94 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
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96 T h e A s p en I d ea WINTER 2010/2011
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