On the Record

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern discusses the future of New Zealand's foreign policy and lessons learned from the country's response to COVID-19 and reopening. 

This meeting kicks off the 2021 Virtual National Conference and is open to all CFR members. The National Conference is underwritten by a generous gift given in memory of Peter E. Haas from the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund.

Inaugurated in 1969, the Russell C. Leffingwell Lecture was named for Russell C. Leffingwell, a charter member of the Council who served as its president from 1944 to 1946 and as its chairman from 1946 to 1953. The lecture is given by distinguished foreign officials, who are invited to address Council members on a topic of major international significance.

In recent years, activists in global social movements such as #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and #BringBackOurGirls have harnessed social media to raise awareness of injustice and counter prevailing narratives. How has Twitter reshaped activism and to what extent has the platform empowered marginalized groups to achieve political victories? Brooke Foucault Welles, associate professor at Northeastern University and coauthor of the book #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice, and Meighan Stone, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and coauthor of the book Awakening: #MeToo and the Global Fight for Women's Rights, to discuss the role of Twitter in modern social justice movements in the United States and abroad, including the implications for race and gender equality.

Panelists discuss trends and uncertainties that will shape the future global strategic environment for the United States, including great power competition, climate change, and emerging technologies, and how they will affect international cooperation and global governance.

Although major power competition on the African continent is a reality, it should not dominate the Biden administration’s vision for U.S.-Africa relations, argues Michelle Gavin in her new paper Major Power Rivalry in Africa, for the Managing Global Disorder Discussion Paper series. Speakers discuss how the Biden administration can pursue strategic partnerships that align African aspirations and U.S. interests while managing competition with China.

General John Raymond discusses the establishment of the U.S. Space Force, current and potential national security threats in outer space, and areas of cooperation between the United States and both foreign allies and private-sector organizations.

Afsaneh Beschloss discusses her distinguished career in finance, including her roles as founder and CEO of RockCreek, a leading global investment firm, her time as treasurer and chief investment officer of the World Bank, and as managing director and partner at the Carlyle Group.

Lessons Learned is a roundtable series, open to term members and younger life members, which features distinguished speakers who reflect on their career experiences, the choices they made along the way, and the lessons they have learned from them.

Working for low wages and few benefits, a large but invisible workforce keeps the internet running. Through her research, Mary L. Gray sheds light on the workers—many of them women caring for young children and elders—who support the technology industry and the lack of regulations governing their labor. Mary L. Gray, senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research, 2020 MacArthur fellow, and coauthor of the book Ghost Work, discusses what governments and the technology industry can do to address this emerging fault line of inequality.

Dana Coester, editor-in-chief at 100 Days in Appalachia, shares best practices for reporting on extremist activity at the local level. Bruce Hoffman, Shelby Cullom and Kathryn W. Davis senior fellow on counterterrorism and homeland security at CFR, provides context and background on domestic terrorism and extremist groups. Carla Anne Robbins, adjunct senior fellow at CFR and former deputy editorial page editor at the New York Times, hosts the webinar.